Sol 5.6

  1. O you who rise above this world and all its adornment,

    True elevation is not clay raising clay.

  2. If you wish to see the noblest of all the people,

    Then look upon a king dressed in a pauper’s garb.

  3. Never abase yourself before a created being in hope of gain,

    For that is a weakness in you, a weakness in faith.

  4. Ask God for provision from the treasures He possesses,

    For it lies between the kāf and the nūn.

  5. Do you not see that everyone you hope in and look to,

    Among all creation, is a pauper, the son of a pauper?

  6. I see people content with the barest measure of religion,

    Yet I do not see them content with anything lowly in worldly life.

  7. So let faith free you from the worldly realm of kings, just as

    Kings let their worldly realm free them from religion.

  8. Were it not for the gloating of enemies possessed by envy,

    And for one who hopes in me coming to you in need,

  9. I would never have courted the world for the prizes it offers,

    Nor spent my honor upon it, nor my faith.

  10. But rivalry with my peers drives me

    Toward undertakings that I can see will destroy me.

  11. And I had thought I might remain in a state

    Where I have neither religion nor a worldly fortune that favors me.

Sol 5.6