Youth departed but often I enjoyed it
With beauties and drinking the red
I drank the wine in their shop
And played with the singers chaste games
I am protected by an armor whose ardor is
Like a camel scab guarded by the sword
He runs to me with his armor and weapons
He walks with his arms like listing camel
I came early to the wine seller with a friend
His reproachers howled the howl of dogs
A joyous one, pleasure kissed him as if
His breast was touched with gilded sheen
Wearing kings’ garments, eyes of fawns
In every view are pleased with him
They look from behind veils as he appears
A look of camels at the fine stallion
Dewy cups when they are drunk, his promises
Are not tricky like unfruitful lightning
And when glasses go round at the drinking
He has no excessive frowns
The swords came early and late to them
They left Hawazin like a broken horn
They left your uncle of Gana holding
A broken cup like a fox hole
They left Banu Tamim’s remnant following
The Banu Thabin like straggling asses
They met the rings of Banu Sulaim, and
They cursed and the scars did not leave
And I knew that when they were ringed
In every angry nose was a sign of shame
Horses run with armored men as if they were
Thicket lions of the knights of Taglib.
Translated by Arthur Wormhoudt1
Let all weep for al-Hajjáj, who weep for Faith or one
That sold unto God his life in guarding the Moslem land;
And him let the orphans weep whose mother, with arms begrimed,
From Fortune in wasting years of famine hath naught left o’er.
For ne’er since Mohammed died have eyes flowed for any man
Like him or beheld his peer, excepting the Caliphs’ selves;
Nor ever the like of him was laid for the earth to bear,
Nor written a name like his in letters announcing death:
So firm to beat back and rout the demon of Mutiny
When War shows her grinning teeth—a she-camel scabbed and old.
Nay, never I saw a day of heavier grief and woe
And fuller of hands raised up to wipe the o’erflowing eyes
Than that morn when al-Hajjáj was carried upon his bier,
Who many a burden used to shoulder and win safe through.
When news of his death was brought, the woman that oft let stray
Her flocks in the wilderness would fain keep them close in fold,
And cried to her slaves, “Fetch home the cattle and tether them,
For he that was wont erstwhile to shepherd our flocks is dead.”
Ay, dead, he that shepherded the Faith for believing men
And smote with his Indian blade the head of its adversary.
And would they had been cut off, the hands that interred the son
Of Yúsuf, what time they cast the earth o’er the covering stones!
But how could ye as ye gazed—and he in his winding-sheet—
At last lay him down betwixt the sides of a hollow grave?
For did not ye know ’twas he, whom there ye were burying,
That ruled in his master’s name the frontiers of empire far?
He healed with his Mashrafite good sword the corrupted Faith,
And rancorous hates that breed dissensions he purged away.
No money prevailed on him to alter the just decree:
His sentence a rope, whereof not loose were the strands or weak,
But woven from left to right, for firmness, and then made fast
In knots twisted well and tied securely behind the neck.
The army that stood beyond the River, the tribes called up,
O hearing the death of him, their captain, with one voice cried,
“Unhappy are we: alas, the Strength of our host is dead,
Whereby every heart in hour of peril was braced again.”
Yet surely, if al-Hajjáj is dead, Abu’l-‘Ás’s race
Of generous hawk-like chiefs are living and have not died;
And never there failed Marwán a proud scion of his House,
A man perfect as the moon at full and without eclipse,
Who filled with his glory’s light the region of al-‘Irák,
And no one his vengeance feared except for his own ill deed.
Translated by R. A. Nicholson2
al-Farazdaq visited the folk of Hijaz
Did not enjoy them, was not praised
You shamed your folk at the Ka’ba’s wall
And among the Baqi’ain and evergreen
We found Farazdaq at the two fairs
Filthy outside and in witness
The bright son of ‘Abd al-‘Aziz forbade you
By your worth to reject the mosque
You compared yourself as sharper than
Thamud They said: You strayed and were unguided
They were weak when punishment settled
Three nights at the rendezvous
You likened yourself to the ass penis
Filthy smith and tinkerer
We found Jubair the father of Galib
A distant relative of Ma’bad
Don’t you work the bellows of Malik but
Where is Suhail in respect to Farqad
Worst of colts is Ibn ass penis
And you meet Qufaira at the fort
al-Farazdaq’s root is the worst of roots
Filth dirt, a pale spark
Jubair commanded Galib with an order
From a zealous blood relative
He said: Hold to the twist of the tongs
And scrape the drill with file
And Ji’thin, Minqar came down on her
Like the return of Falji’s hard hoof
She is drowsy by length of being knelt on
As one watches the toothless charmer
Didn’t you revenge the daughter of the smiths
And leave her grieving at the crushing?
Did you not revenge the loosening of the belt
And breaking the anklets and bracelets?
You started to track their trail at morning
With the gait of a quick curl-tail dog
You found the Banu Minqar weakened with
A weapon of your strange murder
Nawar says: You disgraced the smiths
Would that Farazdaq had not been born!
She said: You were at Dhu Haumal and Rimah
Would you had not been present
al-Farazdaq conquered the two small dogs
And was equal to the black fever
So patch up for your ancestor his bellows
Repair your goods so you aren’t ruined
Bring up the anvil and bring the hammer
Broaden the base for your bellows
I joined al Ba’ith to one with the cross
To the smith with a strong rope
And they were joined when the race was hot
To a high one at the far goal
He cut off their breath in the running
By turning reins and he was not wearied
We are men who love trustworthiness
Cautious of tales of martyrdom
We don’t take support for a neighbor’s bond
Without swords nor wrap up in a cloak
You fixed your support against a betrayal
At Jaishan and the sword was not sheathed
When you supported yourself, you the meanest,
You sat apart on the ass of an ignoble man
Far from the folk who protected al Zubair
But as for Zubair may he not be far
You blamed horsemen on the day of Gabit
And days of Bishr Banu Marthad
And day of Balqa O Smithsons we witnessed
The jousting and you witnessed not
They came early to Abjar and the Haufazan
In a swift drinking though driven off
And the day of two Bahir they pursued us
Theirs the hooftracks in the middle
We put the swords in the skulls of kings
And we cured the pride of the chiefs.
Translated by Arthur Wormhoudt3
And now: May God guard you who practice the craft of secretaryship, and may He keep you and give you success and guidance. There are prophets and messengers and highly honored kings. After them come different kinds of men, all of them made by God. They are of different kinds, even if they are all alike in fact. God occupied them with different kinds of crafts and various sorts of businesses, so that they might be able to make a living and earn their sustenance. He gave to you, assembled secretaries, the great opportunity to be men of education and gentlemen, to have knowledge and (good) judgment. You bring out whatever is good in the caliphate and straighten out its affairs. Through your advice, God improves the government for the benefit of human beings and makes their countries civilized. The ruler cannot dispense with you. You alone make him a competent ruler. Your position with regard to rulers is that (you are) the ears through which they hear, the eyes through which they see, the tongues through which they speak, and the hands through which they touch. May God give you, therefore, enjoyment of the excellent craft with which He has distinguished you, and may He not deprive you of the great favors that He has shown unto you.
No craftsman needs more than you to combine all praiseworthy good traits and all memorable and highly regarded excellent qualities, O secretaries, if you aspire to fit the description given of you in this letter. The secretary needs on his own account, and his master, who trusts him with his important affairs, expects him, to be mild where mildness is needed, to be understanding where judgment is needed, to be enterprising where enterprise is needed, to be hesitant where hesitation is needed. He must prefer modesty, justice, and fairness. He must keep secrets. He must be faithful in difficult circumstances. he must know (beforehand) about the calamities that may come. He must be able to put things in their proper places and misfortunes into their proper categories. He must have studied every branch of learning and know it well, and if he does not know it well, he must at least have acquired an adequate amount of it. By virtue of his natural intelligence, good education, and outstanding experience, he must know what is going to happen to him before it happens, and he must know the result of his actions before action starts. He must make the proper preparations for everything, and he must set up everything in its proper, customary form.
Therefore, assembled secretaries, vie with each other to acquire the different kinds of education and to gain an understanding of religious matters. Start with knowledge of the Book of God and religious duties. Then, study the Arabic language, as that will give you a cultivated form of speech. Then, learn to write well, as that will be an ornament to your letters. Transmit poetry and acquaint yourselves with the rare expressions and ideas that poems contain. Acquaint yourselves also with both Arab and non-Arab political events, and with the tales of (both groups) and the biographies describing them, as that will be helpful to you in your endeavors. Do not neglect to study accounting, for it is the mainstay of the land tax register. Detest prejudices with all your heart, lofty ones as well as low ones, and all idle and contemptible things, for they bring humility [sic] and are the ruin of secretaryship. Do not let your craft be a low one. Guard against backbiting and calumny and the actions of stupid people. Beware of haughtiness, foolishness, and pride, for they mean acquiring hostility without (even the excuse of) hatred. Love each other in God in your craft. Advise your colleagues to practice it in a way befitting your virtuous, fair, and gifted predecessors.
If times go hard for one of you, be kind to him and console him, until everything be well with him again. Should old age make one of you unable to get around and pursue his livelihood and meet his friends, visit him and honor him and consult him, and profit from his outstanding experience and mature knowledge. Every one of you should be more concerned for his assistants, who may be useful when needed, than for his own children or brothers. Should some praise come (to one of you) in the course of his work, he should ascribe the merit to his colleague; any blame he should bear all by himself. He should beware of mistakes and slips and of being annoyed when conditions change. For you, assembled secretaries, are more prompt to be blamed than a woman, and blame is more detrimental to you than to them. You know that every one of you has a master, one who gives from his own as much as can be expected, and (every one of you) has the obligation to repay him, since he deserves it, with fidelity, gratefulness, tolerance, patience, good counsel, discretion, and active interest in his affairs, and to show (his good intentions) by his actions whenever his master needs him and his resources. Be conscious of (your obligations)—God give you success—in good and bad circumstances, in privation as in munificence and kindness, in happiness as in misfortune. Any member of this noble craft who has all these qualities has good qualities indeed.
If any one of you be appointed to an office, or if some matter that concerns God’s children be turned over to one of you, he should think of God and choose obedience to Him. He should be kind to the weak and fair to those who have been wronged. All creatures are God’s children. He loves most those who are kindest to His children. Furthermore, he should judge with justice, he should honor the noble (descendants of Muḥammad), augment the booty (gained in wars against infidels), and bring civilization to the country. He should be friendly to the subjects, and refrain from harming them. He should be humble and mild in his office. He should be kind in milking his land tax and calling in outstanding claims.
You should explore the character of him with whom you associate. When his good and bad sides are known, you will be able to help him to do the good things that agree with him, and be able to contrive to keep him from the bad things he desires. You must be able to do that in the subtlest and best manner. You know that a person who is in charge of an animal and understands his job, endeavors to know the character of the animal. If it is inclined to gallop, he takes precautions with the hind legs. If it is ungovernable, he does not goad it when he is riding it. If it is inclined to kick, he takes precautions with its forelegs. If he fears that it will shy, he takes precautions with its head. If it is restive, he gently subdues its desire to go where it wants to go. If it still continues, he pulls it slightly to the side, then has its halter loosened. This description of how to take care of an animal contains good points for those who want to lead human beings and deal with them, serve them, and have intimate contact with them. The secretary, with his excellent education, his noble craft, his subtlety, his frequent dealings with people who confer with him and discuss things with him and learn from him or fear his severity, needs to be kind to his associates, to flatter them, and to supply their wants, even more than the person in charge of an animal which cannot answer, does not know what is right, does not understand what is said to it, and goes only where its master who rides upon it makes it go. Be kind – God show mercy unto you – when you look after things. Use as much reflection and thought as possible. God permitting, you will thus escape harshness, annoyance, and rudeness on the part of your associates. They will be in agreement with you, and you will have their friendship and protection, if God wills.
None of you should have too sumptuous an office or go beyond the proper limits in his dress, his mount, his food, his drink, his house, his servants, or in the other things pertaining to his station, for, despite the nobility of the craft by which God has distinguished you, you are servants who are not permitted to fall short in their service. You are caretakers whom one does not permit to be wasteful or spendthrift. Try to preserve your modesty by planned moderation in all things I have mentioned and told you. Beware of the wastefulness of prodigality and the bad results of luxury. They engender poverty and bring about humiliation. People who (are prodigal and live in luxury) are put to shame, especially if they be secretaries and men of education.
Things repeat themselves. One thing contains the clue to another. Let yourselves be guided in your future undertakings by your previous experience. Then, choose the method of doing things that is most definite, most accurate, and that promises the best result. You should know that there is something that defeats accomplishment, namely, talking about things. The person who does it is prevented from using his knowledge and ability to think. Therefore, everyone of you, while he is in his office, should endeavor to talk no more than is sufficient; he should be concise in the matters he brings up and in the answers he gives; and he should give thought to all the arguments he advances. His work will profit from that. It will prevent too much preoccupation with other things. He should implore God to grant him success and to support him with His guidance, for he must fear making mistakes that might hurt his body and (cast doubt upon) his intelligence and education. When any one of you says or thinks that the high quality and efficiency of his work is obviously the result of his own cleverness and knowledge of how to do things, he provokes God. God will let him depend upon himself alone, and then he will find that he is not adequate to his task. This is no secret to those who reflect.
None of you should say that he has a better understanding of affairs, or knows better how to handle difficult matters, than other members of his craft, than those who serve together with him. Of two persons, discerning people consider him the more intelligent who throws off conceit and thinks his colleagues more intelligent and more skillful than he. But at any rate, both parties should acknowledge the excellence of God’s favors. No one should let himself be deceived by his own opinions and consider himself free from mistakes. Nor should he strive to outdo his friends, equals, colleagues, or his family. Everybody must give praise to God, in humility in the face of His greatness, in meekness in the face of His might, and in fulfillment of the command to speak God’s favors.
In this letter of mine, let me refer to the old proverb: “He who accepts good advice is successful.” This is the essence of this letter and the best that is said in it, after the references to God it contains. Therefore, I have placed it at the end, and I close the letter with it. May God take care of us and of you, assembled students and secretaries, in the same way He takes care of those whom, as He knows in His prescience, He will make happy and guide aright. He can do it. It is in His hand.
Farewell, and God’s mercy and blessings upon you.
Translated by Franz Rosenthal4
Over one of the lands of the elephants the years had grown weary, and it became barren and its waters failed. Its springs sank, and its plants and trees withered and cracked. A fierce thirst afflicted the elephants, and they complained to their king.
The king dispatched his messengers and scouts to every region to search for water. And some came home and reported discovery of a certain place where a fountain bubbled up called the Fountain of the Moon and the water was plentiful. So the king and his company made their way to drink at the fountain, and the whole herd followed.
Now the fountain was in the land of the rabbits, and when the elephants came these were trampled in their burrows, and many perished. Then the rabbits gathered round their king and spoke to him of the harm the elephants were doing; and he asked for opinions and counsel. At this a rabbit called Firouz, whose learning and wisdom the king knew of old, stepped forward; and she said, “If the king wills, let him send me to the elephants accompanied by one he trusts to see and hear all that passes and report it to him.” To which the king replied, “We trust you, and we approve your offer. Go forth to the elephants, conveying to them, in my name, what you wish. And remember that the judgment and wisdom, the mildness and courtesy of the messenger, convey the character of him from whom the message comes. Be mild, generous, patient and politic. Hearts are softened by the courteous messenger, but hardened by the coarse.”
On a moony night the rabbit started, and came to the elephants; but hated to approach them for fear that even unintentionally they might trample her under their feet. But she ascended a high mountain, and shouted to the king of the elephants, and said, “The moon has sent me to you; and the messenger should not be blamed for the words he carries, if even they are uncivil.” “What is the message?” said the elephant-king. She said, “The moon tells you that when a creature knows his strength over the weak and takes pride in his superiority and swaggers about it, he may find his strength is bane. Now the moon has observed that you know your strength over creeping things, and are swollen with it, and that you have resorted to the fountain which bears his name, and have drunk from the waters and troubled them. Therefore he dispatched me to you. And I give you warning that if you persist in your conduct, your sight will be darkened and your life destroyed. If you doubt my message, come to the fountain this hour, and the moon will meet you there.”
The king of the elephants marveled at the speech, and went to the fountain with Firouz the messenger, and looked in the pool and saw the moon gleaming. Then Firouz said to him: “Dip your trunk into the pool and draw water to wash your face, and kneel to the moon.” So the elephant lowered his trunk into the pool, and at once the water rippled. And the elephant believed that the moon shuddered. “Why did the moon shudder?” he said. “Can he be angry with me for putting my trunk in the water?” The rabbit Firouz said, “Yes.” Then the elephant knelt down again, and did penance to the moon for his sins, and undertook that neither he nor any of his herd should repeat the misdeeds done in that place.
Translated by Herbert Howarth and Ibrahim Shakrullah5
When Muhammad the apostle of God reached the age of forty God sent him in compassion to mankind, as ‘an evangelist to all men’. Now God had made a covenant with every prophet whom he had sent before him that he should believe in him, testify to his truth and help him against his adversaries, and he required of them that they should transmit that to everyone who believed in them, and they carried out their obligations in that respect. God said to Muhammad, “When God made a covenant with the prophets (He said) this is the scripture and wisdom which I have given you, afterwards an apostle will come confirming what you know that you may believe in him and help him.” He said, “Do you accept this and take up my burden?” i.e., the burden of my agreement which I have laid upon you. They said, “We accept it.” He answered, “Then bear witness and I am a witness with you.” Thus God made a covenant with all the prophets that they should testify to this truth and help him against his adversaries and they transmitted that obligation to those who believed in them among the two monotheistic religions.
One whom I do not suspect told me from Sa’īd b. Abū ‘Arūba from Qatāda bn Di’āma al-Sadūsi from Abū’l-Jald: “The Furqān came down on the 14th night of Ramaḍān. Others say, No, but on the 17th; and in support of this they appeal to God’s word: “And what we sent down to our servant on the day of al-Furqān, the day the two companies met” which was the meeting of the apostle and the polytheists at Badr, and that took place on the morning of Ramaḍān 17th.
al-Zuhrī related from ‘Urwa b. Zubayr that ‘Ā’isha told him that when Allah desired to honour Muhammad and have mercy on His servants by means of him, the first sign of prophethood vouchsafed to the apostle was true visions, resembling the brightness of daybreak, which were shown to him in his sleep. And Allah, she said, made him love solitude so that he liked nothing better than to be alone.
‘Abdu’l-Malik b. ‘Ubaydullah b. Abū Sufyān b. al-‘Alā’ b. Jāriya the Thaqafite who had a retentive memory related to me from a certain scholar that the apostle at the time when Allah willed to bestow His grace upon him and endow him with prophethood would go forth for his affair and journey far afield until he reached the glens of Mecca and the beds of its valleys where no house was in sight and not a stone or a tree that he passed by but would say, “Peace unto thee, O apostle of Allah.” And the apostle would turn to his right and left and look behind him and he would see naught but trees and stones. Thus he stayed seeing and hearing so long as it pleased that he should stay. Then Gabriel came to him with the gift of God’s grace whilst he was on Ḥirā’ every year for a month to practice taḥannuth as was the custom of Quraysh in heathen days. Taḥannuth is religious devotion.
Abū Ṭālib said:
By Thaur and him who made Thābir firm in its place
And by those going up to ascend Ḥirā’ and coming down
Wahb b. Kaisān told me that ‘Ubayd said to him: Every year during that month the apostle would pray in seclusion and give food to the poor that came to him. And when he completed the month and returned from his seclusion, first of all before entering his house he would go to the Ka’ba and walk round it seven times or as often as it pleased God; then he would go back to his house until in the year when God sent him, in the month of Ramaḍān in which God willed concerning him what He willed of His grace, the apostle set forth to Ḥirā’ as was his wont, and his family with him. When it was the night on which God honoured him with his mission and showed mercy on His servants thereby, Gabriel brought him the command of God. “He came to me,” said the apostle of God, “while I was asleep, with a coverlet of brocade whereon was some writing, and said, ‘Read!’ I said, ‘What shall I read?’ He pressed me with it so tightly that I thought it was death; then he let me go and said, ‘Read!’ I said, ‘What shall I read?’ He pressed me with it again so that I thought it was death; then he let me go and said, ‘Read!’ I said, ‘What shall I read?’ He pressed me with it the third time so that I thought it was death and said, ‘Read!’ I said, ‘What then shall I read?’—and this I said only to deliver myself from him, lest he should do the same to me again. He said:
‘Read in the name of thy Lord who created,
Who created man of blood coagulated.
Read! Thy Lord is the most beneficent,
Who taught by the pen,
Taught that which they knew not unto men.’
So I read it, and he departed from me. And I awoke from my sleep, and it was as though these words were written on my heart. Now none of God’s creatures was more hateful to me than an (ecstatic) poet or a man possessed: I could not even look at them. I thought, Woe is me poet or possessed—Never shall Quraysh say this of me! I will go to the top of the mountain and throw myself down that I may kill myself and gain rest. So I went forth to do so and then when I was midway on the mountain, I heard a voice from heaven saying, “O Muhammad! thou art the apostle of God and I am Gabriel.” I raised my head towards heaven to see (who was speaking), and lo, Gabriel in the form of a man with feet astride the horizon, saying, “O Muhammad! thou art the apostle of God and I am Gabriel.” I stood gazing at him, and that turned me from my purpose moving neither forward nor backward; then I began to turn my face away from him, but towards whatever region of the sky I looked, I saw him as before. And I continued standing there, neither advancing nor turning back, until Khadīja sent her messengers in search of me and they gained the high ground above Mecca and returned to her while I was standing in the same place, then he parted from me and I from him, returning to my family. And I came to Khadīja and sat by her thigh and drew close to her. She said, “O Abū’l-Qāsim, where hast thou been? By God, I sent my messengers in search of thee, and they reached the high ground above Mecca and returned to me.” I said to her, “Woe is me poet or possessed.” She said, “I take refuge in God from that O Abū’l-Qāsim. God would not treat you thus since he knows your truthfulness, your great trustworthiness, your fine character, and your kindness. This cannot be, my dear. Perhaps you did see something.” “Yes, I did,” I said. Then I told her of what I had seen; and she said, “Rejoice, O son of my uncle, and be of a good heart. Verily, by Him in whose hand is Khadīja’s soul, I have hope that thou wilt be the prophet of this people.” Then she rose and gathered her garments about her and set for to her cousin Waraqa b. Naufal b. Asad b. ‘Abdu’l-Uzzā b. Quṣayy, who had become a Christian and read the scriptures and learned from those that follow the Torah and the Gospel. And when she related to him what the apostle of God told her he had seen and heard, Waraqa cried, “Holy! Holy! Verily by Him in whose hand is Waraqa’s soul, if thou hast spoken to me the truth, O Khadīja, there hath come unto him the greatest Nāmūs (meaning Gabriel) who came to Moses aforetime, and lo, he is the prophet of his people. Bid him be of good heart.” So Khadīja returned to the apostle of God and told him what Waraqa had said, and that calmed his fears somewhat. And when the apostle of God had finished his period of seclusions and returned (to Mecca), in the first place he performed the circumambulation of the Ka’ba, as was his wont. While he was doing it, Waraqa met him and said, “O son of my brother, tell me what thou hast seen and heard.” The apostle told him, and Waraqa said, “Surely, by Him in whose hand is Waraqa’s soul, thou art the prophet of this people. There hath come unto thee the greatest Nāmūs, who came unto Moses. Thou wilt be called a liar, and they will use thee despitefully and cast thee out and fight against thee. Verily, if I live to see that day, I will help God in such wise as He knoweth.” Then he brought his head near to him and kissed his forehead; and the apostle went to his own house. Waraqa’s words added to his confidence and lightened his anxiety.
Ismā’īl b. Abū Ḥakīm, a freedman of the family of al-Zubayr, told me on Khadīja’s authority that she said to the apostle of God, “O son of my uncle, are you able to tell me about your visitant, when he comes to you?” He replied that he could, and she asked him to tell her when he came. So when Gabriel came to him, as he was wont, the apostle said to Khadīja, “This is Gabriel who has just come to me.” “Get up, O son of my uncle,” she said, “and sit by my left thigh.” The apostle did so, and she said, “Can you see him?” “Yes,” he said. She said, “Then turn round and sit on my right thigh.” He did so, and she said, “Can you see him?” When he said that he could she asked him to move and sit in her lap. When he had done this she again asked if he could see him, and when he said yes, she disclosed her form and cast aside her veil while the apostle was sitting in her lap. Then she said, “Can you see him?” And he replied, “No.” She said, “O son of my uncle, rejoice and be of good heart, by God he is an angel and not a satan.”
I told ‘Abdullah b. Ḥasan this story and he said, “I heard my mother Fāṭima, daughter of Ḥusayn, talking about this tradition from Khadīja, but as I heard it she made the apostle of God come inside her shift, and thereupon Gabriel departed, and she said to the apostle of God, ‘Thee verily is an angel and not a satan.’”
Translated by Alfred Guillaume6
Will no emissary be found to speak in my name to all Arabs,
To those who live and to those who rest beneath the earth,
To tell them that I am a man of most noble origin.
My grandfather was Khusraw, my father Sasan. With these do I share my fame.
And were I to enumerate my ancestors, it would be proved that my grandfather was a king.
The kingly crown has descended to me.
Behold this valorous man—he either sitteth among his retinue, while people creep towards him on their knees,
Or he goeth, adorned with sparkling gems, into the council.
A noble, clothed in royal furs, he is surrounded by courtiers.
His servants bring him viands on golden dishes.
My father never drank that beverage of mingled camel and ewe’s milk which they [the Bedouins] drink from small wine-skins
Never did he gather the bitter fruit of the colocynth, nor bite them with his teeth from hunger.
Never did he approach the prickly bushes to shake the berries from them.
Never did we roast lizards that flick their tails.
Never did I catch lizards on the parched earth and devour them greedily.
My father never warmed himself, seated before a camp fire with legs spread wide apart.
Nay! Nor did my father ever ride on a camel’s hump!
In very truth, we have been kings for many generations.
Translated by Hilda Kasanina7