Poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

II

The Dervish whined to Said,
“Thou didst not tarry while I prayed.
Beware the fire that Eblis burned.”
But Saadi coldly thus returned,
“Once with manlike love and fear
I gave thee for an hour my ear,
I kept the sun and stars at bay,

323

And love, for words thy tongue could say.
I cannot sell my heaven again
For all that rattles in thy brain.”