Sol 5.6

  1. To him who has alighted on felicity’s horizon,

    distinguished by leadership and sovereignty;

  2. who has trodden al-Simāk beneath his soles,

    the outstretched Arm serving him as a pillow:

  3. To your justice I complain of the tyranny of Fortune,

    straining to the utmost in opposing me,

  4. for you have taken hold of its reins,

    and no hand but yours has ever held them.

  5. I complain, too, of a country where my censure stands confirmed,

    though a man does not speak ill of his native land:

  6. What a wonder—I saw the free man made a slave

    there, while the slave is hailed as lord;

  7. there I witnessed merit counted deficiency,

    and deficiency counted merit—even increase;

  8. how many a man present has vanished there,

    and how many an absentee has won the certificate;

  9. how many among the people are shrewd and discerning,

    yet through their wit have never reached their aim;

  10. and how many a man bereft of understanding has come

    to have the certificate brought to him in his absence.

  11. Here I am, dying from all I suffer

    there—come in time to save me with the certificate.

  12. I fear no misery while you are with me:

    can a man be miserable when he has felicity?

Sol 5.6