Sol 6.1

  1. My kingdom occupies a sixth of the earth.

    My power to grant and withhold there is absolute.

  2. Within it are all the mighty peoples,

    and every conquering man of war.

  3. But it has few seaports,

    its land lying far from the seas.

  4. My holdings in the Baltic have not freed me

    from the need for a nearby outlet elsewhere.

  5. And what use can I make of the Black Sea's surging waters,

    as long as it remains hemmed in by the Lion's army?

  6. So I cannot make my way across it,

    as long as the Turks hold this strait.

  7. The nearer of the two Easts has defied me;

    I shall surely pursue my ambition in the farther East.

  8. And I see no land for my stout people

    more fertile than the lands of China.

  9. If its Mongols and the Tatars submit to me,

    I shall accomplish what Alexander never accomplished.

  10. Among them will arise one like Timur Lenk,

    for me, and like Attila, mighty and ruthless.

  11. Then I shall conquer the world and subdue it,

    as Peter the Great, my forefather, desired.

  12. All I need from the Caucasus and the Cossacks

    is that they form the girdle of my rising realm.

  13. But I am wary of the schemes of the powers,

    unless I mislead them with the strongest stratagems.

Sol 6.1