Sol 6.1

  1. O people of Marrakech, my soul trembling,

    the warner of your ignorance’s consequences spoke truly.

  2. After your deposed Abd al-Aziz, do we see

    Abd al-Hafiz uneasy upon his throne?

  3. He flees from you into a plunderer’s shackles

    when you flee in anger to your brothers.

  4. If you fault him, you have already faulted his brother; and if

    he steals, his brother stole before him.

  5. If he acted unjustly, would your patience

    with him not have been easier than splitting into factions?

  6. You are lost, as he was lost; so take your full share

    of the fate that had already befallen Egypt.

  7. You reminded her of divisive passions

    whose recollection strikes down anyone with ardent zeal.

  8. You were the rear of a caravan led by men

    who were blind; when its appointed hour came, it caught up.

  9. So, O reckoner of the two partners who, over

    the captives of your promises in Marrakech, struck their agreement,

  10. I am indeed suspicious of this silence; do you

    seek a benefit like the one those two obtained?

  11. O you adept at deceiving people, they

    have come to see you as adept at abandoning them.

  12. I have indeed known these paths since long ago;

    but will my knowledge of the paths save them?

  13. My prisons have grown so cramped that I cannot

    move my hand or bend my neck.

  14. Were it not for longing for the Bosphorus, no release would

    my soul have found this morning from the body.

  15. Would that, after despairing of its angels, I might

    die by drowning in its two depths, away from them.

Sol 6.1