Response to Mahmud of Ghazni

Long years this Shahnama I toiled to complete, That the King might award me some recompense meet, But naught save a heart wrung with grief and despair Did I get from those promises empty as air!

Had the sire of the King been some Prince of renown, My forehead had surely been graced by a crown! Were his mother a lady of high pedigree, In silver and gold had I stood to the knee!

But, being by birth not a prince but a boor, The praise of the noble he could not endure!