The Broken Wing/Ya Mahbub!
Memorial Verses
I. Ya Mahbub![1]
Are these the streets that I used to know—Was it yesterday or æons ago?Where are the armies that used to wait—The pilgrims of Love—at your palace gate?The joyous pæans that thrilled the airThe pageants that shone thro’ your palace square?And the minstrel music that used to ringThro’ your magic kingdom . . . when you were king?
O hands that succoured a people’s needWith the splendour of Haroun-al-Rasheed! O heart that solaced a sad world’s cryWith the sumptuous bounty of Hatim Tai!Where are the days that were winged and cladIn the fabulous glamour of old Baghdad,And the bird of glory that used to singIn your magic kingdom . . . when you were king?
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O king, in your kingdom there is no change,’Tis only my soul that hath grown so strange.So faint with sorrow it cannot hearAught save the chant at your rose-crowned bier.My grieving bosom hath grown too coldTo clasp the beauty it treasured of old,The grace of life and the gifts of spring,And the dreams I cherished . . . when you were king!
August 29, 1911
- ↑ “Ya Mahhub,” which means O Beloved, was the device on the State banner of the late Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Mahbub Ali Khan, the well-beloved of his people.