Monday, June 28, 2010

EXTEMPORE VERSES

ON THE SULTAN CARAWASH, HIS PRINCIPAL MUSICIAN BARKAIDY, HIS VIZIER EBN FADHI, AND HIS CHAMBERLAIN ABU JABER.

BY EBN ALRAMACRAM.

Translated into English Verse by J. D. Carlyle, BD
 

Towering as Barkaidy's face,
   The wintry night came in,
 Cold as the music of his bass,
   And lengthened as his chin.

Sleep from my aching eyes had fled,
   And kept as far apart
 As sense from Ebn Fadhi's head,
   Or virtue from his heart.

The dubious paths my footsteps balked,
   I slipped along the sod,
 As if on Jaber's faith I'd walked,
   Or on his truth had trod.

At length the rising King of Day
   Burst on the gloomy wood,
 Like Carawash's eye, whose ray
   Dispenses every good.

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