Poems (Piatt)/Volume 2/The Sultan's Confession
THE SULTAN'S CONFESSION.
The richest Sultan of the East once said,And stooped, to hide his blush, his turbaned head:
"Yes, I am great. Behold, I can commandArmies of slaves through all my flowering land.
"But I could not command the worm, so smallNone sees, that ate the dead Sultana's shawl.
"She, sweetest of the sweet, who left these eyesFor ever dark, to lighten Paradise,—
"The folds that touched her lovely form to meWere more than all my jewelled treasury."