Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MOHAMMED AND THE MISER, by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MOHAMMED AND THE MISER, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: There was wailing in the village - not the woe of hireling tears
Last Line: Not the date-fruit, but the date-trees, strewed the desolated plain.
Alternate Author Name(s): Houghton, 1st Baron; Houghton, Lord
Subject(s): Misers; Muhammad, The Prophet (570-632); Mahomet; Mohammed


THERE was wailing in the village -- not the woe of hireling tears,
There was sorrow all around it -- not the grief of servile fears,
Though the good Abdallah dying, to his son's especial care
Had bequeathed his needy neighbours, making him his virtue's heir.

But in this our earthly being virtue will not follow blood,
Good will often spring from evil, evil often rise from good;
So th' ensample of his father, and the trust to him consigned,
Could not change the rebel nature, could not raise the niggard mind.

'Twas the season when the date-trees, cultured in their seemly plan,
Yield their sweet and wholesome burden into the glad lap of man;
Then it was Abdallah's custom to collect the poor around,
To up-glean the casual fruitage, freely scattered on the ground.

But that year about the date-grove palisades were planted strong,
Watchers placed to guard the entrance, watchers all the wall along;
And the Lord announced his harvest on the morrow should begin,
Swearing he would slay the peasant that should creep the pale within.

Passing near, the Prophet wondered at the loud lament he heard,
And he proffered them his counsel, and he soothed them with his word,
And he bade them trust in Allah, Father of the rich and poor,
One who wills not that his children pine before their brother's door.

Thundering from the sandy mountains all that night the tempest came,
All that night the veil of water fell before the flashing flame,
And when dawn the Master summoned to review his promised gain,
Not the date-fruit, but the date-trees, strewed the desolated plain.





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