@3Al-Mutakabbir! all the heavens declare His majesty, Who makes them what they are@1. Azar, of Abraham the father, spake Unto his son, "Come! and thine offerings make Before the gods whose images divine In Nimrûd's carved and painted temple shine. Pay worship to the sun's great orb of gold; Adore the queen-moon's silver state; behold Otâred, Moshtari, Sohayl, in their might, Those stars of glory, those high lords of light. These have we wrought, as fitteth gods alone, In bronze and ivory and chiseled stone. Obey, as did thy sires, these powers of Heaven Which rule the world, throned in the circles seven." But Abraham said, "Did they not see the sun Sink and grow darkened, when the days were done? Did not the moon for them, too, wax and wane, That they should pay her worship, false and vain? Lo! all these stars have laws to rise and set,— Otâred, Moshtari, Sohayl,—wilt thou yet Bid me praise gods who humbly come and go, Lights that a Greater Light hath kindled? No! I dare not bow the knee to one of these; My Lord is He who (past the sky man sees) Waxeth and waneth not, Unchanged of all, Him only 'God,' Him only 'Great,' I call." @3Well spak'st thou, Friend of Allah. None Is "great" except the Greatest One@1. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...COMPANIONS by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE TOWER OF SKULLS by ISAAC ROSENBERG ON THE DEATH OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN by PHILIP FRENEAU SONNET: WRITTEN ON THE DAY THAT MR. LEIGH HUNT LEFT PRISON by JOHN KEATS THE SAILOR BOY by ALFRED TENNYSON SONG OF SLAVES IN THE DESERT by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER |