A CRAFTY Persian set this stone A dusk Sultana wore it; And from her slender finger, sir, A ruthless Arab tore it. " "A ruby, like a drop of blood - That deep-in tint that lingers And seems to melt, perchance was caught From those poor mangled fingers "A spendthrift got it from the knave, And tossed it, like a blossom, That night into a dancing-girl's Accurst and balmy bosom. " "And so it went. One day a Jew At Cairo chanced to spy it Amid a one-eyed peddler's pack, And did not care to buy it - Yet bought it all the same. You see, The Jew he knew a jewel. He bought it cheap to sell it dear The ways of trade are cruel. But I -be Allah's all the praise! - Such avarice, I scoff it If I buy cheap, why, I sell cheap. Content with modest profit. This ring -such chasing! look, milord, What workmanship! By Heaven, The price I name you makes the thing As if the thing were given! A stone without a flaw! A queen Might not disdain to wear it. Three hundred roubles buys the stone No kopeck less, I swear it I Thus Hassan, holding up the ring To me, no eager buyer. - A hundred roubles was not much To pay so sweet a liar. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPRING'S NEBRASKA by KAREN SWENSON ON THE BALCONY by PAUL VERLAINE AT FREDERICKSBURG [DECEMBER 13, 1862] by JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY SONG OF THE BANNER AT DAY-BREAK by WALT WHITMAN THE BANISHED LOVER by ABD AL-RAHMAN AL-MUSTAZHIR |