I saw in Hell, by scenes of horror awed,
A being that a noxious creature gnawed.
Speechless with fear, I gazed, but wondered much
Why its right foot the monster did not touch.
Then said the Angel that for ever waits
Beside its wide and inward-opening gates,
'This is the soul of him who lived on earth
A life of indolence and little worth;
Many his sins, and few his works of love.
But one day Allah, from his throne above, —
By whom no kindly deed is e'er forgot, —
Beheld him with this foot that suffers not.
Cast to a ploughing ox a bunch of hay.
And something of his torment takes away,'