Sol 5.6

  1. It surged, giving the waterwheels free rein,

    And clearing a place for the flames.

  2. It passed like a swift thought, when

    A drowsy eye awoke from it.

  3. A hope in overwhelmed Yemen’s breast,

    Too mighty for the vastness of space, revealed itself;

  4.  

    And a winged conscience—the world witnessed

    Its compassion and tenderness upon the horizon;

  5. And a feeling for Qahtan’s sons, seething—

    The fire of battle renewed its surge.

  6. It heeds no distances in an age

    Whose horsemen raise the edifice of passion.

  7. Its fire devoured barriers and walls,

    Utterly, and shattered their bolts.

  8. Within it, Egypt welcomed a people

    Advancing from its past to settle firmly there.

  9. It bade farewell to the isolation that time had woven

    For it, from whose darkness came its shrouds.

  10. It cast off the ancient ages—all except

    Its historic glory or its faith.

  11. Then it met Arabism, thirsting,

    And confided its sorrows to her.

  12. From its distant age it rose toward Egypt,

    To meet its brothers in her broad embrace,

  13. After circumstances had intervened and hindered it,

    And nights had bewildered its thoughts.

  14. Its spirit overcame time and drove it back,

    Weary, its tyranny brought low.

  15. Its spirit took a path above it toward the spheres,

    Until it passed beyond time’s dominion.

  16. Your Highness, Prince—your momentous step

    Consoles our grieving hearts.

  17. You are the resonant voice of the Yemeni people;

    You are the mightiest of its resounding events.

  18. You are the feeling in its heart that awakened

    Its nerves and shook its whole being.

  19. You are its right hand in the Supreme Assembly,

    Protecting its leaders and committees.

  20. ،

    ،

    You are its great covenant, and you are the secret

    Within its soul; you are the sacred trust.

  21. You are the gateway of the age whose history awaits

    Its festival in the light of its dawn.

  22. You are the wellspring of life that God brought forth

    To rescue a thirsty nation.

  23. You choose the road for her, for the night

    Is pitch-dark and her eyes are bewildered.

  24. And you speak for your silent, oppressed people

    When it cannot express itself.

  25. It remained in long isolation until

    The world nearly claimed it had vanished.

  26. Those bound by kinship forgot their kinship with it,

    As though they were merely its neighbors.

  27. How could they fail to rescue a drowning man, exhausted—

    The waves tearing at his yearning soul?

  28. He cries for rescue, groaning in the torrent’s maws,

    While they look only at his fingertips.

  29. They claimed he was far away, though if he died

    Among them, there was room enough to hold his body.

  30. They rescued every nation from an enemy

    And rallied together to curb its aggression.

  31. Yet Qahtan called to them, crying out in terror of

    The vipers, while they emboldened his great serpent.

  32. Would that I knew what ailed them: they turned away from him

    And trampled his streaming tears.

  33. ؟

    Did they conspire to erase him from the face of the earth,

    Or deem his standing upon the earth too small?

  34. If the worth of his doomed people counts for little,

    Why, then, do they not seize his lands?

  35. Perhaps they will remember him whenever

    They look at the colors upon a map;

  36. Perhaps his cause will concern them if

    They study the nature of his flint;

  37. And perhaps history, in the museum of antiquities,

    Will point them toward his identifying mark.

  38. A wound bled in Syria, and Najd trembled,

    While Egypt’s eyes poured tears for it.

  39. Iraq sprang up, furious as a lion,

    When a fool subjected it to humiliation.

  40. ،

    And the Yemeni people, stirred in defense of honor,

    Drew its sword and shook its supple lance.

  41. Afflicted Jordan grieved as though

    The aggressors had already destroyed its Amman.

  42. Palestine concealed her bleeding wound

    And sprang up, furious for her neighbor.

  43. Syria’s catastrophe strengthened Syria’s parliament

    Despite its enemies, and raised its standing.

  44. Syria’s catastrophe united us, so there was no

    Arab who did not weep for its parliament.

  45. It became a heart that moves all the Arabs,

    Sending its artery coursing through their lands.

  46. France misunderstood its secret and proceeded

    To challenge its vigilant lions.

  47. She sought to tear it apart with a hand that

    Until yesterday had begged it for aid.

  48. She did not destroy its free structure, but

    Destroyed her own loudly celebrated reputation.

  49. ( )

    Where were her former heroes? They worshiped Hitler

    Abjectly, and sanctified his scepter.

  50. They recoiled from confronting him in the Seine’s sanctuary,

    Dreading his battle and his assaults.

  51. They kissed his two blades in the heart of Paris,

    Kneeling, and made gods of his fires.

  52. Will they shield their shame with the blood of a noble people

    Whose guests they themselves had once been?

  53. Let us die or live upon the earth as free people;

    May whoever can stomach humiliation never live.

  54. A people content to live imprisoned

    Is worth no more than its jailer.

  55. And a life preserved through degradation and humiliation

    Is not worthy of preservation.

  56. Blood that thrives upon oppression is filth;

    Its corpuscles are impure and treacherous.

  57. Every people has erased its dark legends

    And buried its idols beneath the earth.

  58. All the ages of humiliation have vanished,

    And all humiliated peoples have passed away.

  59. The worship of people by people has become impossible,

    And bearing chains has become treason.

Sol 5.6