1. Those brave soldiers perished,
And no trace of them remained.

2. Except the words of storytellers that they lived to fulfill
The purpose of a great man, then fell asleep.

3. They were devoted to building a mighty name,
Though their own names were but murmurs.

4. Your Lord makes the world subservient to the ephemeral,
And for the ephemeral and for Himself He has purpose.

5. So He casts some of His love upon it,
And mankind nearly deifies it.

6. Thus did Napoleon's troops love him,
Rising for his glory, standing tall.

7. Invincible armies, that would not be turned back or opposed,
Angelic hosts that would not be blocked or joined together.

8. The brave heroes of Waterloo were few,
While the enemy was vast in number.

9. They met head-on out of passion,
But without affection or peace.

10. Their passionate kiss was for them
A piercing blade that would not settle upon them.

11. Their embrace did not cure or soothe
Their fervent longing and urge to cling.

12. The Russian tenacity was fruitless,
And the allies were not mighty in attack.

13. The frost did not protect them, though behind it
Were fortresses in which they took shelter.

14. Victory was ordained for the French
Beyond what they thought and desired.

15. They were delighted by it, their souls
Intoxicated, and victory made sweet for them.

16. The rogue among them told his people
Of its momentous events.

17. He was a young man, marked as a leader,
Though solitude and darkness obscured him.

18. Broad of luminous brow, from which
Hair flowed like clouds' cascading showers.

19. His eyes, when stirred, two steel lamps
Filled with piercing light.

20. The eye sees him as a giant,
Awesome though of modest stature.

21. He passes them as they swell with pride
And exhaustion, so all of them doze.

22. When soldiers grow tired, it is no wonder
The tireless king of ambition remains alert.

23. He circled them and the wounded, checking on them,
Tenderly caring for the injured.

24. He left them to where the skulls and bones
Of the dead were piled up.

25. He surveyed what his hand had wrought, untroubled,
Beyond reproach or blame.

26. Only the voice of a sufferer broke his reverie,
As a dove fought at his side.

27. He approached to give aid, and tilted
A head weighed down by the mighty crowns.

28. He knelt upon the dusty earth
Where blood and ruins mingled.

29. He who never knelt except to God,
And whose kneeling propped up pillars.

30. He removed a bloodied garment from the lad,
As though its holes spoke.

31. He saw in its tatters wounds
Upon a body too weak to heal.

32. When consciousness returned to the anguished one,
Weakness and illness receded.

33. He saw with his two weary eyes
The one who stood beside him.

34. He wanted to confess what his features
Conveyed, but speech failed him.

35. Then he looked away and softened, shedding
Tears that illuminated his medallions.

36. He gathered all that remained of his strength,
Eloquence empowering his speech.

37. He cried, "You are the life of my life, my king!"
And he died with a smile upon his lips.