@3(After the Persic)@1 Drugged at the breast of Anguish, nursed In Sorrow's old unnatural arms, Daily the swart Mejnún rehearsed Young Laili's lustrous charms. For him his desert grew to be Love's golden house where evermore Madness was janitor, and he The threshold of love's door! The telling of his griefs oppressed The Arabians: 'mong their youth there was A tumult, and as men possessed They clamoured in his cause. Their lettered councils met: the fame Of all thou sufferedst, saidst, and didst For love's dear sake, Mejnún, became A desert in their midst! At length their Sultan spake—he too Had plucked, whiles in love's land he paced, Many a flower of sable hue And fruit of haunting taste;— 'Slave, make thy head like to thy feet In running unto Najd! Bestir! Be as a violent wind and fleet, And hither fetch me Her Whose eyes such miseries have wrought!' The stripling coursed away amain, And in a twinkling homeward brought That Empress in Love's reign. Unto another slave he bent: 'Now go thou also forth and bring Love's burning lamp, Love's ornament, Love's heart-consuméd King!' The boy sped and returned: he had Strange company when back he pressed: The wounds of separation clad Mejnún as with a vest: His cloak was his wild hair; 'twas spann'd By a sharp comb of Arab thorn: His robe was rustling desert sand: To flint his feet were worn. 'Look up!' the Sultan cried, 'O thou, Who hast in Sorrow's gulf been lost! Tell me! shall I exalt thee now At this young beauty's cost? Become a courtier, wouldst thou not Bask on her cheek, thy wanderings done?' 'Nay,' cried that other, ''twere to blot With atomies the sun! 'King of high hearts, it were unjust Thus rashly to forego our fates! Enough if with one grain of dust I crown me at the gates!' —Madness austerely throned above The desolate hollows of his eyes— 'Me the sharp pain,' he cried, 'of love For Laili doth suffice! 'Nor do I pray that from her spheres One ray should light this mean worn man.' He spake, he veiled his eyes with tears, And toward the desert ran. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ELEGY ON THYRZA by GEORGE GORDON BYRON THE SHOOTING OF DAN MCGREW by ROBERT WILLIAM SERVICE TO A CAT by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE SATIRE: 6 by AULUS PERSIUS FLACCUS HYMN WRITTEN IN DESPONDENCY by ANN ELIZA BLEECKER |