The letters are an apology and the envoys bear the news—
truth is to be followed and goodness is at hand. (1)
War is quiet and the horses stand poised;
peace is readily had and the shade is long. (2)
If you repent, your repentance will be accepted;
but if you refuse, the kūr (saddle-packs) (3) are already cinched
upon the backs of the mounts, (4) ready to carry us
back to Damascus, whose gate lies shattered (5) and shut.
I am a man whose business and desire are neither a drum that rattles
nor a flute nor a lute;
nor do I seclude myself with wine, a censer of perfume,
and a coy woman, all languor (6) and frivolity.
I do not spend the night with my belly bloated from satiety
while a companion beside me lies hollow-bellied (7) and exhausted.
Never has this world lifted me to greed for a single day,
nor have its promises (8) ever deceived me.

Among his other verses:

O dweller of the lofty city who exults
in its castles, fortresses, and caverns,
know that there is no glory save for the one who is mighty in himself—
by his cavalry, his infantry, and his swords.
And by a white banner that has been raised (9)
on the crest of the tents for his neighbour and ally,
a people who, when the fray grows fierce, bring the foe low
and heal their spirits with their blows and steadfast stand. (10)
He was not content (11) with ancestral honour alone
until he caused the ancient (12) glory to tower by adding to it what is new. (13)

That same year Qābūs ibn Washmkir seized Jurjān, Ṭabaristān, and the surrounding districts.
In it as well, the caliph al-Ṭāʾiʿ li-llāh married Shāh Nāz, daughter of ʿIzz al-Dawla ibn Būyah; it was a grand wedding.