Sol 6.1

  1. Rule and authority have passed to you,

    And in what has passed to you lie justice and benevolence.

  2. Your declaration came forth in all its integrity; and is there

    Any declaration for you after it but deeds?

  3. Today the people find relief from harm,

    And every matter has its appointed time and season.

  4. And your most faithful peer's health returns through what

    You arranged and the brethren supplied him with.

  5. He intimated to you what he wished, and indeed he

    Is ready and ever helpful in fulfilling your wishes.

  6. And heaven's decrees unfolded according to what

    Conjecture and reckoning had concluded about them.

  7. Dismissal and appointment are the good that

    Egypt wished for and Sudan desired.

  8. One era is chaos, and the era after it

    Is might, dignity, and security.

  9. Those who oppressed have departed; had they not

    Fled, the homelands would have fled from them.

  10. And their era has passed; no age bearing the like of what

    Their souls bore will come.

  11. Was their affliction one of months or of ages?

    And were they a band of men or a plague?

  12. And was it representation governed by whims, or

    Calamities? Was that consultation, or tyranny?

  13. They stripped the land of its fruits and gold,

    While its people were hungry and thirsty.

  14. No sooner had they taken the chair than they were terrified

    By the whirling and shaking beneath it.

  15. And after their misdeeds upon it, they realized

    That it held no guarantee of their staying.

  16. Had they abandoned it willingly, there would not

    Have been these regrets and sorrows.

  17. Was the excuse they falsely claimed anything but

    A coward's excuse? And no coward can rule.

  18. And was it over the constitutional crisis, or out of greed for

    Those spoils, that the eagles rose?

  19. And is it what the righteous brought, or

    What Satan instituted to sow discord?

  20. They are unfit for it, yet will not leave it

    For the capable and their peers to tend.

  21. If it is in their hands, they play havoc with it;

    And when they relinquish it, it gains honor and they are abased.

  22. They broke its chains, and after

    They entered, there was submission only to your judgment.

  23. They called it a sacrifice, yet facing them

    In the house was neither executioner nor jailer.

  24. And they scattered, floundering; they had no

    Eyes or ears for the matter.

  25. Had it known what they committed in its name,

    That edifice would have fallen upon them.

  26. It was no conference, but a mourning assembly,

    Where consolation and solace were hard to find.

  27. There they mourned the market's opportunity, where

    Consciences were the prices paid for riches.

  28. Weeping over the fourth experiment, which, if

    They had sense, would be proof of their failings.

  29. They threaten you with fantasy; how often

    Those knights have run after fantasy!

  30. Allied for a difficult undertaking—yet over

    An easy one, did their oaths ever hold true?

  31. If they boycott you, you have no need of them;

    And if they attack, aggression will wear them out.

  32. Whoever goes playing with fire will not pass the night

    Without the flames taking hold of him.

  33. So let them raise a clamor in every pass,

    Provided no hand strikes you and no tongue assails you.

  34. Recklessly throwing themselves about; if

    The forces of order overlook them, bodies fling themselves down.

  35. For their country, were they the sacrificial offering, or

    Was their country the sacrificial offering for them?

  36. They donned the garments of those devoted to it, but

    These colors did not conceal the truth.

  37. Alas for a people whose wrongdoers exploit

    Its faith, so that faith brings it harm!

  38. It walks behind charlatans, just as

    The flocks walked behind wolves and went astray.

  39. I never thought they would return as of old—

    Egypt's idols—and idols would be worshipped.

  40. They seek rule, which is their passion, even if

    The sky falls and the settled world becomes desolate.

  41. What use is a majority to a faction

    If that majority has no standing?

  42. Not once have their numbers grown in the land

    Without every increase being a decrease.

  43. The worst politics is that which becomes a trade

    In which profit and loss are equal.

  44. Was it Urabi's fate or Gandhi's reach that

    That infatuated man went seeking through the land?

  45. And he walks behind his adviser, as though he were

    Pharaoh, with Haman walking before him.

  46. You loosened his rein yesterday, and he grew tyrannical; should

    A rein be loosened for one bereft of sound judgment?

  47. My grief for the martyrs, whom

    Gray hair had not reached, and whom the youths had incited!

  48. They sacrificed them at the festival, and theirs is

    Nothing but yesterday's defeat and abandonment.

  49. Such is the fate of people when they are ruled

    By their ignorant men, and boys wield power.

  50. What ails those whose watchword is swift, violent death?

    They have returned, and all their strength is defiance.

  51. And they spoke falsely of the throne, which is sacred; no

    Person had dared violate its sanctity.

  52. Calamities turned against them, and when they despaired,

    Reason faltered and their minds were lost.

  53. What ails the adversary, their friend yesterday,

    Who has now become a betrayer of their covenant?

  54. He was accustomed to praises when pleased with them,

    And to censure when angry with them.

  55. He enticed them, and they courted him; he gave to them,

    And they rebelled; he withdrew and turned away, and they softened.

  56. They folded up their letter, and his letter came,

    In it, every hidden matter was made public.

  57. And their envoy kept to his accustomed ways:

    Falsehood and slander were among his habits.

  58. They sent him bearing a complaint to the mighty one about

    The rule of their comrades—and it is surely humiliation.

  59. Woe to them, grasping all for themselves! Their motto

    On earth is: 'We—and after us, the flood.'

  60. They know no courage against the enemy,

    Yet against their brethren they are brave.

  61. Leave them and their familiar ways in their arena;

    Perhaps the arena will turn against them.

  62. And they may indeed be driven back to their excess,

    After it has ended, by prohibition and deprivation.

  63. Redressing wrongs is what you should punish them with,

    If punishment has a place with you.

  64. Whoever's name you do not revive through your vengeance

    Is destined for neglect and oblivion.

  65. And when their souls are constricted by grief,

    Your mercy and tenderness will embrace them.

  66. And perhaps after war there will be reconciliation, in which

    Hearts meet and grudges depart.

  67. You are the one among men stationed at a watchpost

    They kept and safeguarded for the dreadful day.

  68. And you prepare the balance of affairs;

    That balance was for your justice alone.

Sol 6.1