Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79. | | | | Arabia: Mecca | | Mohammed | | Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) |
| | | UTTER the song, O my soul! the flight and return of Mohammed, | |
| Prophet and priest, who scattered abroad both evil and blessing, | |
| Huge wasteful empires founded and hallowed slow persecution, | |
| Soul-withering, but crushed the blasphemous rites of the Pagan | |
| And idolatrous Christians. For veiling the gospel of Jesus, | 5 |
| They, the best corrupting, had made it worse than the vilest. | |
| Wherefore Heaven decreed the enthusiast warrior of Mecca, | |
| Choosing good from iniquity rather than evil from goodness. | |
| Loud the tumult in Mecca surrounding the fane of the idol; | |
| Naked and prostrate the priesthood were laid,—the people with mad shouts | 10 |
| Thundering now, and now with saddest ululation | |
| Flew, as over the channel of rock-stone the ruinous river | |
| Shatters its waters abreast, and in mazy uproar bewildered, | |
| Rushes dividuous all,—all rushing impetuous onward. | | | | |
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