Verse to Mahmud of Ghazni
From Wikisource
| Verse to Mahmud of Ghazni by , translated by Claud Field |
Response to Mahmud of Ghazni→ |
| Written c. 997-1020 to Mahmud of Ghazni, who had asked the poet to write him an epic poem about the great kings of Persia. Mahmud was reputedly so impressed, that he ordered a house built for the poet alongside his own palace. When he believed he had not been fairly rewarded for the poem, he wrote the Response to Mahmud of Ghazni. Translation appeared in the anthology "Persian Literature". |
Beneath his reign so universal is justice that the lamb and the wolf drink at the same stream.
From Kashmir to the China Sea every nation acknowledges his glory.
As soon as the infant's lips are moistened with its mothers milk,
The first word it articulates is the name of 'Mahmud'.
In the banquet Mahmud is a heaven of liberality; in battle a lion or a dragon.
When he walks in the garden of roses, lilies spring up beneath his feet.
His splendour causes objects to smile like a grove in spring; it makes the air soft and the earth prolific.
The dew of his generosity falling on the ground, renders it like the flowery bowers of Iran.
