and the Abbasid, and he lived on long enough to praise al-Mahdi. He is the one who said of him:
Your right hand appears to have been fashioned out of pure bounty—
no, your right hand itself is the very shape of generosity.(1)
From the radiance of your face the earth at dawn is all aglow,
while from your fingertips water flows even through dry wood.(2)
He also mourned Maʿn ibn Zāʾida:
Pause by Maʿn, then say to his grave,(3)
“May the early showers water you—once, and yet again.(4)”
O grave of Maʿn, how have you covered his munificence,
when by it both land and sea were filled to the brim?
You have encompassed generosity, though generosity lies dead;(5)
were it still alive, you would have been too narrow and split apart.
For nothing in him was other than generosity’s very face:
he lived a springtime season, then departed—farewell!
When Maʿn was gone, generosity and open-handedness went with him,(6)
and the twin peaks of noble virtues were left shorn.(7)
= Al-Marzuqi, Sharh al-Hamasah, pp. 934-938, 1228-1230, 1251-1254, 1360, 1597; Yaqut, Muʿjam al-udabaʾ, 10:166-178; Ibn Shakir al-Kutubi, Fawat al-wafayat, 1:388-389; Khizanat al-adab, 2:485-488; Ibn ʿAsakir, Tahdhib, 4:365-367.
(1) Al-Aghani and Khizanat al-adab read suwar ("images").
(2) The first line is found in Al-Aghani, 16/23; both the first and the second appear in Muʿjam al-udabaʾ, 10/168, Khizanat al-adab, 2/486, and Tahdhib Ibn ʿAsakir, 4/365.
(3) Sharh al-Hamasah by al-Marzuqi, Muʿjam al-udabaʾ, and Fawat al-wafayat have: “Alimma ʿala Maʿn wa qula li-qabrihi” (“Pause by Maʿn and speak to his grave”), whereas Tahdhib Ibn ʿAsakir reads: “Alimma bi-man lathama qawlan li-ghayrihi.”
(4) Al-Aghani and Khizanat al-adab read suqita (“may you be watered”).
(5) Al-Aghani, Sharh al-Hamasah, Muʿjam al-udabaʾ, Fawat al-wafayat, and Khizanat al-adab read: “bala qad wassaʿta al-juda...” (“Indeed, you have encompassed generosity…”).
(6) Sharh al-Hamasah, Muʿjam al-udabaʾ, and Fawat al-wafayat read: “… wa inqada” (“… and it ended”).
(7) The verses are recorded in Al-Aghani, 6/23-24; Sharh al-Hamasah by al-Marzuqi (1st ed.), pp. 934-937; Muʿjam al-udabaʾ, 10/168-170; Fawat al-wafayat, 1/389; Khizanat al-adab, 2/487; and Tahdhib Ibn ʿAsakir, 4/366. Sources add that Ibn Mutayr recited to the caliph al-Mahdi the two lines beginning “Adhat yaminuka…,” whereupon the caliph said, “You lie.” Ibn Mutayr asked, “Why, Commander of the Faithful?” Al-Mahdi replied, “Have you left any room in your poetry for anyone after your praise of Maʿn—‘Alimma bi-Maʿn…’—and the remaining lines?”