The Queen's Rival By Sarojini Naidu

The Queen's Rival

QUEEN GULNAAR sat on her ivory bed,

Around her countless treasures were spread;

Her chamber walls were richly inlaid

With agate, porphory, onyx and jade;

The tissues that veiled her delicate breast,

Glowed with the hues of a lapwing's crest;

But still she gazed in her mirror and sighed

"O King, my heart is unsatisfied."

King Feroz bent from his ebony seat:

"Is thy least desire unfulfilled, O Sweet?

"Let thy mouth speak and my life be spent

To clear the sky of thy discontent."

"I tire of my beauty, I tire of this

Empty splendour and shadowless bliss;