Sol 6.1

  1. Farewell, O harshest of calamities,

    and welcome to the good fortunes yet to come.

  2. Enough, O year: through you we have become

    a tale that fills the world with lessons.

  3. Deliverance appears to us, but when we resolve to act,

    we see a barrier blocking deliverance.

  4. Not even the Boer army, encircled

    by British troops with weapons aimed,

  5. with space closing in around it and its eyes blinded

    by the smoke of thundering guns—

  6. whoever escapes the tall spears

    is met by the chests of poised warhorses,

  7. and whoever yields is borne toward them

    on sword-edges above the streaming blood—

  8. is more wretched than the people of Egypt

    amid the epidemic's alarming onslaughts.

  9. And had anything but the epidemic struck Egypt,

    we would have preferred silence to complaint.

  10. For three months it has assailed her

    and carried off precious lives.

  11. Thousands—had we sent them off to war,

    they would have returned victorious with spoils.

  12. And had they spent a year in various deserts,

    they would have surged like brimming seas.

  13. It seems to me the epidemic deemed it its duty

    to undo the plans of the astute.

  14. For in the days of ignorance we did not lose what we have

    lost in the enlightened years.

  15. How many a night I spent a companion to grief

    and sleeplessness, in supplication and prayer.

  16. And if I dozed, I was roused in fright

    by the cries of weeping, bereaved mothers.

  17. One mother had her sons depart from her,

    and another was bereaved of daughters.

  18. This man was a loyal neighbor of mine,

    and that woman was one of the female followers.

  19. So I think I shall be dead by noon

    when I see a dead person in the morning.

  20. And a delirious man says: At night I encountered

    the circling demons of death.

  21. In their hands were gleaming swords,

    bright as the gleam of their blazing eyes.

  22. I said to them: Begone from us! Then they rose

    terrifyingly, like dust-scattering winds.

  23. The horizon nearly closed upon itself,

    and I almost saw the stars tumbling down.

  24. What can the government's stratagems do against an invader

    who has found the towns welcoming him?

  25. Whenever it pursues him in one place,

    it meets his deep-rooted tenacity.

  26. And he has help from the inhabitants

    against it, so his foothold is secure.

  27. To them, benefit and harm were alike,

    so they could not distinguish protectors from foes.

  28. Whenever they met physicians, they sought refuge

    and plunged into evil suspicions.

  29. They showed contempt for medicines

    and thought them deadly poisons.

  30. And they said: Leave us in our homes,

    for death is in the hospitals.

  31. Midwives make us independent of you

    for our treatment, as do charm-reciting healers.

  32. But for the scholars' neglect of them,

    they would not have let misgivings prevail.

  33. When they sought their guidance, they said: Seek help

    in patience, and submit to calamities.

  34. There is, you see, no escape from death,

    so we scoff at medicine and physicians.

  35. And contagion, though they condemn us,

    is nothing but the delusion of bewildered souls.

  36. And if it is a punishment, we have sought protection

    in the interceding mysteries of al-Bukhari.

  37. And indeed, we place our trust in God

    and have means of reaching Him.

  38. Nothing made my anger burn fiercer than my outrage

    against the headmen of the surrendering villages.

  39. They sinned, yet were unmoved by complaints,

    nor acknowledged those shameful deeds.

  40. No rebel who killed an innocent person

    and made his family drink the bitterness of dispersal,

  41. who feared no justice, and when it overtook him,

    met the judges' sentence with defiance,

  42. is more unjust than they, who made light

    of the trustworthy physicians' measures.

  43. Some departed this world, and some

    tossed about in dark prisons.

  44. Others were frightened by a warning from them

    that their punishment was surely coming.

  45. And another, carefree, makes merry

    in life's ease, like beautiful women at play.

  46. Each of them, fiercely enraged, conceals

    hostility toward newspapers and reporters.

  47. Come to us, O son of Tawfiq, come to us,

    praised on your return, looked to for forbearance.

  48. You rescued the land and its inhabitants

    and calmed the trembling hearts.

  49. You dispelled cares just as

    sunlight dispels the dark clouds.

  50. No shepherd of a flock, who left it

    to seek out fertile lowlands,

  51. then, on returning, saw it scattered,

    torn apart by predators in the wilderness,

  52. could be more compassionate and gentle than you,

    or deadlier against unjust assailants.

  53. O Abbas, you restored the life of a people

    who find life's pleasures in your favor.

  54. But for the shade of your justice, they would not cherish

    living on, nor ward off the evil of death.

  55. We see you with eyes filled with light

    and hearts brimming with love for you.

  56. So we find solace for our dearest ones and forget

    precious treasures laid within the graves.

  57. And we jostle one another, enraptured

    by your cavalcade on the path of righteous deeds.

  58. We lay our crimson cheeks as carpets,

    whereas in your absence they were saffron-yellow.

  59. All the beauty in them had withered,

    but when you returned, they returned radiant.

  60. You flooded our hearts with joy, and

    its signs were our shining faces.

  61. You water the desert's seedlings, and they live

    and shine with smiling flowers.

  62. We are the seedlings your grandfather planted in lands

    where your favors are as numerous as the plants.

  63. They grew until you were full of hope in them

    and promised goodly fruits.

  64. How excellent your enduring allegiance, and how excellent

    your ties with the Caliph among all ties.

  65. Muslims saw them as assurances

    that their awaited hopes would soon be fulfilled.

  66. Your striving for his favor safeguards the realm

    and strikes fear into an insolent coveter of the land.

  67. In every region, you have knowledge

    of whatever he wishes, not in some regions alone.

  68. May the sight of the cherished Crown bring joy

    to your eyes, as may your being singled out for gifts.

  69. He gave you only what was deserved by

    your qualities: they are the highest of qualities.

  70. The best days of all time are those that granted

    the best Caliph the best of governors.

  71. My hope is one day to see the two Niles

    joined with the Tigris and the Euphrates,

  72. and the Sultan's banner gathering in love

    the scattered hearts of his peoples,

  73. and his frequented basin becoming a meeting place

    for the mutually estranged faces of his servants.

  74. At this triumph, all creation rejoices,

    and a song of congratulations befits me.

Sol 6.1