Princes come, princes go. / An hour of pomp and show. / They know princes come / and over...

Caliph Guard:
[closing lines]
Is this man to be pardoned, O Caliph? Omar:
Pardon him, All Highest. His crime was a service. Let him go free. Poet:
No, don't ask that. Under the circumstances it would embarrass the All Highest to pardon his father-in-law. O, Prince of Justice, let me help you to compose this most difficult of verdicts against a man who in his life never once did right and who never once wronged anyone. Condemn the scoundrel to some dreadful oasis at least a week's camel journey away. Force him to take with him the widow of the soon-to-be late Wazir... [turning to Lalume, the Wazir's wife, and speaking under his breath] Poet:
and all the property she can get her hands on before the accounts are audited. [turning back to the Caliph, in full voice] Poet:
Condemn him to lighten her sorrow and to toil ceaselessly to remove all grief from her heart. Lalume:
You have just condemned yourself for life, My Lord. Poet:
And finally, O Prince of True Believers, take from me my greatest treasure, my daughter, Marsinah. Take her away forever by marrying her to the end of her days. Caliph:
Such is the Caliph's pleasure. And so he orders. Poet:
[singing]
Princes come, Princes go. / An hour of pomp and show. / They know Princes come / and over the sands and over the sands of time they go. / Wise men come ever promising the riddle of life to know. / Wise men come, but over the sands / the silent sands of time they go. / Lovers come, lovers go / and all that there is to know / lovers know, only lovers know