_Sit thou dumb, and get into darkness,_ _Daughter of Khasdîm!_ _For not again shall they call thee_ _Mistress of Kingdoms._ _I was wroth with My people, profaned Mine inheritance,_ _Gave them to thy hand:_ _Thou didst show them no mercy, on old men thou madest_ _Thy yoke very sore._ _And thou saidst, For ever I shall be mistress,_ _Till thou hast set not these things to thy heart,_ _Nor thought of their issue._ _Therefore now hear this, Voluptuous,_ _Sitting self-confident:_ _Thou, who saith in her heart, "I am: there is none else._ _I shall not sit a widow, nor know want of children."_ _Surely shall come to thee both of these, sudden, the same day,_ _Childlessness, widowhood! To their full come upon thee, spite of the mass of thy spells,_ _Spite of the wealth of thy charms--to the full!_ _And thou wast bold in thine evil; thou saidst,_ _"None doth see me."_ _Thy wisdom and knowledge--they have led thee astray,_ _Till thou hast said in thine heart, "I am: there is none else."_ _Yet there shall come on thee Evil,_ _Thou know'st not to charm it._ _And there shall fall on thee Havoc,_ _Thou canst not avert it._ _And there shall come on thee suddenly,_ _Unawares, Ruin._ _Stand forth, I pray, with thy charms, with the wealth of thy spells--_ _With which thou hast wearied thyself from thy youth up--_ _If so thou be able to profit,_ _If so to strike terror!_ _Thou art sick with the mass of thy counsels:_ _Let them stand up and save thee--_ _Mappers of heaven, Planet-observers, Tellers at new moons--_ _From what must befall thee!_ _Behold, they are grown like the straw!_ _Fire hath consumed them;_ _Nay, they save not their life_ _From the hand of the flame!_ _--'Tis no fuel for warmth,_ _Fire to sit down at!--_ _Thus are they grown to thee, they who did weary thee,_ _Traders of thine from thy youth up;_ _Each as he could pass have they fled;_ _None is thy saviour!_