Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE WATER WHEEL by ABU ABD ALLAH

First Line: BACK ARCHING: SO
Last Line: IMPORTUNING OF LACK.

Back arching: so
See her bending low
To suckle with her waters
Earth's lovely daughters.

Her upper half is like
A twanging bow, to strike
With a liquid tide
Of arrows every side.

Or she is a sphere
Celestial, her sheer
Waters meteors hurled
Upon a barren world.

The slim boughs entrance
Her with their swaying dance;
Behold her twirling,
Her sharp swords whirling.

Not of thirst she groans
I think, nor moans
Parched, her shoulder-blade
Drenched in that cascade.

Suppose her then a maid
Singing, and the glade
A drinker, all a throng
Of wine and song:

Her sprinkled dew
Over the dark hue
White gifts to the black
Importuning of lack.



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