That blessings lost, though hard to bear, <br />Are light when weighed with carking care, - <br />Some ill whose ever-goading spite <br />Affects us morning, noon, and night, - <br />Sadi, the Persian poet, shows <br />Most humorously. The story goes - <br />So sings the bard - that, on a time, <br />Somewhere within the Eastern clime, <br />A worthy gentleman, whose wife <br />Took sudden leave of him and life, <br />In deepest lamentation fell <br />For the dear dame whom long and well <br />The man had loved, - as well might be, - <br />For she was good, and fair to see, <br />And crowned with every winning grace <br />Of mind and soul to match her face. <br /> <br />What much his weight of woe in creased, <br />The mother of the dear deceased, <br />A meddling beldame, old and cross, <br />Remained to help him mourn his loss. <br />From morn to night the vixen's tongue <br />He heard, and groaned; and still she clung <br />Leech-like unto the widowed spouse; <br />For, by the daughter's nuptial vows, <br />The woman said, it was agreed - <br />Dared he dispute it? - no, indeed! - <br />Her mother in the house should stay, <br />A guest - unto her dying day! <br />In vain the hapless man essayed <br />To buy her off; in vain portrayed <br />The pleasures of a trip to Rome; <br />She still 'preferred to stay at home!' <br /> <br />One day, amidst the deafening din <br />Of angry tongues, some friends came in, <br />With sympathetic voice to pay <br />Condolence, in the common way; <br />And, hinting at his recent loss, <br />Amazon Honor System Hoped Heaven would help him bear his cross. <br />'Thanks!' said the mourner, with a sigh, <br />'My loss is great, - I can't deny; <br />But for affliction, I must say, <br />What God was pleased to take away <br />A less calamity I find <br />Than what He chose to leave behind!'<br /><br />John Godfrey Saxe<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-persian-tale/
