Sol 6.1

  1. Did they stubbornly dispute your reach, or esteem it?

    And did they reject what you did, or follow it?

  2. And is their true intent what they announced

    after silence, or what they concealed?

  3. And is what they wished for a flight from time's opportunity,

    through stalling—or coyness and conceit?

  4. Why did they ignore your book, only for

    their leader to turn back among them, reciting it?

  5. They supported him, thus supporting you; was it anything other

    than what you seek that they tasked him with?

  6. A fate you brought about: its outcome was trusted in,

    and a happy end, by those awaiting it.

  7. The angry feared it, so they sought to delay it;

    then regained sound judgment and sought to hasten it.

  8. They received your weighty proof from him,

    seeking more after having belittled it.

  9. The pact is what you won, even if they name

    it something else, even if they reinterpret it.

  10. They bargained over consenting to it and deemed lawful

    a price for their consent—and they have collected it.

  11. They took the payment before they deserved

    it, and deprived the one who deserved it.

  12. All they spent for the precious homeland

    was sacrifice, if their claims were true.

  13. And they may have my life, for today I have

    nothing else—if what they demanded were warranted.

  14. Their appointed time has come: will those claims prove true

    that stretched out tongues and set faces turning?

  15. The hour of departure draws near; they have enough

    for the journey in what they have prepared.

  16. The telegraph brought reports in many hues:

    did they believe it, or declare it false?

  17. And complete satisfaction lies in the right restored

    by those who squandered it, not in what they bestowed.

  18. If only they could attain what they raced along the paths

    to reach, and what they intend.

  19. Then, if they succeed, you will rest; and if they

    fail afterward, it is what they are used to.

  20. How often you wished to see, in doing good,

    a counterpart to yourself—will that counterpart appear?

  21. And it is dear to you that they appreciate what

    you bring, and carry it through to completion.

  22. You hold the rightful claim; you care not whether they love

    it in either of its two states, or hate it.

  23. The country has recorded it to your credit; nothing in

    the mischief of the envious can erase it.

  24. Your soul had room for the hardships they caused;

    they had none for innocent reproach.

  25. They went on reveling in their new condition,

    and what they wore was of your weaving.

  26. They violated your honor in governance,

    though you were honorable and incorruptible there.

  27. They made light of every burden; but when

    they bore your burden today, they found it heavy.

  28. They sought their revenge by begging; had it not been

    a favor from you, they would not have gained it.

  29. They took their revenge on you through men who obeyed

    you, and pleased you with what they carried out.

  30. A trait in whose evil, there, those they appointed

    and those they dismissed stand equal.

  31. And the man who used to complain of your just rule—

    his own rule turned tyrannical: will you complain of him?

  32. Time tested you in it, and you proved your worth;

    now this is his time, testing him.

  33. Will they find fault, after their tenure, with what

    they prescribed for others during that tenure?

  34. If only, in government, they had adopted one

    of your virtues in the measures they adopted.

  35. Their aggression against you is slight, so long as they are not

    hurt by their aggression and what they have perpetrated.

  36. Was it for the country's sake, or for the whim of their

    devil, that they paid to have you lampooned?

  37. Are you, or that overlord, more deserving

    of the hostility they have pledged toward you?

  38. The chaos of fate brought them close to him;

    so they wronged him and sought his sympathy.

  39. They sought help against you through affection and closeness

    to him, as though they were safe from him.

  40. They made a trade of angering him, then humored

    him, hoping to learn how to please him.

  41. And if they bind him to your pact, they will not lack

    the strength thereafter to drive him out.

  42. India's unrest aids Egypt and her people

    with the terms they have stipulated for her peace.

  43. And it is enough for them that Egypt is the road to

    India, and the guardian they have trusted.

  44. Does the enemy desire peace, while no reconciliation

    is reached today among the homeland's people?

  45. Those who trifle with the precious homeland

    are none but its sons, when its sons shun one another.

  46. Rancor would indeed depart, were it not for

    the coarse writer and the foolish orator.

  47. He sings of their plight, even as he runs

    through the pure blood they have shed.

  48. I am the one who pressed the adversary and brought

    him to judgment, and opposed him before they knew him.

  49. My verse was lofty concerning them and you; if only

    the people had honored it the day you honored it.

  50. My admonitions did not awaken them until

    from my storms came their awakening.

  51. Theirs is pardon for what they do badly,

    and thanks for what they do well.

  52. And yours is patience with them, as far as you can;

    perhaps they will attain what you hope for.

  53. And you must stand surety, whether they seal the pact

    and return, or whether they break it.

Sol 6.1