Page:Ferishtah's fancies - Browning (1884).djvu/18

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FERISHTAH'S FANCIES.
One fruit whereof the whole scarce feeds a swine?Wast thou the Shah's Prime Minister, men sawRide on his right-hand while a trumpet blewAnd Persia hailed the Favorite? Yea, twelve yearsAre past, I judge, since that transcendency,And thou didst peculate and art abased;No less, twelve years since, thou didst hold in handPersia, couldst halve and quarter, mince its pulpAs pleased thee, and distribute—melon-like—Portions to whoso played the parasite,Or suck—thyself—each juicy morsel. HowEnormous thy abjection,—hell from heaven,Made tenfold hell by contrast! Whisper me!Dost thou curse God for granting twelve years' blissOnly to prove this day 's the direr lot?"
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