Sol 6.1

  1. You honored my expectation and respected my hope,

    and your hand swiftly achieved the difficult and distant.

  2. And through peace you granted the land and its people

    what no one else attained through battle.

  3. And you bore alone, assured and secure,

    the burdens of a people weighed down by burdens.

  4. And when a seasoned man takes sole charge of affairs,

    he is spared the need for consultation and advisory rulings.

  5. The East watches what you prepare for a nation

    that has distressed it in adversity and prosperity.

  6. Time preoccupied its peoples, but they were relieved

    by the welcome messages and news of you.

  7. What can the delegations say to you, when what

    you have done for them is the most eloquent of orators?

  8. O you who aid the sick through what you seek of

    houses of healing, and who enrich the poor,

  9. and set morals right in the valley through what

    you have arranged of health and prosperity,

  10. and secure the laborers’ full due from a financier,

    and grant ownership of what belongs by right to the laborers.

  11. Those working today for their independence have

    the same claim as yesterday’s victims and martyrs.

  12. Credit rests with the outcome; whoever reaches the goal

    is most entitled to the praise that is due.

  13. Immortality is not erecting a statue amid

    unrest, nor a commemoration amid clamor.

  14. The lives of those gone before endure as long as

    they have successors following in their footsteps.

  15. And kinder than room in hearts for the dead

    is room in homes for all the living.

  16. And you apportion the Nile, generous and just,

    in every inhabited place and every empty tract.

  17. If its pure water flows into bitter brine,

    their barren lands have a better claim to this water.

  18. And when their desert is watered and developed,

    prudence lies in their migration to the desert.

  19. Welcome to the covenant of peace, presented

    to you by the messenger of boundless mercy.

  20. Yesterday one who quenched its fire came to earth;

    and today came one who forbids animosity.

  21. Will you accept a place for yourself in his covenant,

    so that you may be one of his peers?

  22. A person cannot guarantee a good fate

    until governance belongs to the wise.

  23. What excuse has one who disobeys the ministry after

    the premiership became unattainable to him?

  24. Those who refused to let you lead them

    lost their standing with you as partners.

  25. You were concerned at their exclusion, and agreed that

    they should stand before you as overseers.

  26. Do they weep after dismissal for their days of rule, or

    do they weep for their days of arrogance and vainglory?

  27. If they angered you, you are not angry with them

    except over lost unity and loyalty.

  28. And should you reproach them, you would do so

    only with an accomplished fact and a decree.

  29. And should you hold them to account, you would do so

    only for the wrongs they have taken upon themselves.

  30. Were it not for you and the party steadfast against its foes,

    they would have destroyed the parties and their leaders.

  31. Had they safeguarded their covenant,

    they would not have spread alarming rumors about trusted men’s secrets.

  32. You must challenge the one who persists in harm

    after your pardon of him and your forbearance.

  33. Nothing restrained the pens but fear of what

    they might inflict on the weak and the innocent,

  34. and safeguarding reputations against the excesses

    of the newspapers of rebels and fools.

  35. The constitution sought refuge from its sons

    only with its merciful fathers.

  36. It tests them by its departure, until, when

    they grieve for it, it soothes them with reunion.

  37. The return tomorrow of representation and delegated authority

    comes through the careful choice of deputies and delegates.

  38. Egypt cannot repel her enemies by force

    before you refute the enemies’ argument.

  39. And if you choose a means toward withdrawal,

    let it be a policy of renewal and construction.

  40. And if you achieve harmony of inclinations in

    a matter, you achieve harmony of opinions.

  41. They said, ‘A friend of the enemy!’ Yet what standing did they have

    with him through you? They returned to the enemies.

  42. Could it then be easy for them to see

    their enemies acting as intercessors for them?

  43. They returned to your bounty, laying claim to it,

    after denying this bounty.

  44. You did not rest until you had won over their masses,

    after winning a following among the wise.

  45. The merit of one patient in uniting his companions

    is that of one patient under harm and affliction.

  46. Had they acted uprightly, they would have yielded to you after

    you showed them where the malady lay within them.

  47. Reconciliation between them and you is easy,

    if they would heed my advice and my call.

  48. And their return is among the things dearest to you, as

    the comrades and equals they once were,

  49. so that you may see all the troops beneath one banner,

    and see your book complete in every part.

  50. Alike are the seeker of his right with deliberation

    and the eager seeker of this right with impetuous zeal.

  51. I remain a stranger among my people, yet I have none

    of what they are accustomed to offer strangers among them.

  52. Had they been raiders, I would have reckoned, in

    their raids, myself among the captives.

  53. I have indeed experienced vicissitudes, yet nothing grieved me

    except the coldness of those who exploited my loyalty.

  54. Had I been able, I would have left my soul among them

    and departed from their earth and sky.

  55. And if my blood could ransom my homeland from a

    harsh hand, then I would offer my blood.

  56. If I am among Egypt’s poets, then I am

    the most loyal of Egypt’s advocates and ambassadors.

Sol 6.1