Letters and Literary Remains of Edward Fitzgerald Edited by William Aldis Wright: In seven volumes |
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 | Letters and Literary Remains of Edward Fitzgerald |  |
A certain Sultán dying, his Vizier
In Dream beheld him, and in mortal Fear
Began—‘Oh mighty Shah of Shahs! Thrice-blest’—
But loud the Vision shriek'd and struck its Breast,
And ‘Stab me not with empty Title!’ cried—
‘One only Shah there is, and none beside,
Who from his Throne above for certain Ends
Awhile some Spangle of his Glory lends
To Men on Earth; but calling in again
Exacts a strict account of every Grain.
Sultán I lived, and held the World in scorn:
Oh better had I glean'd the Field of Corn!
Oh better had I been a Beggar born,
And for my Throne and Crown, down in the Dust
My living Head had laid where Dead I must!
Oh wither'd, wither'd, wither'd, be the Wing
Whose overcasting Shadow made me King!’
In Dream beheld him, and in mortal Fear
Began—‘Oh mighty Shah of Shahs! Thrice-blest’—
But loud the Vision shriek'd and struck its Breast,
And ‘Stab me not with empty Title!’ cried—
‘One only Shah there is, and none beside,
Who from his Throne above for certain Ends
Awhile some Spangle of his Glory lends
To Men on Earth; but calling in again
Exacts a strict account of every Grain.
Sultán I lived, and held the World in scorn:
Oh better had I glean'd the Field of Corn!
Oh better had I been a Beggar born,
And for my Throne and Crown, down in the Dust
My living Head had laid where Dead I must!
Oh wither'd, wither'd, wither'd, be the Wing
Whose overcasting Shadow made me King!’
| Letters and Literary Remains of Edward Fitzgerald | |