Sol 6.1

  1. O my people, it was ordained that you should see me as a poet,

    Free in conscience, and that you should see me as a prose writer;

  2. And I please you with thanks when you are rightly guided,

    And I displease you with rebukes when you go astray.

  3. Yes, poetry is a craft through which I would rise,

    Were I not living among you, a bewildered stranger.

  4. My reward from you is your understanding of what I proclaim

    Among you, when the striver awaits someone to reward him.

  5. I do indeed ask Egypt, wealthy as she is,

    For some of what the gardens give the bird.

  6. And the free man is one who accepts roaming and is content

    With his feathers instead of captivity in gardens, migrating away.

Sol 6.1