“Meantime the work of pride went on,
“And still before our Idols, wood and stone,
“We bowed the impious knee.
“Turn men of Ad, and call upon the Lord,”
“The Prophet Houd exclaimed.
“Turn men of Ad and look to Heaven,
“And fly the wrath to come.
“We mocked the Prophet’s words;
“Now dost thou dream old man.
“Or art thou drunk with wine?
“Future woe and wrath to come,
“Still thy prudent voice forebodes;
“When it comes will we believe,
“Till it comes will we go on
“In the way our fathers went.
“Now are thy words from God?
“Or dost thou dream, old man,
“Or art thou drunk with wine?”
“So spake the stubborn race
“The unbelieving ones,
“I too of stubborn unbelieving heart
“Heard him and heeded not.
“It chanced my father went the way of man,
“He perished in his sins.
“The funeral rites were duly paid,
“We bound a camel to his grave
“And left it there to die,
“So if the resurrection[10] came
“Together they might rise.
“I past my father’s grave,
“I heard the Camel moan.
“She was his favourite beast,
“One that carried me in infancy,
“The first that by myself I learnt to mount.
“Her limbs were lean with famine, and her eyes
“Looked ghastlily with want.
“She knew me as I past,
“She stared[11] me in the face,
“My heart was touched, had it been human else?
“I thought no eye was near, and broke her bonds,
“And drove her forth to liberty and life.
“The Prophet Houd beheld,
“He lifted up his voice,
“Blessed art thou, young man,
“Blessed art thou, O Aswad, for the deed!
“In the day of visitation,
“In the fearful hour of judgment,
“God will remember thee!”
“The day of visitation was at hand,
“The fearful hour of judgment hastened on.
“Lo Shedad’s mighty pile complete,
“The palace of his pride.
“Would ye behold its wonders, enter in!
“I have no heart to visit it!
“Time hath not harmed the eternal monument,
“Time is not here, nor days, nor months, nor years,
“An everlasting now of misery!...
“Ye must have heard their fame,
“Or likely ye have seen
“The mighty Pyramids,
“For sure those mighty piles shall overlive
“The feeble generations of mankind.
“What tho’ unmoved they bore[12] the deluge weight,
“Survivors of the ruined world?
“What tho’ their founder filled with miracles
“And wealth miraculous their ample vaults?
“Compared with yonder fabric, and they shrink
“The baby wonders of a woman’s work!
“Her emerald columns o’er the marble courts
“Fling their green rays, as when amid a shower
“The sun shines loveliest on the vernal corn.
“Here Shedad bade the sapphire floor be laid,
“As tho’ with feet divine
“To trample azure light,
“Like the blue pavement of the firmament.
“Here self-suspended hangs in air,
“As its pure substance loathed material touch,
“The living[13] carbuncle;
“Sun of the lofty dome
“Darkness has no dominion o’er its beams;
“Intense it glows, an ever-flowing tide
“Of glory, like the day-flood in its source.
“Impious! the Trees of vegetable gold,
“Such as in Eden’s groves
“Yet innocent it[14] grew,
“Impious! he made his boast, tho’ heaven had hidden
“So deep the baneful ore,
“That they should branch and bud for him,
“That art should force their blossoms and their fruit,
“And re-create for him,
“Whate’er was lost in Paradise.
“Therefore at Shedad’s voice
“Here towered the palm, a silver trunk,
“The fine gold net-work[15] growing out
“Loose from its rugged boughs.
“Tall as the Cedar of the mountain, here
“Rose the gold branches, hung with emerald leaves,
“Blossomed with pearls, and rich with ruby fruit,
“O Ad! my country! evil was the day
“That thy unhappy sons
“Crouched at this Nimrod’s throne,[16]
“And placed him on the pedestal of power,
“And laid their liberties beneath his feet,
“Robbing their children of the heritance
“Their fathers handed down.
“What was to him the squandered wealth?
“What was to him the burthen of the land,
“The lavished misery?
“He did but speak his will,
“And like the blasting Siroc of the East,
“The ruin of the royal voice
“Found its way every-where.
“I marvel not that he, whose power
“No earthly law, no human feeling curbed,
“Mocked at the living God!
“And now the King’s command went forth
“Among the people, bidding old and young,
“Husband and wife, the master and the slave,
“All the collected multitudes of Ad,
“Here to repair, and hold high festival,
“That he might see his people, they behold
“Their King’s magnificence and power.
“The day of festival arrived,
“Hither they came, the old man and the boy,
“Husband and wife, the master and the slave,
“Hither they came. From yonder high tower top,
“The loftiest of the Palace, Shedad looked
“Down on his tribe: their tents on yonder sands
“Rose like the countless billows of the sea.
“Their tread and voices like the ocean roar,
“One deep confusion of tumultuous sounds.
“They saw their King’s magnificence; beheld
“His Palace sparkling like the Angel domes
“Of Paradise; his garden like the bowers
“Of early Eden, and they shouted out
“Great is the King, a God upon the earth!
“Intoxicate with joy and pride
“He heard their blasphemies,
“And in his wantonness of heart he bade
“The Prophet Houd be brought,
“And o’er the marble courts,
“And o’er the gorgeous rooms
“Glittering with gems and gold,
“He led the Man of God.
“Is not this a stately pile?”
“Cried the Monarch in his joy.
“Hath ever eye beheld,
“Hath ever thought conceived,
“Place more magnificent?
“Houd, they saw that Heaven imparted
“To thy lips the words of wisdom!
“Look at the riches round
“And value them aright,
“If so thy wisdom can.”
“The Prophet heard his vaunt
“And answered with an aweful smile,
“Costly thy palace King!
“But only in the hour[17] of death
“Man learns to value things like these aright.
“Hast thou a fault to find
“In all thine eyes have seen?
“Again the King exclaimed.
“Yes!” said the man of God;
“The walls are weak, the building ill secured.
“Azrael can enter in!
“The Sarsar can pierce thro’,
“The Icy Wind of Death.
“I was beside the Monarch when he spake....
“Gentle the Prophet spake,
“But in his eye there dwelt
“A sorrow that disturbed me while I gazed,
“The countenance of Shedad fell,
“And anger sate upon his paler lips.
“He to the high tower top the Prophet led,
“And pointed to the multitude,
“And as again they shouted out
“Great is the King! a God upon the Earth!”
“Turned with a threatful smile to Houd,
“Say they aright, O Prophet? is the King
“Great upon earth, a God among mankind?”
“The Prophet answered not,
“His eye rolled round the infinite multitude,
“And into tears he burst.
“Sudden an uproar rose,
“A cry of joy below,
“The Messenger is come!
“Kail from Mecca comes,
“He brings the boon obtained!”
“Forth as we went we saw where overhead
“There hung a deep black cloud,
“On which the multitude
“With joyful eyes looked up
“And blest the coming rain.
“The Messenger addrest the King
“And told his tale of joy.