Each a third, to be his guerdon
For the message, and the third part
Gave he to the man who waited
On his bath, as drinking-money.
Then his pilgrim staff he straightway
Grasp’d, and left at once the city,
And before the gate the dust he
From his very shoes rejected.
2.
“Had he been, like other men,
“Heedless of his words once spoken,
“And his promise merely broken,
“I had not been angry then.
“Suffer this? I never will!
“His deceit my heart amazes,
“Both his double-meaning phrases,
“And his silence, falser still.
“He was noble, fair to see,
“Proud his gestures were, and stately;
“Other men excell’d he greatly,
“Every inch a king was he.
“Firelike did his glance once meet me,
“As the sun in yonder heaven
“He, truth’s haughty image even—
“And he yet hath deign’d to cheat me.”
3.
Shah Mahomet full well has dined,
And his soul to be merry is fully inclined.
In the garden at twilight, on purple seat
He sits by the fountain. Its splashing sounds sweet,