Red are her cheeks like rubies, so red that every night , Despairing to outglow them, the sun withdraws from sight. All day I drink this ruby wine, those rubies rich and bright, But these distil in pearls that fill my dim eyes every night. The nightingale rebukes me; he says my song is trite; But can I sing when tortures wring my bosom night by night? While others woo her in their dreams and slumbers of delight, I groan and weep, I cannot sleep, I weep the livelong night. Oh! I am slain with deadly pain-slain, slain with pain outright, That on her breast her locks should rest so softly all the night. Of Ahmed's tears and torments, and love's unhappy blight The lamp will tell that in his cell burns lower night by night. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE OLD BRIDGE AT FLORENCE; SONNET by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW LITTLE BELL by THOMAS WESTWOOD THE TOMBS OF THE KINGS by MATHILDE BLIND THE VANISHED MOUNTAINS by HARRY RANDOLPH BLYTHE THE FAIRY FORT by ABBIE FARWELL BROWN THE KNIGHT'S EPITAPH by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT |