VERSES[41]
Tho' such unbounded love you swear,
'Tis only art I see;
Can I believe that one so fair
Should ever dote on me?
Say that you hate, and freely show
That age displeases youth;
And I may love you when I know
That you can tell the truth.
Caliph Almonklafi Laimrillah.
[41] Almonklafi was the thirty-first Caliph of the house of Abbas, and the only one who possessed any real authority since the reign of Radhi. These lines were addressed to a lady who pretended a passion for him in his old age.
ON PROCRASTINATION[42]
Youth is a drunken noisy hour,
With every folly fraught;
But man, by age's chast'ning power,
Is sober'd into thought.
Then we resolve our faults to shun,
And shape our course anew;
But ere the wise reform's begun
Life closes on our view.
The travellers thus who wildly roam,
Or heedlessly delay,
Are left, when they should reach their home,
Benighted on the way.
Hebat Allah Ibn Altalmith.