Sol 6.1

  1. God and all creation know that they

    Were wronged; where is the intercessor who pleads for mercy?

  2. Will it ever avail, from the innocent to his foes—

    A complaint—if suffering avails the wounded?

  3. So draw from knowledge provision for tomorrow,

    Whether they humored you in their day or coerced you.

  4. And wait until your spear-shaft is strengthened

    After learning, by a guardian drawn from experience.

  5. And when your shafts have straightened, act

    With your hearts and minds, and take command.

  6. Equal to me, if I hold my own reins,

    Are loss, where my aims lie, and gain.

  7. Do not give a people cause to gloat: their lies almost

    Make the dearest, noblest one forget your loyalty.

  8. Have you seen the guards before his stirrups

    Forming a barrier, so no Muslim can gaze toward him?

  9. Man may become a devil, yet

    What they suspected and imagined of you will not come to pass.

  10. Are we the people of Caesar, or of his neighbor,

    Chosroes, that he should fear blood closing in around him?

  11. Or, after he felt safe from enemies for a night,

    Does he refuse to let the loyal speak?

  12. It shames us to have it said, 'They surrendered

    To the usurpers,' and to have them say, 'They committed crimes.'

  13. By God, if they turned morning into darkness, they would not

    Win his affection—and we are we, and they are they.

  14. Indeed, the mountains shaken by their fires

    Are the lightest burden the brimming heart has borne.

Sol 6.1