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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE PALANQUINS by IBN SA'ID OF ALCALA LA REAL

First Line: NAY, I HAVE NE'ER FORGOTTEN YET
Last Line: AND WAR IS KINDLED BY A WORD.'

Nay, I have ne'er forgotten yet
That day the palanquins were set
Aloft, I fancied them my breast
By deep anxieties oppressed.

And when their curtains, all of red,
Were hoisted over them, I said:
'Yourselves this fatal discord stirred,
And war is kindled by a word.'



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