Classic Poem

I.

Men of gold and men of silver!
If a beggar mentions thomans
'Tis of silver he is speaking,
And he means a silver thoman.

In a prince's mouth however,
In a Shah's, a thoman always
Is a golden one; Shahs only
Give and take in golden thomans.

Honest people always think so,
So Firdusi understood it:
He who wrote the famous poem,
The immortal work, Schah Nameh .

He composed the noble epic
At the Shah's own royal bidding,
And the meed that he was promised
Was, for every verse, a thoman.

Seventeen times the roses blossomed,
Seventeen times the roses withered,
And the nightingale the roses
Seventeen times had sung, and ceased.

And the poet meanwhile sitting
At the loom of thought was weaving,
Day and night, the giant fabric
Of his song and never pausing —

Giant fabric wherein woven
Were the stories and the legends
Of his fatherland, beginning
With the kings of Farsistan.

Heroes held in highest honour
By the nation, knightly prowess,
Bold adventures, fairies, demons,
He entwined with flowers of fable.

All was blossoming and burning
Limned with gorgeous hues resplendent,
By the sacred light illumined
Of Iran: divinely radiant

In the heavenly light primeval,
Which had found its latest temple,
In dispite of Koran, Mufti,
In the poet's flaming heart.

And at last the song was ended —
Twice one hundred thousand verses,
And the manuscript delivered
By the poet to his patron.

Then the Shah despatched in answer
Swarthy envoys to the poet,
And they found Firdusi bathing
In the public baths at Gasna.

Each had brought a bag of money
Which he offered, kneeling lowly
At the poet's feet, as guerdon
For the song which he had written.

These Firdusi, who was eager
For the blissful golden vision
Long denied him, seized and opened —
And discovered to his horror

That the sacks were merely filled with
Silver pale, with silver thomans,
Then the poet laughed in anger —
Laughed a laugh of bitter scorn:

Laughing bitterly, divided
With a careless hand the money,
And to both the swarthy envoys
Who had brought the gift insulting

Gave a third, to recompense them
For their trouble, and a third
To the bath attendant offered —
Just a trifle for a drink.

Then he grasped his pilgrim's staff;
Left the capital behind him,
And in passing through the gateway
Shook the dust from off his feet.

II.

" If, like ordinary men,
He had promised, and had broken
Only words in lightness spoken,
I had hardly blamed him then.

" But unpardonably vile
'Twas with perfidy to treat me,
With a double-meaning cheat me;
Worst of all is silent guile.

" He appeared to fail in nought,
He was noble, tall and stately,
None beside endowed so greatly,
Every inch a king, I thought.

" And he turned on me an eye
Like the sun for blazing splendour —
Truth and honour's proud defender —
Yet he tricked me with a lie. "

III.

Shah Mahomet has drunk and dined,
And feels at peace with all mankind.

In his garden on cushions of purple he lolls
At eve, where the cool white fountain falls.

His courtiers round him humbly stand.
Ansari, his favourite, close at hand.

From marble urns, in the scented gloom
The radiant flowers burn and bloom,

And, fanning themselves like odalisques fair,
The palms rear slim through the dusky air,

While the cypresses, musing and still at even,
Forget the earth in dreams of heaven.

But hark! to the lute's melodious string
A soft mysterious song they sing.

The Shah starts up bewitched from his seat:
" Who wrote that song so strange and sweet? "

And Ansari answered from the throng:
" It was Firdusi wrote the song. "

He was taken aback — " Firdusi! " he cried.
" How fares the great poet? " Ansari replied,

" He lives, O king! in want and woe,
And for many a year has languished so,

" At Thus, his native town, alone
In a poor little garden of his own. "

In silence Shah Mahomet pondered, then said,
" Ansari, give ear. Be this matter sped: —

" A hundred mules from my stable take,
And thy choice of fifty camels make,

" And load these high with all the treasure
Wherein the heart of man hath pleasure:

" With what they deem most rich and rare,
With costly raiment and household ware,

" With daintily handled cups and pots,
And leopard skins with goodly spots,

" With carpets and shawls and silk brocade,
The finest in my kingdom made;

" Nor shalt thou fail to add thereto
Housings and weapons bright and new,

" With every drink accounted sweet,
And every sort of potted meat,

" And fruits preserved, and almond cake,
And every gingerbread they make.

" Twelve horses of Arabian breed
Take also, for their arrowy speed;

" And be a dozen slaves bestowed,
With iron thews for any load.

" Then thou shalt get upon the way,
Ansari, and with speed convey

" These treasures for the poet's use,
And greet him fair from me in Thus. "

Ansari obeyed his lord's behest;
Camels and mules with the finest and best

He loaded high; the cost of which
Was equal to a province rich.

In three days' time, with beasts and pelf,
He left the palace, and himself

With a scarlet pennon, the foremost man,
Rode out in front of the caravan.

Eight days they spent upon the route,
Ere they reached the town at the mountain foot;

Then the caravan, with shouts and din,
Through the western gate went filing in,

And songs of triumph echoed and rang
To the beat of drums and the trumpets' clang.

" La Illah, Il Allah! " with lusty tongue
The jubilant camel drivers sung.

Through the eastern gate at the other end
Of Thus they saw that moment wend

The funeral train, with tears and gloom,
That bore Firdusi to his tomb.