Sol 5.6

  1. Usama—then the fierce, ravening lion—was met

    in the forest by a hunter of lions and leopards.

  2. The hunter spoke, his hand gripping its rifle,

    putting to him this reproachful, scornful question:

  3. “Lion, tell me: why are you so passionately bent

    on killing a grazing herd and its cowherd?”

  4. He answered, “Ravenous hunger drives me to kill; but ask

    the one who kills for sport, while blood runs freely.

  5. I may indeed seek to take a life in vengeance,

    but killing from caprice is not killing for revenge.

  6. Sometimes an assailant may force me to kill,

    and no shame attaches to a killer compelled by necessity.

  7. In killing lies my life; I shall thank the One

    who, for that purpose, endowed me with fangs and claws.

  8. I fast throughout my day; it is enough that my breaking-fast

    be the fresh blood of a gazelle I have hunted.

  9. You are surely the weakest creature, yet I marvel

    at the magic and mysteries within your weapon.

  10. That barrel with which your two hands toy—

    the lightning from it nearly snatches away my sight.

  11. A tremor overtakes my heart

    when I hear its thunderous, roaring voice.

  12. For fear of you I shall forsake this land;

    after today you will hear no further news of me.

  13. You are my most hostile enemy, hunting me down,

    yet of all my foes, you most deserve my esteem.

  14. Once I guarded my lair lest any beast

    prowl around it—for I was that fierce, ravening lion.

  15. When I roar, I am like a thundercloud;

    when I pounce, I am the very likeness of a hurricane.

  16. I may attack a buffalo and strike it down

    with one blow of my right paw, leaving lasting marks.

  17. How many beasts press deep into the thickets,

    yet not every fanged beast there is bold.

  18. But today, despite the confidence within me

    in my strength, I fear your blazing gunlock.

  19. Night, when it darkens, conceals me from you;

    day is a betraying informer, not a concealing veil.

  20. I confess my sins, which have grown so great—

    if only my confession could take my sins away!

  21. If I kill an evildoer who attacks me,

    you have killed the faithful, who were no villains—

  22. with sword, with fire, with suffocating gases,

    and by unleashing the deadly, spreading plague.

  23. When we intend to strike, we warn you;

    you slaughter us without warning.

  24. We draw near and kill with fangs at close quarters;

    you kill with fire despite the distance.

  25. The earth was ours as a realm before your creation

    from the loins of a banished ape, an eater of mice.

  26. If you doubt, ask the men of learning; they will acknowledge

    what I say—for the ignorant cannot equal the knowledgeable.

  27. Yes, I cause harm whenever hunger makes me a predator,

    but when I am sated, I do no harm.

  28. I do not choose killing for love of its allure;

    rather, my need itself impels me to choose it.

  29. I was created a fierce lion in the heart of the forest,

    and I had no choice in my own creation.

  30. Indeed, I am proud to be a lion,

    so do not fault my nature and my ways.

  31. I found myself in the forest a savage, predatory lion;

    can scornful mockery change anything in me?

  32. You do not know what my soul deems good,

    for your head contains thoughts unlike mine.

  33. As for life, it is not, as they claim,

    divided between the wicked and the righteous.

  34. I cast my eye over living beings and observe them,

    and encounter before me nothing but villains.

  35. The strong surely survives, and life is struggle—

    on land, at sea, in the skies, and in the den.

  36. None but the bold lives with honor,

    and none but the coward dies abased.

  37. You would imprison me in a cage if you could,

    but a free cub, born of the free, abhors prison.

Sol 5.6