Bird Parliament · 10 of 20

The Phoenix

Then on a sudden swoop'd The Phoenix down As though he wore as well as gave The Crown: And cried--'I care not, I, to wait on Kings, Whose crowns are but the Shadow of my Wings!'

'Aye,' was the Answer--'And, pray, how has sped, On which it lighted, many a mortal Head?'

A certain Sultan dying, his Vizier In Dream beheld him, and in mortal Fear Began--'O mighty Shah of Shahs! Thrice-blest'-- But loud the Vision shriek'd and struck its Breast, And 'Stab me not with empty Title!' cried-- 'One only Shah there is, and none beside, Who from his Throne above for certain Ends Awhile some Spangle of his Glory lends To Men on Earth; but calling in again Exacts a strict account of every Grain. Sultan I lived, and held the World in scorn: O better had I glean'd the Field of Corn! O better had I been a Beggar born, And for my Throne and Crown, down in the Dust My living Head had laid where Dead I must! O wither'd, wither'd, wither'd, be the Wing Whose overcasting Shadow made me King!'