Classic Poem

Mohammed of Arabia, a wise man
Surnamed Kazwini, who was born and lived
And wrote and died in the seventh century
Of the Hegira, in his manuscripts
(As from the lips of the immortal Kidhz)
Tells this strange story of the work of time
And everlasting change, to show the might
Of Nature and the ages, and to mark
The littleness and brief estate of man,
Who calls himself the master of the earth,
And thinks all things therein were made for him.

I, Kidhz, who cannot die, walked forth one day
And saw a city, populous and grand,
Built in the middle of a fruitful plain;
Rich were its stately palaces, and tall
Its hundred towers, which glistened in the light;
And to a dweller standing in the gate,
I spake, and said, " It is a goodly place;
How long, I pray thee, has the city stood? "

And he replied, " How strange a man art thou!
Our sires, nor theirs before them, never knew
A time when this great city was not here,
Proud, grand, eternal, as thou seest it;
It hath been always even as it is now. "

Five hundred years went by, and once again
I wandered to the splendid city's site;
No vestige of its walls or towers remained, —
The place was one wide stretch of barren clay, —
And, only living thing in all the waste,
A strolling peasant stooped to gather herbs.
" How long, " I said, " has this great plain been bare?
What hath destroyed the city that was here? "

And he replied, " Thou ravest, traveller,
No city ever stood on this wide plain;
This is no place for domes and palaces;
Our fathers and our fathers' fathers knew
That it hath always been as it is now. "

Five hundred years had passed, when yet once more
I wandered where the arid plain had been;
And lo! the sea rolled there, with waves and ships
And wrecks and rages. On the shingly shore
Among the wave-worn stones and broken shells,
A fisher mended nets. I spake and said,
" When did these waters overflow the land?
How long, I pray thee, has the sea been here? "

" How long? " he said, and mocked me. " Verily,
The sea was always here. My fathers won
Their living from its waters, even as I;
So will my children's children atter me.
The sea abides forever. Art thou mad? "

Again five ages passed. I sought the place,
And there was neither city, sand, nor sea,
But one vast, tangled, pathless wilderness,
Where strange beasts roamed, and strange birds built their nests;
And of a lonely hunter I inquired,
" How long has this great forest flourished here,
And where have fled the waters of the sea
Which rolled and murmured when I stood here last? "

" The sea? " he said; " the sea is leagues away.
Thou dreamest, or art merry with much wine;
My fathers and their fathers hunted here
In this great forest, whereof no man knows
The age, because it hath been always here! "

Again five centuries passed, and yet again
I walked that way; and lo! before my eyes
There stood a city, populous and fair,
Richer and statelier than that of old,
Full of all beauty, wisdom, and delight.
And to a loiterer I spake, and said,
" I pray thee, when was this great city built?
Who felled the mighty forest that was here? "

He gazed at me, and fear was in his eyes:
" The city? 'T is indeed an ancient one;
Its generations have grown old and died;
It hath been thus through all recorded time,
And there was never any forest here! "