Poems from Eastern Sources: The Steadfast Prince; and Other Poems

Chapter 27: THE DEAD DOG.

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About This Book

A varied poetic collection draws on Eastern legends, scriptural and European sources to present translations, adaptations, and original pieces that retell myths, parables, and ballads. Narrative poems render tales such as Alexander's quest and other legendary or folkloric episodes; lyric sequences explore seasons, love, faith, mortality, and moral aphorisms; additional pieces adapt German and Latin sources and include sonnets, ballads, and short fragments. The tone alternates between descriptive narrative, reflective meditation, and moral reflection, often framing Eastern imagery—gardens, fountains, courts, and deserts—to examine desire, righteousness, steadfastness, and the relationship between life and death. Notes clarify sources and degrees of translation.

THE DEAD DOG.

For the man whose heart and eye

Are made wise by charity,

Something will appear always

That may have his honest praise;

There will glimmer points of light

In the darkest, saddest night.

Thus a crowd once gathered round

The dead carcase of an hound;

Flung upon the open way,

In the market-place it lay;

And the idle multitude,

Vulture-like, around it stood,

One exclaiming, “I declare

That he poisons quite the air:”

But the next, “He is not worth

Pains of putting under earth;”

And against the poor dead thing

Each in turn his stone must fling:

Till one wiser passing by,

Just exclaimed, while eagerly

They were venting each his spite,—

“See his teeth, how pearly white!”

Straight the others, with self-blame,

Shrunk away in silent shame.