 | The poems of Richard Henry Stoddard
|  |
|
[There came to Nushervan, surnamed the Just]
There came to Nushervan, surnamed the Just,
A certain man, a courtier, with the dust
Of travel on him, and with heart elate.
“I hear,” he said, “that God (His Name be Great!)
Has taken from the world your mortal foe,”
Naming a king whom death had then laid low.
“And did you hear,” the Sultan made reply,
“That I am overlooked, and not to die?
I have no room for exultation, friend,
For, like my rival's life, my life must end.”
The courtier slunk away, abashed and sad,
For he had learned that good news may be bad.
| The poems of Richard Henry Stoddard
| |
|
