My faithful servants;—treasures, thrones, and diadem.
I’m such a man that whoso strives to shed my blood
Forgiven is, and overwhelmed with favour’s flood.125
The Prophet quiet notice whispered to my slave,
The day would come when he to take my life would crave.
Me, also, he informed, through revelation’s voice,
That I should die, smote by a hand of my own choice.
That servant begged and prayed for instant death’s release,
So he’d be spared from sin so heinous,—love’s decease.
But I replied: ‘Since ’tis decreed that by thy hand