Sol 6.1

  1. O leader of the free, in word and deed,

    Return to rule, beneficent and just within it.

  2. Yesterday you left it illustrious, and you have

    returned to it more illustrious still, to remain there.

  3. And he who holds the keys has given it

    to you—how excellent he who governs and appoints!

  4. A part of you was won ten years ago

    by Egypt; today she asks of you the whole.

  5. And you took charge of her, an envoy for her prosperity,

    who chose messengers from among the companions of goodness.

  6. And he who handled affairs well in his youth

    is, in maturity, most worthy among the nobles to govern.

  7. You possessed a hand of iron; yet

    behind the iron lay a heart and a mind.

  8. You judge with justice among all people,

    and regard noble obedience as a virtue.

  9. Whoever comes willingly brings relief, and whoever turns away

    finds pardon and respite with you.

  10. An oath-breaker need not fear his oath, so long

    as he swore it under compulsion and in ignorance.

  11. The dispute may well end or endure,

    yet the country's worth is higher and more precious.

  12. Will obstinacy ever return, when you have left

    no room for the claim of the arrogant disputants?

  13. The noble people's call to God has left

    no disbeliever in God worshipping a calf.

  14. And yours is gentleness toward one stubborn in his nature;

    perhaps you can bring about a change in that nature.

  15. And firmness and honor lie in your withholding favor

    from one who is unworthy of care.

  16. The few may indeed become many,

    and the many may indeed become fewer.

  17. What ails the fallen of the struggle, that they have become

    today the victims of loathsome desires?

  18. A faction of the leader in Haman's hand

    exploited his devil, and he exploited them in turn.

  19. An idol deceived his worshippers, and they deceived him;

    and that worship was a farce.

  20. And they falsely accused the one who grants honor,

    so from him they received humiliation and abasement.

  21. And what they gained while the days were heedless,

    they fled with it as unwholesome food.

  22. One who leaves office willingly is not

    like one who leaves office dismissed.

  23. Has he gone against himself, or against

    fate? The outcast meets fire and fetters.

  24. The enraged man may go mad until you see him,

    though an old man, turned by his rage into a child.

  25. Time's shifting fortune is reckoner enough for them,

    and record enough of the wrong they have done.

  26. On your account they blamed the one who chose you, and incited

    against you the one who betrayed them; thus they were more misguided.

  27. Had they judged rightly, they would have followed you; and already

    their intercessor had turned away from them and withdrawn.

  28. With you the drama has reached its conclusion;

    and yours are the fullest role and act.

  29. So go on governing in Farouk's name, and uplift

    his independent people between his two thrones.

Sol 6.1