Two Similes

You have taken away my cloak,

My cloak of weariness;

Take my coat also,

My many-coloured coat of life....

On this great nursery floor

I had three toys,

A bright and varnished vow,

A Speckled Monster, best of boys,

True friend to me, and more

Beloved and a thing of cost,

My doll painted like life; and now

One is broken and two are lost.

From the Arabic of John Duncan.