Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79.
Mohammed
By Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)U
Prophet and priest, who scattered abroad both evil and blessing,
Huge wasteful empires founded and hallowed slow persecution,
Soul-withering, but crushed the blasphemous rites of the Pagan
And idolatrous Christians. For veiling the gospel of Jesus,
They, the best corrupting, had made it worse than the vilest.
Wherefore Heaven decreed the enthusiast warrior of Mecca,
Choosing good from iniquity rather than evil from goodness.
Loud the tumult in Mecca surrounding the fane of the idol;
Naked and prostrate the priesthood were laid,—the people with mad shouts
Thundering now, and now with saddest ululation
Flew, as over the channel of rock-stone the ruinous river
Shatters its waters abreast, and in mazy uproar bewildered,
Rushes dividuous all,—all rushing impetuous onward.