POEMS BY A KING OF PERSIA.

(_To the Editor._)


It is rather an unusual thing in the present age to hear of monarchs being
authors, and much more so of being poets. It is true, there have been
instances of this kind in former times; but perhaps none deserved more
notice than Fath Ali Shah, the King of Persia. The author of a collection
of elegies and sonnets, Mr. Scott Waring, in his "Tour to Sheeraz," has
exhibited a specimen of the king's amatory productions. He also states that
the government of Kashan, one of the chief cities in Persia, was the reward
of the king to the person who excelled in poetical composition.

The four subjoined poems are the production of this celebrated monarch.

WILLIAM RUNTING.

I.

She who is the object of my love
Has just declared she will not grant me
Another kiss, but at the price of my existence:
Ah! why have I not a thousand lives,
That I might sacrifice them all on these conditions.

The flame which she has enkindled in my heart
Is so bright, that it dazzles the universe:
It is a torch enclosed within crystal.
This heart is a Christian temple,