Sol 6.1

  1. لَقَد كانَ فينا الظُلمُ فَوضى فَهُذِّبَت

    حَواشيهِ حَتّى باتَ ظُلماً مُنَظَّما

    Indeed, oppression among us was chaos; then came the refinement

    of its rough edges, until it became organized oppression.

  2. تَمُنُّ عَلَينا اليَومَ أَن أَخصَبَ الثَرى

    وَأَن أَصبَحَ المِصرِيُّ حُرّاً مُنَعَّما

    Today you hold it over us that the soil has grown fertile,

    and that the Egyptian has become free and well-off.

  3. أَعِد عَهدَ إِسماعيلَ جَلداً وَسُخرَةً

    فَإِنّي رَأَيتُ المَنَّ أَنكى وَآلَما

    Restore Ismail's era, with flogging and forced labor,

    for I have found the flaunting of favors more wounding and painful.

  4. عَمِلتُم عَلى عِزِّ الجَمادِ وَذُلِّنا

    فَأَغلَيتُمُ طيناً وَأَرخَصتُمُ دَما

    You worked to exalt lifeless things and humiliate us,

    so you made clay costly and blood cheap.

  5. إِذا أَخصَبَت أَرضٌ وَأَجدَبَ أَهلُها

    فَلا أَطلَعَت نَبتاً وَلا جادَها السَما

    If a land grows fertile while its people grow destitute,

    then may it produce no plants, nor may the sky shower it with rain.

  6. نَهَشُّ إِلى الدينارِ حَتّى إِذا مَشى

    بِهِ رَبُّهُ لِلسوقِ أَلفاهُ دِرهَما

    We delight in the dinar—until it is taken

    by its owner to market, where he finds it a dirham.

  7. فَلا تَحسَبوا في وَفرَةِ المالِ لَم تُفِد

    مَتاعاً وَلَم تَعصِم مِنَ الفَقرِ مَغنَما

    So do not count an abundance of wealth that has yielded no

    comfort and offered no protection from poverty as a gain.

  8. فَإِنَّ كَثيرَ المالِ وَالخَفضُ وارِفٌ

    قَليلٌ إِذا حَلَّ الغَلاءُ وَخَيَّما

    For wealth that is plentiful when ease abounds

    is little when high prices descend and make camp.