Oh Lord, with that rose of benevolence from the exhalations
of whose excellence the olfactory sense of the angels
is refreshed while the musk of Chīn remains dry as a
husk,
Let me refresh the olfactories of my soul every moment,
until I am on the brink of the grave; that my dust may
be like a rose garden far removed from the pricking of
thistles.
The possession of sincerity, and true equity, the root of
modesty, and the secret* of truth, the house of religion
is founded on all of these both by bond and deed.
On the heaven of his prophecy, for the travellers along the
high road of the sacred law, each of these four pillars* is a
sign of the injunction Go on thy way and be pure.*
108. May every breath of my life be praise and glory, until the
breath of the morning, that each breath may then be a
worthy present for the soul.
Think that the pupils of my two eyes are four in affection,
(i.e., four Khalifs).
Otherwise thou wilt fail to gain Paradise, and art ready for
the door of hell.
What good will apostasy do you when ‘Alī is independent
of you? How can gold shew its perfect purity if the
touchstone does not shew the shine of it?
What blame is it to the body of the lute if during the tune*
either its silken string breaks, or its bridge slips down.
Go, and open the letter of the Prophet in all sincerity, that
it may efface from your mind the suspicion as regards
“Faddak.”*
And he who like the ill-omened owl* boasts of being a Khārijī*
compared to the confidant of the cave* is like the night-flying
bat* in comparison with the standard of the day (the Sun).
Put aside your desire of rebellion, say not a word save in
respect, how can a dog contend with a tawny lion.*
What power have you to decide between the companions of
the Prophet, you who from foolishness like a blind man,
seek the softness of ermine from the stoat.*
It were better that the skirt of the time was freed by skilful
management, from the impurity of those abomination-
working sects before that this sound reaches their ears
What brought you into hell?*
Oh Lord! although for a long time my heart has been afflict-
ed by the darlings of Chigil, and held fast by the rosy-
cheeks of Yamak*
Yet in the beginning of the nūn and dāl of my age (54) 109.
after the year khā and nūn and hā (655 H.),* thanks
be to God that the bird of my ambition has burst the
bonds of this net and gone free.
I have washed my hands of the one, and have freed my foot
from the other, springing out of both snares like the clay
pellets from a pea-shooter.*
At thy footstool henceforth my constant cry is “I repent,”
my supplication is to thee, my secret thoughts and open
dealings are with thee.
Thou shewest me mercy at that time when by the intoxication of the wineskin of death both my chin and jaws are
cold and shrunken.*
When my breath is bound upon the balista of my body like
a missile, then the stone of the balista* of death strikes my
body breaking it as though it were an earthen jar.*
Grant me a place at the banquet of thy pardoning mercy,
At that time when the Angel of Death says to me “Take
and eat,”*
Shewing his helplessness Amīd thy slave offers these verses
in praise of thy excellence to the best of his power.
Accept these few brief words from this vile cur,*
For this mangy cur is a partner of your journey.
Thy praise is written on my heart, afterwards comes the praise
of the Prophet. May every word besides these be erased
from my heart.AN EULOGISTIC QAṢĪDA.Oh thou upon whose jasmine-like face are the countless toils
of the violet-hued locks.
By whose ruby lips the brilliant pearls are imprisoned.
Thy locks are an armourer who every moment brings forth
Fragrant chains to fetter thy lily-like face.
110. Thy lily face is better confined by the links of thy spikenard-
hued locks.
Bid the morning breeze as it breathes not to remove the
chains (of thy hair) from thy rosy (cheeks).
Thy mouth is like a delicate bud which bursts into smiles;
Loosen the folds of that bud even if with the point of a
thorn.
Thy rose-petalled cheeks are adorned by the bonds of thy
dark and fragrant locks.
Save on thy rose who has ever seen so becoming a
bond?
Perchance thou didst say, thy face is like the rose and tulip
to look upon, the fragrant down on thy cheek is like the
edging of a bed of tulips.
Thy cheek was not fit for this, why does it bear its chain,
like me who bear my chain in the time of the reign of this
monarch.
The world conquering king Naṣīru-l-Haqq (ally of the truth),
he who places upon the hands and feet of meanuess a
thousand fetters by his generosity.
Wālā Muḥammad Balban, who entangles rebels in the time
of war, in the noose of his wrath.*
Oh king of the age, by whose auspicious fortune the treasurer
of Fate has undone the fastenings of the shell of the mine
of prosperity.
Beneath the saddle of the confusion of thy enemy on the day
of fighting, each girth of thy saddle becomes sixty-four*
thongs to bind him.
He is like the opium, provoking quarrels and suspicion,
If his opium remains enclosed within the poppy
head. 111.*
When the aromatic odour of thy good qualities removed the
bond from the wrinkled mouth of the musk bag of Tātār,
ambergris gained a fresh odour* from its fragrant breeze,
and the rose bud too was loosed from its prison by the
newly arrived spring.
The heaven every moment casts the fetter of intoxication on
those who are drunk with the cup of thy favour, by the
obstruction of their brain.*
Thy kingdom is a rivulet flowing from the spring of satisfied
desire; safety, enjoyment and pleasure are the banks of
this stream.
In such a way open the road of equity for the ends of victory,
That by thy justice no fetters may exist in the world save
the locks of lovers' hair.
You see one who has assisted injustice in his soul in whose
path
Destiny places countless* obstacles.
Like Naushīrwān when thou knockest at the door of justice,
Thou keepest not the chains firmly fastened on bad and
good.
In thy reign, it behoves that no one in his lifetime should
see any fetter, save on the foot of the cypress and the
finger-bearing leaf of the Chinār.*
The knot of the dragon's tail and the dragon's head* is a
fetter on the sky, come and relieve the distressed heaven
from its bondage.
That the sun and moon may become relieved of the affliction
of eclipse* in the knot of the dragon's tail,* like me who
am in the bond of distress.
Thou hast ordered that the learned should be imprisoned,
Beware that thou layest no bond upon the learned.
Woe is me! Honour them rather out of policy, and on the 112.
newly wedded bride of eulogy bind the princely pearl
taken from the casket of my heart.
Has ever any monarch placed a bond on literary men out of
love of empire and usurpation?
I, at all events, am a talking parrot, not a hunting falcon,
the hawk's jesses are not rightly placed on the legs of
parrots.
Why do you imprison me, as from my secret heart there is
an evident fastening (of grief) fixed upon the door of my
heart's fortress.
Loose my bonds, and by way of conquering the fortress, fix
the bond of thy heart upon the mercy of the threshold of
the Creator.
My heart was wounded by the tyranny and oppression of the
heaven, now the chain wounds my leg as well as my heart.
No one has seen half a dāng weight of gold in my possession,
And, even if he has, I would not willingly undergo imprisonment for the sake of it.*
Gold has no value in my sight, how can I pledge it like a
usurer so as to get twelve for every ten.
I have eloquence like pure gold, another man has gold itself,
Open your hand in bounty to me, and keep him imprisoned.
Do not keep me so long in suspense waiting for my release,
My imprisonment has turned my blood to water in this weary
waiting.
At least kill this hapless innocent with the sword of thy
wrath,
113. But do not imprison me, for imprisonment kills me* with its
perpetual agony.
My name has become famous for eloquence from east to west,
Is it fitting to put fetters on the feet of such a famous poet?
Wisdom said to me long ago by way of advice,
Chain thyself at the threshold of the victorious king.
I was indulging in these hopes, when the king himself shewed
kindness and imprisoned this miserable one as though he
were a murderer.
You may be quite sure that imprisonment is not required
in that place in which the seal of the treasury was opened
by his generosity.
First thou didst fasten, then thou didst loosen,* Oh! noble
bounty! I carry the fetters from thy door into the presence
of the Almighty as a memorial.
It was the sword of royalty [which loosened them] by the
mercy of the Most Bountiful; had that not been so the
imprisonment would have utterly ruined me.
Since* you ‘Amīd girt the loins of loyalty in the service of
the throne, therefore by his care the days of your imprisonment were brought to a happy termination.
As long as the young and sprightly maidens to the distraction
of their lovers, have purposely bound their cheeks with the
chain of youthful bloom.
So long may the door of good fortune be closed in every
direction to your enemies,
And by the sword may the bars of both fortresses be opened.