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

SELECTIONS FROM ARABIAN POETRY 71
ON THE VICISSITUDES OF LIFE
Mortal joys, however pure.
Soon their turbid source betray;
Mortal bliss, however sure,
Soon must totter and decay.
Ye who now, with footsteps keen.
Range through hope's delusive field.
Tell us what the smiling scene
To your ardent grasp can yield ?
Other youths have oft before
Deem'd their joys would never fade,
Till themselves were seen no more
Swept into oblivion's shade.
Who, with health and pleasure gay,
E'er his fragile state could know,
Were not age and pain to say
Man is but the child of woe?
The Caliph Radhi Billah.
TO A DOVE
The Dove to ease an aching breast.
In piteous murmurs vents her cares
Like me she sorrows, for opprest,
Like me, a load of grief she bears.
Her plaints are heard in every wood,
While I would fain conceal my woes;
But vain's my wish, the briny flood.
The more I strive, the faster flows.
Sure, gentle Bird, my drooping heart
Divides the pangs of love with thine.
And plaintive murm'rings are thy part,
And silent grief and tears are mine.
Serage "Alwarak.
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