Sol 6

  1. At your service; hear a tale full of wonders.

    Monuments and books bear witness to it.

  2. The sun of civilization once shone over your Egypt,

    Giving life, nurturing, and inspiring, never hidden.

  3. While the West groped blindly through the darkness,

    With neither sun nor shooting stars in its sky.

  4. The Nile obeyed the command of Pharaoh’s house,

    And their soil was amber, worked and circulated.

  5. Whether their kings ruled justly or oppressed the people,

    They held sway and built; no ruin or wreckage remained.

  6. They faced the changes of time, or bent

    The course of events, which followed as they hoped.

  7. Their pyramids stand firm, untouched

    By doubt, though days and ages pass.

  8. And Assyria’s house drew from their Euphrates

    Streams of gold that made the earth flourish.

  9. They raised impregnable cities; if the stars descended

    Upon them, their domes would gather round the stars.

  10. Their towers stand among the night’s stars in their courses;

    Their walls approach the sun’s celestial towers.

  11. How many armies they mustered, how many states they crushed!

    Syria submitted to them, as did the Romans and Arabs.

  12. And the people of Sidon, with Tyre: their realm

    Was mistress of the sea, by word and by lineage.

  13. The English wove upon their pattern,

    And before them the Romans longed to follow them.

  14. Their ships crossed the heart of the ocean, and

    In the farthest deserts we see their explorers make camp.

  15. Ask Carthage, or ask Cádiz, and likewise

    The land of the Matabil, where ivory and gold are found.

  16. They had colonies in every direction:

    How generous its vine, how sweet its grapes!

  17. Centuries passed while the Eastern sun still shone,

    And the West struggled in the darkness of ignorance.

  18. Yet success is followed by arrogance,

    And the successful are undone by diversion and play.

  19. So the children of those who strove and prospered slept,

    While the children of the West rose and sought more.

  20. Among their deeds was the raising of a hero

    To whom dark spears and keen Indian blades submitted.

  21. A graduate of a school, a student of philosophy;

    Knowledge joined with ambition tempts and captivates.

  22. He defeated the Persians, satisfied Egypt, then built

    A city bearing and recalling his name.

  23. Alexander, the daring hero, yet arrogant,

    Brought judgment on himself when anger mastered him.

  24. He offered a cup, and a cup brought him death;

    Sovereignty belongs to God and is not granted to a usurper.

  25. A poison spread through the East’s veins; its effects

    Still kindle it there, setting it aflame.

  26. In an interval of history, while the East lay dying

    And the West was in turmoil, learning was held in esteem.

  27. Damascus, Baghdad, and Cairo rose,

    And people attained what they sought, or came close.

  28. Yet they made the moons their guides:

    A soaring full moon, or approximation and hurried pace.

  29. One day their schools were filled with learning;

    The next, turmoil engulfed them with distress.

  30. Of the Umayyads, their leader said of them:

    They left no head without striking it.

  31. The Abbasids took revenge on them, then went

    To excess in their footsteps after calamity struck.

  32. The sword reached the heads of the Umayyads,

    And most of the Hashemites perished by killing.

  33. As for the Fatimids, their ruler’s deeds suffice.

    By God, what can ancestors and lineage accomplish?

  34. Meanwhile the West rose to glory,

    And among its inhabitants the nabʿ and gharab prevailed.

  35. From the Slavs and all the Franks,

    The Goths, Huns, Saxons, and their peoples.

  36. They passed power among themselves without falling asleep,

    And strengthened learning without being stopped by fatigue.

  37. Ages passed over them, pressing down with all their weight;

    Their darkness was dense, its lights obscured.

  38. But they tore through it, striking deep into it

    With a sword free of nicks and cracks:

  39. The sword of knowledge, the light of reason. Their peoples rejoiced,

    And learning and letters grew strong.

  40. O sun, will you visit and revive us?

    In the East, your noble children have arisen.

  41. Return to us, or life is suffering,

    Living is death, and seeking the heights is ruin.

Sol 6