Australian Lyrics &c :: :: University of Virginia Library

I was a queen's mate yesterday,
And now I am a castaway,
And left as an accursed thing
To the street-children's stone-throwing,
Lucky to be allowed to live.

Nothing was then too good to give
To tempt my jaded appetite;
To-day I scarce can get a bite

Of offal or a mouldy crust,
Foraged from out a heap of dust,
To still the gnawings in my breast.
Just when I need the daintiest
And the most wholesome food to keep
My failing strength and bring me sleep,
I am turned foodless, houseless, cold,
To die upon the damp hard mould.

Yesterday I had a queen's kiss,
Denied to great and fair princes,
Printed on my fastidious brow,
And fondling and caress enow
To turn the heads of emperors;
To-day none sees me but abhors
And shuns me as a leper's shunned:
So are queens' lives apportioned.
To-day she sits in linen fine,
Drinking th' intoxicating wine
Of wealth, power, and the Caliph's love,
Showered as the rich rain from above;
To-morrow a poor prisoner,
And happy if he give not her,
With wrists close-drawn above her head,
And shamefully disraimented,
The bastinado on her back,
Or have her not sewn in a sack
And into the broad Tigris cast.
Such may be Zara's lot at last,
Who bade them turn me in the street:
Allah will give her what is meet.
What shall be given her to-day
Allah ordains, let Allah say.