| Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882). Complete Poetical Works. 1893. | | | | Birds of Passage | Flight the Fifth.
Haroun al Raschid |
| | | ONE day, Haroun Al Raschid read | |
| A book wherein the poet said:— | |
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| “Where are the kings, and where the rest | |
| Of those who once the world possessed? | |
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| “They’re gone with all their pomp and show, | 5 |
| They’re gone the way that thou shalt go. | |
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| “O thou who choosest for thy share | |
| The world, and what the world calls fair, | |
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| “Take all that it can give or lend, | |
| But know that death is at the end!” | 10 |
| |
| Haroun Al Raschid bowed his head: | |
| Tears fell upon the page he read. | | | | |
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