March 17
Companions of the Way (Morning)This also is vanity.
BUT hear ye this, ye sons of men! They that bear rule, and are obeyed, Unto a rule more strong than theirs Are in their turn obedient made.
In vain, therefore, with wistful eyes Gazing up hither, the poor man, Who loiters by the high-heap'd booths, Below there, in the Registan,
Says: "Happy he who lodges there! With silken raiment, store of rice, And for this drought, all kinds of fruits, Grape syrup—squares of coloured ice,
With cherries served in drifts of snow." In vain hath a king power to build Houses, arcades, enamell'd mosques, And to make orchard closes filled
With curious fruit-trees brought from far; With cisterns for the winter-rain, And in the desert, spacious inns In divers places—if that pain
Is not more lighten'd, which he feels, If his will be not satisfied— And that it be not, from all time The law is planted, to abide.
MATTHEW ARNOLD