Sol 6.1

  1. You have reached the hoped-for goal in your struggle.

    Have your peers attained what you have attained?

  2. And was your empowerment anything but a preparation

    For what you intend and what you seek?

  3. You went away, and longing filled what you left behind,

    And contentment lay in what you bring back.

  4. News came that shortened the distance

    To you; through it we witnessed what you witness.

  5. You visited the shrewd and powerful, and they welcomed you,

    As though you arrived with the valley and everyone within it.

  6. You renew memories of bygone dwellings among them,

    And those institutes have bound you to the pledge.

  7. There you acquired their learning, a resource

    For you today: with it you meet them and do battle.

  8. And the toast of affection was the finest thing that reached

    You, and the most delightful thing the tables held.

  9. Banquets only tempted you when, before them,

    Came the terms and foundations of the hoped-for peace.

  10. You were not as pleased in spirit with what you ate

    As you were with what you agreed upon.

  11. You appeared before them with freely spoken words,

    And by evening they had become convictions among them.

  12. They acknowledged what they cannot refute,

    And lions grew still, and black serpents fell asleep.

  13. They restored your right to you, and right prevails,

    While your times give aid and your fortune rises.

  14. In the clear daylight you perfected means

    That those thunderous nights had flung about.

  15. And all the kingdoms resounded with what you won,

    And great were the trials you endured and still endure.

  16. They acclaimed the victory you are bringing to completion,

    Though no army moved and no commander took a step.

  17. The valiant hero is not the one who has fought in battle,

    But the one whom hardships have trained.

  18. Today you won over the reasonable enemy, after

    A time had passed when he was stubborn and defiant.

  19. And you befriended one: if all people understood

    His friendship, no one on earth would remain resentful.

  20. His troops will leave every city,

    Yet he is not expelled, nor are you his expeller.

  21. And from you he has encampments around the canal;

    By your command, his routes and lookout posts are guarded.

  22. You need only his friendship as an equal; he needs only

    Facilities and resources for him in the valley.

  23. There is no peace but your just peace, in which

    The benefits are equal for both sides.

  24. Should fear for the faithful Nile and its dams trouble

    A doubter, now that the reins have passed to you?

  25. You direct it between the two brothers, after

    Grievous calamities had treated the two brothers harshly.

  26. Will the centuries that have passed return today,

    So that grandfather and father may bear witness for today's son?

  27. There your worth is honored as it is here;

    Those far from you vie with those nearest to you.

  28. The people exalt you, for their glory lies in you,

    And in you are their virtues and their praiseworthy qualities.

  29. The whole realm musters to welcome you,

    And what it musters is indeed for the day of decision.

  30. It has come to receive its destiny from you today,

    And souls and arms have borne it.

  31. If all you desired embraced the world,

    There would be neither subject nor ruler in the world.

  32. The king of the valley quelled every alarm-monger,

    Leaving no doubter and no denier.

  33. And he gave you what pleased lofty honor, knowing

    That you are indifferent to all but his gifts.

  34. It was necessary that what you saw be seen

    By the discerning judge and critic he is for his state.

  35. Has the angry aggressor against you any remaining

    Excuse, except that he envies you?

  36. You shouldered his resolve and his worries for him,

    And what grieved you in him was his plotting against you.

  37. He thought the new order had come to fail you,

    But the new order came as your helper.

  38. You found the Labour men no different from others:

    Noble men whom a noble man met in goodwill.

  39. You drew near to him as a man of rank, and they drew near;

    No appointment was long delayed, and no promise-maker wavered.

  40. You found their leader a human being like yourself,

    Neither a giant nor a demon.

  41. If their opinions differ in their own affairs,

    Their opinion of your cause today is one.

  42. The faction has lost the position it held,

    And the faction will not regain what it has lost.

  43. Abandoning the prey angered it, so it attacked

    You, and what you are hunting baffled it.

  44. It wavered between the two paths, so concerning it

    Its followers have only stray conjectures.

  45. Its boys send it reeling in their seclusion,

    And base, unsaleable newspapers babble about it.

  46. Is one who governs, whose governance is sound,

    Like one who governs, whose governance is corrupt?

  47. Had the deprived man remembered what you sow,

    Some of what you reap would not have passed him by.

  48. Had you wished punishment on the wrongful aggressor,

    The leashes would never have left those necks.

  49. An erring man may find excuses with you,

    When one who errs deliberately finds none with you.

  50. I foretold the outcome whose credit is yours,

    And poems came to you from me with tidings of the unseen.

  51. I am the king's herald, and the king is certain

    That you will remain forever in the seat of the ministry.

  52. Your rule, which is truth and justice, prevails,

    And your standing with the people and the throne keeps growing.

Sol 6.1