1. Is this world and all in it
But a shadow that fades with the day?

2. Think of the lords of the mansions
And the masters of tithes and tool;

3. Think of the greatest in might and valor,
And the foremost in the race for spoil;

4. Think of generation on generation
Of caliphs and illustrious kings:

5. ’Tis as if they had never been fashioned,
Or as if they had never been things.