Syed Amir

Syed Amir is dead, and his numerous foes
Are hushed in a breathless awe of amazed relief.
The hearts of his friends are cold as the Tirah snows,
And I am blind and deaf in the Grip of my Grief. --
My Soul has borrowed a portion of Pain from Hell"
Oh, Syed Amir, my brother and Friend, Farewell!
His women weep, but a woman's tears flow lightly.
A bauble or two, or a child, can soon console.
But I, who am stranger to tears, lie sleepless, nightly,
Feeling the Fangs of-Grief in my desolate soul.
I maddened myself with Churus, it could not cure me-
Ransacked the Bazar, to beg at the hands of lust
An hour's respite, but how was sin to allure me,
Who know the beauty of Syed Amir is dust?
A little while I wander in Tribulation,
In a Feud or two, or a few light loves take part,
But Death will come, and this is my Consolation,
Men live not long with a stricken and wounded heart'
What further challenge from Fate can I hope or fear,
Who mourn the ruined glory of Syed Amir?
All gifts were Syed Amir's; an Arrestive Beauty
That caught men's breath when he passed, Serene and Royal,
A clear and delicate Mind, where Honour and Duty,
Sentried the gate, that nothing might pass disloyal,
And these are taken from Khorassan for ever,
Their light is quenched in the land where he used to dwell,
But I, who loved him, cease from loving him never;
Oh, Syed Amir, my brother and Friend, Farewell!