Sol 6

  1. I returned to call upon the trace, if only the trace could hear.

    And I ask about the one who brings me misery and care.

  2. He had been close to my sight and within my reach.

    Now I hope imagination may bring him near.

  3. If what you have done to the homeland is an injustice,

    Then my silence toward you would be an injustice to you.

  4. Men of the homeland, neither anger nor contentment will avail.

    Have the times turned strange, or has resolve departed?

  5. Today affairs have come to resemble one another, and

    Their outcomes have grown so obscure that ignorance and knowledge seem equal.

  6. Will you fight each other today, morning after morning,

    When peace has embraced your loved ones and your enemies alike?

  7. And when those who denied it acknowledged your right,

    The great and powerful among its own people assailed it.

  8. Your hands built its foundation, yet you fell into dispute.

    Now its destruction at your hands is feared.

  9. For a time you struggled in God's cause, but now

    Your effort and resolve have turned to yourselves.

  10. You have wronged the generous Nile; if it repaid

    A wrongdoer, poison would flow from it to those who drink.

  11. Was it right for a voice to call out

    Only for an impetuous delusion to silence it by force?

  12. And was it prudent for a government to rise

    Only to be met with wounding attacks and abuse?

  13. Can a brave heart fall still before an attacker

    When its pulse burns like kindled coal?

  14. If the proud man's body were like his spirit,

    It would exhaust the iron that scorches blood and flesh.

  15. An oppressive order is more harmful than disorder.

    And the offense is easier to bear than punishment gone wrong.

  16. Better than one who hears truth knock at his ear

    Yet keeps silent instead of supporting it are the mute and the deaf.

  17. What you hope for while discord stands between you

    Is more harmful than foreign protection or annexation.

  18. There are two factions: one shelters behind conviction,

    While the other is guarded by dark, powerful steeds.

  19. Shall we accept your appeal to arbitration after this,

    When judgment belongs, after God and the homeland, to the people?

  20. Whoever shares the majority's view

    Has made every argument after its case mere stones thrown.

  21. Whoever trusts himself with command and prohibition

    Is best suited to forbearance and pardon.

  22. When common aims bring a group together,

    Each young man is a noble aid to his companion.

  23. And if selflessness is required when rewards are given,

    A title and a name are enough for a man from his age.

  24. Whoever makes nearness to God his aim

    Rises above gain, however great the gain.

  25. What harm would there be if you made the matter a partnership?

    This one would have a share, and that one a share.

  26. Whoever among you does not fight can stand guard.

    Whoever among you is not a leader can be a follower.

  27. What harm if one peer tests another?

    Afterward there will be either praise or blame,

  28. Either a splendid victory or defeat.

    Then the one who steered the ship will sink in standing or rise.

  29. And if those conditions are not offered generously,

    Neither seizure nor coercion is being pressed upon you.

  30. Your loss is not the aggression of those with power over you.

    Your loss is the failure of those you trusted.

  31. Even your fierce opponent felt pity for you.

    The opponent now hopes for peace between you.

  32. If yesterday's gentleness and goodwill escaped you,

    Today's tact and good character are still within your reach.

  33. I fear that conditions now certain to be yours

    Will turn into mere wishes.

  34. Will a proud people return to the dust in humiliation

    When its rising generation aims for the stars?

  35. And will Egypt falter after

    Upper Yemen followed its example, and Syria followed too?

  36. May this be the last of your trials,

    So that the doubter grows certain and the anxious finds rest.

  37. Return as one rank before time, and rescue

    Your country before the arrow passes through.

  38. Do not distance one helping side from the other.

    This one is your maternal uncle; that one is your paternal uncle.

  39. There can be no feast until God reunites you,

    And children, father, and mother come together in harmony.

Sol 6