Sol 6.1

  1. We wept, but neither weeping nor grief availed.

    And we remain in abiding anguish, unchanged.

  2. Their ships sailed away with my cherished loved ones,

    And never did the ships return with my loved ones.

  3. Who, then, will carry my yearnings from me to them?

    Perhaps my place may draw nearer to theirs.

  4. Beloved of the homeland, dearest of all, you departed as its martyr,

    And around you, the homeland's people were army and fortress.

  5. Ruthless death enfolded you; had death accepted

    Their lives as ransom to spare you, they would not have withheld them.

  6. A year of separation and its bitterness has passed over them,

    Yet they found no solace for your loss, nor expected any.

  7. They gathered to honor the pledge they hold toward you,

    And praised you, as the duty they owe you demands.

  8. And brought the finest of what had been seen and remembered

    Of your immortal life story, by eye and ear.

  9. Today they revive the memory of their loss of you,

    So towns and cities grieve and tremble.

  10. And on this day discharge the royal duty with due care,

    And uphold the virtues they ordained and the customs they established.

  11. They urged one another to uphold the trust you fulfilled,

    And each is a helper and close friend to his companion.

  12. Every protégé you fostered in Egypt

    Is forever a brother and son to you among the foremost.

  13. And whoever based his building in this world

    On your foundation has a firm pillar in the next.

  14. Life and age are not the passing of time; rather,

    A man's benefactions in it are his life and age.

  15. You left this world, and nowhere

    In the world, amid such terror, is there comfort or safety.

  16. Would that you could witness this apocalypse,

    With counsel in your heart and authority in your hand.

  17. When war is kindled among people for aggression,

    Courage and cowardice are equal in war.

  18. They wrought it without Time's command or leave,

    And do ravening beasts need a command or leave?

  19. Killing has become a science and an art among them,

    Yet science and art exist for life alone.

  20. Earthquakes and thunderbolts spring from their hands;

    With these, blows and thrusts are dealt on earth today.

  21. Has Time replaced earth's people with jinn?

    For they have done what the jinn would not do.

  22. They want it as booty, while they lay it waste;

    Did they think sensibly about what they wanted, or go mad?

  23. And if anyone among them survives to rebuild it,

    Can the wounded and emaciated build?

  24. And if a part of it survives for those who wronged it,

    Tomorrow it will be nothing but a prison for the offenders.

  25. The ties and roads between them have been severed,

    So transport and shipping serve only destruction.

  26. And life's necessities have grown scarce for them,

    So the wind is almost measured out and weighed.

  27. Can weapons and other things take the place of food?

    And can the back stand straight if the belly is empty?

  28. And whoever acquires wealth amid the world's crisis—

    Loss is more fitting for him than his sinful profit.

  29. Do the hungry seek their food from the soil,

    Yet refuse it unless clarified butter is mixed into it?

  30. The blending of flour angers them, while around them

    War grinds the bodies of others.

  31. And if the people find no nourishment in their own character,

    Then neither wheat nor cotton will ever sustain the people.

  32. Mere subsistence is burden enough today

    For those whose hardship kept them from storing up in times of plenty.

  33. And what food would I not loathe in sorrow,

    Even if quail and manna were before me?

  34. Would birds ever desire a branch if it were bare

    Of clustered fruit and leaves?

  35. And can feeling and mind attain a goal

    When feeling is disturbed and the mind confused?

  36. And where can a man of luxury find or see sheep,

    If the rich man's sheep have lost their pasture?

  37. And I appeal to their nobles on behalf of the needy,

    For the wealth of a Hatim or a Ma'n among today's people.

  38. And Time's vicissitudes have preoccupied its people,

    So none remains to feel sympathy or show kindness.

  39. And I would gladly consent to selling and pledging myself,

    To rescue them, if sale and pledge were possible.

  40. Whoever bears his people's burden cannot find ease

    Of mind for an hour, nor rest for his eyelids.

  41. So who will bring rainclouds to earth's blaze, in mercy

    And kindness, that the rainclouds might quench the flame?

  42. And who will grant me an hour on earth after peace,

    To witness who rises and know who bows down?

Sol 6.1