Not to ease and aimless quiet
Doth the inward answer tend,
But to works of love and duty,
As our being's end;
Earnest toil and strong endeavor
Of a spirit, which, within,
Wrestles with familiar evil
And besetting sin;
And without, with tireless vigor,
Steady heart, and purpose strong,
In the power of truth, assaileth
Every form of wrong.
PILGRIM bound to Mecca,
Quite away his sandals wore; And on the desert's blistering sands His feet were swollen and sore.
"To let me suffer thus," he cried, "Is bitter and unjust,
While in God's service I endure
The painful heat and dust."
He murmured in unhappy tone,
And in this temper came
To where, around the holy stone,
Knelt men of every name.
And there, with shame and pity,
He saw on the hot street
A pilgrim who had worn away
Not only shoes, but feet.
Alger's Oriental Poetry (altered).
THE SULTAN'S LESSON.
SULTAN placed before his throne one day
one of gold, one amber, and
And, when his seal was set upon each urn,
His three sons, at his bidding, chose in turn.
Upon the golden vase, Empire was writ;
Resplendent jewels all around it stood:
The eldest grasped that vase and opened it,
But shrank to find it brimming full of blood.
Glory upon the amber vase shone bright;
Fresh wreaths of laurel twined the letters o'er:
The second seized it quick; but ah, sad sight!
'Twas filled with dust of heroes known no more.
No word was written on the vase of earth;
But still the youngest prince advanced his claim:
He oped the urn amid the courtiers' mirth,
And nought was in it save God's holy name.
The sultan to the throng of courtiers turned,
And asked which of the vases weighed the most.
Various the thoughts that in their bosoms burned,
And came to speech among the glittering host.
The warriors said, "The golden vase of might;"
The poets said, "The amber vase of fame;"
The sages said, "The vase emblem of Right,—
The globe is lighter than God's written name."
Then said the sultan, "Sons, remember well
The meaning of the lesson read to-day:
When the scales tremble betwixt heaven and hell,
The name of God will all the rest outweigh."
Alger's Oriental Poetry (altered).
THE BANNER AND THE CARPET.
HE royal banner bent his head,
And to the royal carpet said,
"In the palace at Bagdad,
Different duties we have had;
Different, too, is our reward.
Though servants both of one great lord,
I on marches, blown and torn,
Into the jaws of death am borne ;
Thou, afar from dust and rains,
Afar from battles, rents, and stains,
In the palace art displayed,
Where prince and dame and beauteous maid
Bless with their dance thine every strand.
All the while some menial hand
Spreads me in the blast, or holds
High on a tower my flapping folds."
Out spake the carpet then, and said,
"Thou to heaven dost lift thy head;.
I lie here beneath man's feet,
A slave to tread on and to beat;
Thou in battle's stormy night
Guidest heroes to the fight."
Alger's Oriental Poetry (altered).
HE nine high heavens hold eight Paradises.
"Where is the ninth one?" sayest thou? In
thy breast.
None but the blessed dwell in the Paradises;
But blessedness itself dwells in the breast.
None but the creatures are in Paradises:
God, the Creator, nestles in the breast.
Rather, O man! want all eight Paradises
Than be without the ninth one in thy breast.
Given to thee, man, are all those Paradises,
If thou the ninth one hast within thy breast.
Alger's Oriental Poetry.
TRIVE: yet I do not promise
The prize you dream of to-day
Will not fade when you think to grasp it,
And melt in your hand away;
But another and holier treasure
You would now perchance disdain
Will come when your trial is over,
And pay you for all your pain.
Wait: yet I do not tell you
The hour you long for now
Will come, with its radiance vanished,
And a shadow on its brow;
Yet far through the misty future,
With a crown of starry light,
An hour of joy you knew not
Is winging her silent flight.
Pray: though the gift you ask for
May never comfort your fears,
May never repay your pleading;
Yet pray with hopeful tears.
An answer, not that you long for,
But diviner, will come one day:
Your eyes are too dim to see it;
Yet strive and wait and pray.
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