CHAMBER OF REPOSE
and there was none who could soothe the spirit of the Emperor in his later years as his friend and adviser, Abul Fazel.
"Sing to me from the lays of Faizi, the gifted poet who solaced my younger days with his song. Or sing some of your own verses, Abul Fazel, for to you is given the skill of wedding deep thought to musical words, such as few possess on earth."
Abul Fazel recited some of his verses, which may be thus rendered:
I
"Where be comrades of my youth,
Friends professing love and truth,
Love that linketh heart to heart,
Faith that lives till life depart!
Vanished—forms of air, alas!
Shivered—like a globe of glass!
Lonely—through the gloom I pass!
II
Though the earth is teeming still,
Nations people dale and hill,
Hum of men ascend the air,
Thronged each town and hamlet fair,
Vain my quest, in vain I scan,
Every nation, every clan,
Rare on earth—a Perfect Man!"
"Long will be your quest, Abul Fazel, for a true man is rare indeed. Deep is thy thought, my friend—such wisdom as we find in the poetry of olden times, and not often in the polished verses of our days."
"The ancients, sire, lived more in touch with Nature, and interpreted the secrets of Nature. We live much in a world of our own creation."
"The stirring verses of our immortal Ferdusi,
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