Sol 5.6

  1. Four festivals vied for you,

    each distinct, from four distinct faiths:

  2. Easter, Eid al-Fitr, and Nowruz, preceded

    by the Feast of Unleavened Bread—the roses thronged with bees.

  3. They came swiftly, racing one another at full rein,

    nearly outstripping, in longing, hope’s farthest reach,

  4. within a span of twenty days, beginning

    when, through you, it found healing from the maladies it had suffered.

  5. And no wonder they longed for a king

    proverbial for every glory and every good.

  6. Through him Time’s succeeding ages were granted their turn, and

    its present days won redress from its former days.

  7. Through him the latter days of Time came to wear

    a glory that takes the place of jewels and splendid robes.

  8. So live safe for all Time, O son of those most generous to Time—

    no, rather, to one who seeks refuge from it, and one possessed of hope.

Sol 5.6