1. The keeper of Ctesiphon was amazed when he saw
Umar among the people, while he was their shepherd,

2. And his covenant with the kings of Persia was that
It had walls of soldiers and guards protecting it.

3. He saw him drowned in his sleep, so he saw
In him majesty in its highest meanings,

4. Above the ground, under the shade of the tent, wrapped
In a cloak, which the length of time had nearly worn threadbare.

5. So there became small in his eyes what he used to magnify
Of emperors, and the world in their hands,

6. And he said a saying of truth which became a parable,
And generation after generation narrates it:

7. "You felt secure when you established justice among them,
So you slept the sleep of the clear-eyed, calm."