Chinese and Arabian Literature - E. Wilson - The Search For Mecca

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SELECTIONS FROM ARABIAN POETRY 63
LINES TO HARUN AND YAHIA^^
Th' affrighted sun ere while he fled,
And hid his radiant face in night
A cheerless gloom the world o'erspread
But Harun came, and all was bright.
Again the sun shoots forth his rays,
Nature is deck'd in beauty's robe
For mighty Harun's sceptre sways.
And Yahia's arm sustains the globe.
THE RUIN OF BARMECIDES"
No, Barmec ! Time hath never shown
So sad a change of wayward fate;
Nor sorrowing mortals ever known
A grief so true, a loss so great.
— —
Isaac Almonsely.
Spouse of the world! Thy soothing breast
Did balm to every woe afford;
And now no more by thee caress'd.
The widow'd world bewails her Lord.
TO TAKER BEN HOSIEN ^*
A pair of right hands and a single dim eye
Must form not a man, but a monster, they cry :
Change a hand to an eye, good Taher, if you can,
And a monster perhaps may be chang'd to man.
^ Isaac Almousely is considered by of Persia, and possessed immense propthe
Orientals as the most celebrated mu- erty in various countries; they derived
sician that ever flourished in the world. still more consequence from the favor
He was born in Persia, but having re- which they enjoyed at the court of Bagsided
almost entirely at Mousel, he is dad, where, for many years, they filled
generally supposed to haye been a native the highest offices of the state with uniof
that place. versal approbation.
i-" The family of Barmec was one of ^^ Taher Ben Hosien was ambidexter
the most illustrious in the East. They and one-eyed and, strange to say, the
were descended from the ancient kings most celebrated general of his time.