Sol 6.1

  1. Take peace as an irrevocable decree,

    and welcome the accord as an unbounded right.

  2. And sing today for your state's independence

    noble utterance and sacred hymns.

  3. And cry 'God is greatest!' for a banner over your fortress,

    held high, and for a light stretched across the horizons.

  4. And rival the great power through what has been achieved

    by the wondrous deeds of every magnanimous, valiant soul.

  5. And make certain of a hope that lay between you

    and them, amid rapprochement and estrangement:

  6. the fruit of resolve and proud dignity newly stirred,

    and the reward of prolonged anxiety and sleeplessness.

  7. You sought and accepted from their documents

    what contained no hardship or complication.

  8. You chose, and they accepted, showing esteem for you,

    what you chose after testing and preparation.

  9. And in five years you gained what

    the Pharaohs could not attain in dominion and building.

  10. And companions congratulated you, close in place,

    and in purpose, faith, and belief in God's oneness.

  11. Through every blameless, unsuspected effort,

    every tyrant and obstinate rebel bowed to you.

  12. And the mighty have supports in which they take pride,

    when a weak person seeks support.

  13. Some keys of power in your hands are a means,

    provided by time, to gaining all the keys of power.

  14. And we were content with their claim for an appointed term,

    as a contented person trusts one who keeps his promises.

  15. Your day belongs to the East, its kingdoms consoled

    by a day like it, fresh, flourishing, and witnessed.

  16. You led the way and invited everyone linked

    to you to take you as an example and follow.

  17. You dispelled a circumstance that meant humiliation for you,

    even if they considered it unintended.

  18. And it is the burning rancor in an avenger's breast,

    and the food in the belly of one with an ailing stomach.

  19. You sacrificed for one dear to you, second only to your Creator,

    what was precious, and worshipped the best object of worship.

  20. Better than life amid a usurper's plenty

    is the freedom to live on barren, rock-hard ground.

  21. You made a pact with them as free men, their equals,

    the pact free of bonds and restrictions.

  22. And they believed in what you trusted as a means

    to a praiseworthy outcome, as you hope.

  23. And you became their allies, united—

    you and they—by a lover's kindness toward the beloved.

  24. Should they withdraw, Egypt's goodwill will suffice them,

    without need for fortresses and watchposts within it.

  25. For no rising nation is content with its days

    with a shackle on its hand and a bond around its neck.

  26. They bestowed a little; even had they bestowed their kingdom,

    while remaining in Egypt, it would have been generosity's bane.

  27. How fine the policy of those among you who saw clearly,

    and so made water gush from between the boulders.

  28. And the party that brought its stratagem to bear

    shares the credit of the party that brought threats to bear.

  29. That one has its excuses for gentleness, and this one

    its excuses for aloofness and severity.

  30. If among us someone is excessive in his demands,

    among them is a faction with manifold schemes.

  31. Take from this affair what you cannot do without,

    as provisions for another stage and further effort.

  32. There is ample room on earth for your sheep to gambol,

    now that it has left the master's pasture.

  33. Your Nile will not turn aside from its channels,

    ever, nor will the lofty pyramid be demolished.

  34. Those people have their share of the valley's fruit,

    and their portion of nectar, there for the drinking.

  35. When you have taken from it enough for yourselves,

    let the deserts quench the deserts' thirst with it.

  36. And the earth moves on toward a time

    when the earth will reclaim everything lost.

  37. And guides have conquests beyond the reach

    of the strongest invaders through arming and recruitment.

  38. And the successful one among the people wins their obedience,

    not those who call for hatred and dispersal.

  39. Egypt's kings have been kings of the earth since antiquity,

    and how glorious and precious after renewal!

  40. And Egypt was a kingdom before ever

    a land was honored with rule, or a sovereign with glorification.

  41. Its throne stood before Solomon's throne,

    and David's sanctuary came after its sanctuary.

  42. And in Egypt every devout supplicant preaches,

    giving guidance, and every sweet-voiced singer sings out there.

  43. And Egypt has no adversary who does not acknowledge her,

    nor any representative who is not entrusted.

  44. Her glory was restored in Ismail's line

    by a reign more deserving of reverence and lasting remembrance.

  45. Most worthy of the highest title are the sons of a king,

    who inherited his throne, its timber fresh and green.

  46. The majesty of the crown is followed and attended

    by the people's freedom, white and black alike.

  47. Our love of the throne is what has been seen and is seen

    by the throne's lord: affection and support.

  48. Our travelers at dawn and dusk would ransom the crowned one,

    and we ask mercy for the valiant captives.

  49. May the crowned one reward his ministry in the valley

    with the good and sound guidance it desired,

  50. and the praiseworthy compassion it seeks for

    one far from reach, beyond the sea, barred away.

  51. The people, devoted to him, seek refuge with the king

    against calamity befalling their proud free men.

  52. When the deed is completed by those capable

    of completing it, they make it utterly secure.

  53. Where are those whom time's vicissitudes carried

    away from us, that we might join them in the festival's joy?

  54. And can a homeland's sons rejoice in what is present,

    while a group of its sons is absent?

  55. And have the gathered and the celebrating remembered

    the suffering of a prisoner among us and one in fetters?

  56. Can we feel secure with the obstinate adversary, when

    the adversary has not abandoned banishment and exile?

  57. Egypt never suffered under a conqueror as she suffered

    from one of you who envies you, and one who is envied.

  58. How often your foe sought your help against you,

    and went on stabbing one broken man with another.

  59. Take the road to the distant one and his followers;

    the road to him is not blocked.

  60. And hand him their document, so he may read it

    to you before ratification and correction.

  61. Perhaps, with the right fully secured for his nation,

    he will approach his foes, neither hostile nor met with hostility.

  62. Then he will feel secure with them after his misgivings,

    and they will feel secure, whether he calls or is called.

  63. So do not become an argument against them for a grieving man

    among the unyielding, nor a grievance for one ill-fated.

  64. At every moment I have a poem, repeated

    on my behalf among you by fate's turns, over and over.

  65. And never have I been suspect in my principle,

    nor ever a coward in pursuing my aim.

Sol 6.1