Whoever has recourse to thee
Can hope for health no more,
He's launched into perdition's sea,
A sea without a shore.

Where'er admission thou canst gain,
Where'er thy phiz can pierce,
At once the Doctor they retain,
The mourners and the hearse.

George.

[37] Written to Abou Alchair Selamu, an Egyptian physician. The author was a physician of Antioch.

ON A LITTLE MAN WITH A VERY LARGE BEARD

How can thy chin that burden bear?
Is it all gravity to shock?
Is it to make the people stare?
And be thyself a laughing stock?

When I behold thy little feet
After thy beard obsequious run,
I always fancy that I meet
Some father followed by his son.

A man like thee scarce e'er appear'd—
A beard like thine—where shall we find it?
Surely thou cherishest thy beard
In hope to hide thyself behind it.

Isaai, Ben Khalif.

LAMIAT ALAJEM[38]