Sol 5.6

  1. Which of the kingdoms—which one of them,

    throughout the ages, has not raised your sail?

  2. O you, radiant through monuments and pages—

    lost was whoever let you be lost.

  3. Indeed, eloquence—and excellence

    of reason—have ever remained your treasure.

  4. Forever you remind us of those

    who spread your radiance across the world,

  5. who built your beacon high,

    resplendent, and built your citadels,

  6. and through you held dominion over existence—

    a mastery born of your invention—

  7. until, when you came to humankind

    with the masters of its wisdom, it obeyed you.

  8. Yet today you are disowned, as though

    it forgets your favor and beneficence.

  9. Press on, my life be your ransom, across the whole expanse

    of your waters—the multitude means to swallow you.

Sol 5.6