Sol 5.6

  1. You hold back, if You hold back, from the near reaches of favor—

    by ancient knowledge and the dictate of a Will.

  2. Supremely exalted are You: You have wronged no one by delaying him;

    whatever You decree concerning him is, in truth, founded on justice.

  3. Within the wisdom of delay lie a conqueror’s might,

    a Lord’s governance, and the impossibility of any partnership.

  4. You delay whatever You delay in its appointed place;

    no contrivance can require that it be brought forward.

  5. Whomever delay presses into the fetter of His decree

    is a captive for whom no ransom can be paid.

  6. How can what is held far back escape the bounds of its helplessness

    if You do not will to advance it so much as a single step?

  7. In the gaze of the Name “The Delayer” is a sovereign power

    that renders all powers incapable of any resource or strength.

  8. You looked toward those behind and held back their steps;

    and You advanced creation, one rank before another.

  9. In both gazes, the command and judgment they contain

    accord with the judgment of the eternal gaze.

  10. By the right of Your supreme Name, “The Delayer,” restrain me

    through it from my headlong rebellion—from a passion wherein lies my misery.

  11. And turn my enemies back from the objects of their desire,

    for they harbor an evil that has encompassed my solitude.

Sol 5.6