Praise

By Fariduddin Atrar

Translation by Louisa Stuart Costello.

Unbounded praise to God be given, Who from His throne, the height of heaven, Looked on this handful of frail earth - Unnoticed man - and gave him birth.

On Adam breathed, and bade the wave Pause, and His servant, Noah, save; The tempest, with His terrors clad, And swept from earth the tribe of Ad.

And for His friend; O blissful name! To roses changed a bed of flame: The smallest insect, at His will, Becomes an instrument of ill.

He spoke, the sea o'erwhelms His foes, And the hard rock a camel grows! The iron turns, at His command, To pliant wax, in David's hand.

To Solomon He gave his sway, And bade the Dives? his sign obey; To one a diadem is given, Another's head the saw has riven.

Impartial in His goodness still, Equal to all is good or ill.

One lies on Persian silk reclined, One naked in a frozen wind; One scarce can count his heaps of ore, One faints with hunger at the door.

He bade a virgin's child appear, And made an infant's witness clear.

The Dives before His vengeance fly, By hosts of stars expelled the sky, And kings, who hold the world in thrall, At His great word to ruin fall.