Sol 6.1

  1. Resume your struggle, with your wishes fulfilled,

    And complete your victory, peaceful in your conquests.

  2. You recovered from an illness that lingered; and for

    Your patience, your reward grew, in the past and in time to come.

  3. So you came in lasting health for doing good,

    Sounder in speech, deeds, and intentions.

  4. And still you treat the afflictions of a faction,

    Deluded, with its pretexts and ailments.

  5. They threatened rebellion or a conference—

    Has the day of disciplining the bar, then, passed?

  6. They pave the way with deception for exoneration,

    And press for it with their appeals.

  7. If they report about you what an eyewitness disproves,

    Then what harm can those reports do you?

  8. So leave their newspapers to reveal their positions,

    For they are the worst denunciations against them.

  9. They demand of you the hard and arduous, despite

    The policies and revolutions they put forward before.

  10. And why do they lay thorns in paths

    You have found straight and safe?

  11. For if they govern, they fail at even easy tasks,

    And if left free, they spread alarming rumors of the impossible.

  12. Do they turn from seeking swift, dreadful death to

    Seeking rule, power, and vengeance?

  13. And do they want, amid flowing blood, for themselves—

    And amid the dragging of victims—festivals?

  14. And after deceiving the ignorant with their promises,

    They have not ceased exploiting ignorance.

  15. A minority's anarchy ruins a kingdom;

    So how can you allow the anarchy of majorities?

  16. None has a say in the matter but one who fully grasps it,

    And standing belongs only to competence.

  17. Neither representation nor consultation is for one who uses

    The factions of whim as tools for his livelihood.

  18. The constitution is a trust in your keeping; you safeguard it,

    And you are best able to safeguard trusts.

  19. If you wish, its fulfillment has no appointed time;

    And if you wish, its fulfillment comes a few hours later.

  20. You want it to unite the people's ranks,

    Not for strife and the division of communities.

  21. So let those who seek it fear God concerning it, for

    Its pursuit is not through falsehoods and shameful deeds.

  22. I was alarmed by what a faction among them had committed,

    And came to seek intercession for the offender.

  23. Perhaps they have, for the obstinacy they displayed,

    An excuse in your eyes, and a veil over what is hidden.

  24. Among them are my kinsman, my neighbor, and my partner; and I have

    A claim to consideration from them all.

  25. And if a ransom and sacrifice from them

    Would reconcile you to them, it lies in renouncing enmities.

  26. You have indeed grasped the realities of the world,

    And the men of fancy have given you no rest.

  27. Were they to go to extremes in doing good, you would help them

    In hastening it and in their pronouncements.

  28. The group stubbornly disputes my opinion and my belief;

    But does it ever dispute my honorable deeds?

  29. Bearing mountains is easier for a person than

    Bearing harm and arguing with a defiant person in the wrong.

  30. Would that the poems, when I dispatched them as warnings

    In every quarter, had returned as glad tidings.

  31. And would that, after I had made them binding pledges

    For both sides, I had undertaken diplomatic missions.

  32. Had I the power, I would make all people

    Angels, and the whole earth gardens.

  33. O servant of the people in a party through which you reached

    The highest leadership, richly endowed with honors,

  34. And free, loyal servant of the crown, from which

    The ministry won guarantees through you,

  35. And controller of the Nile, which you protect and guard,

    With mighty barrages and overflowing reservoirs.

  36. So its supplies give you no fear of shortage,

    Nor does the surge of excess water frighten you.

  37. And the engineer has his control of the watercourse,

    And to the sky belong the springs of the lakes.

  38. The East took its model from your valley,

    In government, traditions, and customs.

  39. And their affections drew its peoples together

    Before the harbors and airports drew near.

  40. You began with the Persians and Afghans, winning

    Their hearts through safeguarded covenants.

  41. And friendship, freely given, compensated every kingdom

    For its agents' rights and privileges.

  42. And a tyrant on earth, assailing it, grew pliant,

    And the Almighty of the heavens had aided you.

  43. You kept taming him until he felt secure; then if

    You pleased him once, he pleased you many times.

  44. If there must be a covenant binding you to him,

    Then the covenant is better than such appeasement.

  45. Then tomorrow the world will not be too narrow for you and him,

    Once equality and sincere friendship prevail within it.

  46. You outstripped my expectations in reaching what my homeland desired,

    And my nation, and you surpassed the prophecies.

  47. You will surely decide its case, with no need

    Of proofs and testimonies concerning it.

  48. And you are the highest model for one seeking

    Means, aspirations, and goals.

Sol 6.1