9.02.2010

THE KASÎDAH VIII, 49, 64

Here èxtremes meet, anointed Kings
 whose crownèd heads uneasy lie,
Whose cup of joy contains no more
 than tramps that on the dunghill die.

To fate-doomed Sinner born and bred
 for dangling from the gallows-tree;
To Saint who spends his holy days
 in rapt’urous hope his God to see;

To all that breathe our upper air
 the hands of Dest’iny ever deal,
In fixed and equal parts, their shares
 of joy and sorrow, woe and weal.

“How comes it, then, our span of days
 in hunting wealth and fame we spend
“Why strive we (and all humans strive)
 for vain and visionary end?”

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