These gorgeous Mongolian graphics with Amgalant quotes are made by my sister Julie Bozza.

This last is a line from a poem found in the Penguin Anthology of Classical Arabic Literature, edited by Robert Irwin. Jamuqa, who knows a bit about battle poetry (joke), appreciated it in his last hours.

If you had only been with us at the
wedding-like battle, when red saffron blood was the perfume of heroes.

The sun was a flower, the evening, crescent
moons, the arrows were rain, and the swords were lightning flashes.

(translation by Bellamy and Steiner, Ibn Said al-Maghribi’s Book of the Banners of the Champions. In the Penguin, p. 301)

Images

The sun is a flower: ‘Poppies in the sun’ by jiimms
http://www.freeimages.com/photo/poppies-1331125

None of his sons were perfect: ‘Mongolian little girl’ by Vadas Robert
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:XMongolPeople4.jpg

Divine guidance: unknown photographer
https://twitter.com/Mongolia976/status/563922205772218368

He only knows: ‘Terelj skies’ by P Lechien
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Terelj_skies.jpg

Our children: ‘Mongolian Youth’ by Erhart Christoph
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mongolian_Youth.jpg