TO THE SHAH. FROM HAFIZ. THY foes to hunt, thy enviers to strike down, TO THE SHAH. FROM ENWERI. NOT in their houses stand the stars, ΤΟ THE SHAH. FROM ENWERI. FROM thy worth and weight the stars gravitate, SONG OF SEYD NIMETOLLAH OF KUHISTAN. [Among the religious customs of the dervishes is an astronomical dance, in which the dervish imitates the movements of the heavenly bodies, by spinning on his own axis, whilst at the same time he revolves round the Sheikh in the centre, representing the sun; and, as he spins, he sings the Song of Seyd Nimetollah of Kuhistan.] SPIN the ball! I reel, I burn, Nor head from foot can I discern, All my doing, all my leaving, I am seeker of the stone, From the shore of souls arrived, Ask not me, as Muftis can, To recite the Alcoran; Well I love the meaning sweet, I tread the book beneath my feet. Lo! the God's love blazes higher, What are Moslems? what are Giaours? But I reck not of deceivers. THE POET.1 I. RIGHT upward on the road of fame Nor Time's snows hide the names he set, Yet every scroll whereon he wrote 1 This poem was begun as early as 1831, probably earlier, and received additions for more than twenty years, but was never completed. In its early form, it was entitled, The Discontented Poet, A Masque. |