Daily quote by Baghdad

• Jaffàr, the Barmecide, the good Vizier,
  The poor man’s hope, the friend without a peer,
  Jaffàr was dead, slain by a doom unjust;
  And guilty Hàroun, sullen with mistrust
  Of what the good and e’en the bad might say,
  Ordained that no man living from that day
  Should dare to speak his name on pain of death.
  All Araby and Persia held their breath.
  All but the brave Mondeer. He, proud to show
  How far for love a grateful soul could go,
  And facing death for very scorn and grief
  (For his great heart wanted a great relief),
  Stood forth in Bagdad, daily, in the square
  Where once had stood a happy house; and there
  Harangued the tremblers at the scymitar
  On all they owed to the divine Jaffàr.
  “Bring me this man,” the caliph cried. The man
  Was brought,—was gazed upon. The mutes began
  To bind his arms. “Welcome, brave cords!” cried he;
  “From bonds far worse Jaffàr delivered me;
  From wants, from shames, from loveless household fears;
  Made a man’s eyes friends with delicious tears;
  Restored me,—loved me,—put me on a par
  With his great self. How can I pay Jaffàr?”
  Hàroun, who felt that on a soul like this
  The mightiest vengeance could but fall amiss,
  Now deigned to smile, as one great lord of fate
  Might smile upon another half as great.
  He said, “Let worth grow frenzied, if it will;
  The caliph’s judgment shall be master still.
  Go; and since gifts thus move thee, take this gem,
  The richest in the Tartar’s diadem,
  And hold the giver as thou deemest fit.”
  “Gifts!” cried the friend. He took; and holding it
  High towards the heavens, as though to meet his star,
  Exclaimed, “This, too, I owe to thee, Jaffàr!”
  • Leigh Hunt, "Jaffàr"
  • Stories in Verse (1855), p. 234