Sol 6.1

  1. Is the awaited decision yours or ours?

    And does its outcome rest with you or with us?

  2. And how will you proceed toward us tomorrow?

    And how will you circle around us tomorrow?

  3. And how is the way to what was desired

    by whoever inspired you and whoever instructed you?

  4. You filled this sack there;

    so pour it out upon the people here.

  5. And deliver, as you wish, the decisive pronouncement,

    whether your judgment does harm or good.

  6. It is nothing but the conscience of the age,

    with which you return, appearing among us,

  7. and, after your return, engross hearts

    with it—and ears and eyes as well.

  8. And carry out in Egypt what was written

    for Egypt by the register, and what it recorded.

  9. And give benefits to those who seek them,

    on condition they be measured and weighed,

  10. and find their consciences trailing after those benefits,

    until they are sold and pawned.

  11. So here is their defiant man, obedient,

    and here their mighty man, abased.

  12. And each is driven along at his appointed time,

    almost coming to you to ask permission.

  13. And in one homeland you witness brothers

    turned enemies, who did not recognize their homeland.

  14. They pelt one another with insults,

    not with swords or spears.

  15. An angry man accuses those who turn away

    from him and his band of vileness.

  16. He sets himself apart, behind the ranks,

    saying: I am the people—I alone, I!

  17. And he rejects the sway of others,

    even if whoever held sway brought good.

  18. Nor does he approve of what another built,

    even if what he built were the homeland's fortress.

  19. As though the country had rejected his equal

    and brought him forth alone as a mine.

  20. And a wavering man, his voice surging

    in Egypt, and his whispers in London,

  21. found his excuses in discord,

    so discord became his habit.

  22. And the most unjust wrongdoer is he who complains

    to the foreigner, whether far or near.

  23. Whoever gives the adversary power over his people

    gives that adversary power over himself.

  24. And a shrewd man tamed his enemies

    and pleased them, granting safety and seeking it.

  25. He built his authority through favors,

    but the favors and what he built were lost.

  26. And had he wished—so active in word and deed—

    he would have folded up the newspapers and imprisoned tongues.

  27. His illness bent him, and he buckled,

    though a mountain blocking him would not have made him bend.

  28. And when he departed, his supporters defected,

    becoming his worst enemies in their attacks.

  29. He still hopes to return

    to what became impossible and could not be.

  30. And a successor, assured of the path

    toward what he concealed and what he declared,

  31. went midway between his two extremes, neither

    harsh in his dealings nor pliant.

  32. Perhaps the ship, after

    he took command of the ship, will reach safety with us.

  33. And newspapers clamor with what is unseemly,

    yields no benefit, and is not worth keeping.

  34. They recount what lies hidden in time,

    as though they had a storehouse in its keeping.

  35. And they find a ready market on both sides—

    among those who doubt them and those who are convinced.

  36. This one flies about with them, spreading rumors,

    and that one bows to them, submitting.

  37. Yet not everyone who follows a principle

    believes in his principle.

  38. How often this age has turned people about

    for life within it, and how often shaped them!

  39. Those people are sick; I treat them

    for their disease, after it has grown chronic.

  40. And I bear their burdens for them,

    until I am banished or imprisoned.

  41. As though I had come among them

    only to grow angry or grieve.

  42. If blood could wash away time's sin,

    I would wash away its wrongs for them with my blood.

  43. Had I not lived among them as a poet,

    I would not have tasted this grief and hardship.

  44. Had I been a merchant among them,

    I would have had ease and wealth.

  45. In hardship we have carried the ancient inheritance

    today, from our yesterday into our tomorrow.

  46. And what predecessors before us brought about,

    successors after us will pay for.

  47. And the snare some of us laid

    for others has caught us all.

  48. We are the ones who summoned the adversary

    and brought him as an arbiter among us.

  49. He drowns us in hopes at times

    and gathers us with hopes at times.

  50. If he wills, he unleashes troops; and if

    he wills, he unleashes meticulous surveillance.

  51. He may invoke justice, luring others on,

    to tempt whomever he wishes to tempt.

  52. No conquering invaders have ever

    gone so far across the earth as he has.

  53. We stood still, and the peoples of the world passed us;

    oh, if only we were with them—if only!

  54. Egypt has tried her parties:

    who, then, has protected Egypt, and who fortified her?

  55. She has grown weary of the differing planters:

    where is the shade, and where is the fruit?

  56. Do you know? Then I ask her: which of us

    is a martyr for her cause—which of us?

  57. And who within her is the great leader,

    by bringing our ranks together today?

  58. And who does not negotiate with that adversary,

    while he remains as he is in our land,

  59. and guarantees the people whatever

    of their wishes the people want him to guarantee?

Sol 6.1