So sad a change of wayward fate;
Nor sorrowing mortals ever known
A grief so true, a loss so great.
Spouse of the world! Thy soothing breast
Did balm to every woe afford;
And now no more by thee caress’d,
The widow’d world bewails her lord.
The following lines were spoken extempore by Ibrahim Ben Adham, a hermit of Syria, who was equally admired for his piety and his poetry, upon meeting Haroun Alraschid going to Mecca with a magnificent train, as Ibrahim himself was returning from his pilgrimage to that place, which he performed quite alone, and without making any provision for his journey.
Religion's gems can ne'er adorn
The flimsy robe by Pleasure worn,