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ReadingWillow structured literacy program for Australian students
Poetry Library

— Stephen Crane

I stood upon a high place,

And saw, below, many devils

Running, leaping,

And carousing in sin.

…

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adjective

Engaged in or ready for action; characterized by energetic work, thought, or speech.

“The students were very active in class discussions, asking many thoughtful questions.”

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MAHOMET, MUSTAPHA.

75 lines
Samuel Johnson·1709–1784
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AHOMET.Now, Mustapha, pursue thy tale of horrour.Has treason's dire infection reach'd my palace?Can Cali dare the stroke of heav'nly justice,In the dark precincts of the gaping grave,And load with perjuries his parting soul?Was it for this, that, sick'ning in Epirus,My father call'd me to his couch of death,Join'd Cali's hand to mine, and falt'ring cried,Restrain the fervour of impetuous youthWith venerable Cali's faithful counsels?Are these the counsels, this the faith of Cali?Were all our favours lavish'd on a villain?Confest?-- MUSTAPHA.Confest by dying Menodorus.In his last agonies, the gasping coward,Amidst the tortures of the burning steel,Still fond of life, groan'd out the dreadful secret,Held forth this fatal scroll, then sunk to nothing. MAHOMET. _examining the paper_.His correspondence with our foes of Greece!His hand! his seal! The secrets of my soul,Conceal'd from all but him! All, all conspireTo banish doubt, and brand him for a villain!Our schemes for ever cross'd, our mines discover'd,Betray'd some traitor lurking near my bosom.Oft have I rag'd, when their wide-wasting cannonLay pointed at our batt'ries yet unform'd,And broke the meditated lines of war.Detested Cali, too, with artful wonder,Would shake his wily head, and closely whisper,Beware of Mustapha, beware of treason. MUSTAPHA.The faith of Mustapha disdains suspicion;But yet, great emperour, beware of treason;Th' insidious bassa, fir'd by disappointment-- MAHOMET.Shall feel the vengeance of an injur'd king.Go, seize him, load him with reproachful chains;Before th' assembled troops, proclaim his crimes;Then leave him, stretch'd upon the ling'ring rack,Amidst the camp to howl his life away. MUSTAPHA.Should we, before the troops, proclaim his crimes,I dread his arts of seeming innocence,His bland address, and sorcery of tongue;And, should he fall, unheard, by sudden justice,Th' adoring soldiers would revenge their idol. MAHOMET.Cali, this day, with hypocritick zeal,Implor'd my leave to visit Mecca's temple;Struck with the wonder of a statesman's goodness,I rais'd his thoughts to more sublime devotion.Now let him go, pursu'd by silent wrath,Meet unexpected daggers in his way,And, in some distant land, obscurely die. MUSTAPHA.There will his boundless wealth, the spoil of Asia,Heap'd by your father's ill-plac'd bounties on him,Disperse rebellion through the eastern world;Bribe to his cause, and list beneath his banners,Arabia's roving troops, the sons of swiftness,And arm the Persian heretick against thee;There shall he waste thy frontiers, check thy conquests,And, though at length subdued, elude thy vengeance. MAHOMET.Elude my vengeance! No--My troops shall rangeTh' eternal snows that freeze beyond Maeotis,And Africk's torrid sands, in search of Cali.Should the fierce north, upon his frozen wings,Bear him aloft, above the wond'ring clouds,And seat him in the pleiads' golden chariots,Thence shall my fury drag him down to tortures;Wherever guilt can fly, revenge can follow.
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