Sol 6.1

  1. Welcome to your friendship, Kaiser of the Germans,

    if your friendship were of use to the Sultan.

  2. And blessed be his good opinion of you,

    if you deserve the sweetness of kindness.

  3. You distracted him for a time, saying deceitfully:

    "This domain is under my protection and guarantee,

  4. and I am bound to defend, with my nation's might,

    the honor of the crescent and the nation of the Qur'an."

  5. And you stayed, touring the lands, receiving

    affection and honor in every place,

  6. until you learned the sources of his sustenance,

    and knew the distant and nearby parts of his realm.

  7. And another besides you watched, envious and yearning,

    the glances of your eye, lamenting deprivation.

  8. Your retinue had scarcely left the country, heading home,

    when you heard the country's lamenting women:

  9. "O Kaiser of the Germans, rescue us, for

    Crete has passed to the young Greek!

  10. Have you forgotten a pledge to the Imam and a binding covenant?

    This calamity was not foreseen!"

  11. Alas for the treasures spent

    on your two visits—treasures with impregnable foundations—

  12. enough for an army's provisions and ammunition

    for two years, with enemies in the field!

  13. A play of yours had scarcely delighted the Turks,

    farcical in its forms and colors,

  14. when you ended, with a truly saddening act,

    this play on the second evening.

  15. So return to your lofty throne and say:

    "This is my share from the sons of Osman:

  16. Indeed, with my gentleness and eloquence I gain

    what I did not gain by sword and fire."

  17. If my counsel reached the Sultan, never would

    the two feet of anyone like you tread his soil, even for a day.

Sol 6.1