A Dream

[From the Persian.] I saw in Hell, by scenes of horror awed, A being that a noxious creature gnawed. Speechless with fear, I gazed, but wondered much Why its right foot the monster did not touch. Then said the Angel that for ever waits Beside its wide and inward-opening gates, 'This is the soul of him who lived on earth A life of indolence and little worth; Many his sins, and few his works of love. But one day Allah, from his throne above, — By whom no kindly deed is e'er forgot, — Beheld him with this foot that suffers not. Cast to a ploughing ox a bunch of hay. And something of his torment takes away,'