SELECTIONS IN ENGLISH POETRY
"Desire not that, my father! thou must live.
For some are born to do great deeds, and live,
As some are born to be obscured, and die.
Do thou the deeds I die too young to do, 775
And reap a second glory in thine age;
Thou art my father, and thy gain is mine.
But come! thou seest this great host of men
Which follow me; I pray thee, slay not these!
Let me entreat for them; what have they done ? 780
They follow'd me, my hope, my fame, my star.
Let them all cross the Oxus back in peace,
But me thou must bear hence, not send with them,
But carry me with thee to Seistan,
And place me on a bed and mourn for me, 785«
Thou, and the snow-hair'd Zal, and all thy friends.
And thou must lay me in that lovely earth,
And heap a stately mound above my bones,
And plant a far-seen pillar over all.
That so the passing horseman on the waste 790
May see my tomb a great way off, and cry:
*Sohrab, the mighty Rustum's son, lies there.
Whom his great father did in ignorance kill!*
And I be not forgotten in my grave."
And, with a mournful voice, Rustum replied:— 795
4'Fear not! as thou hast said, Sohrab, my son,
So shall it be; for I will burn my tents,
And quit the host, and bear thee hence with me,
And carry thee away to Seistan,
And place thee on a bed, and mourn for thee, 800
With the snow-headed Zal, and all my friends.
And I will lay thee in that lovely earth,
And heap a stately mound above thy bones,
And plant a far-seen pillar over all,
And men shall not forget thee in thy grave. §05
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