Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE ABSTINENT LOVER, by ABUL BAHR


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE ABSTINENT LOVER, by                    
First Line: Beautiful is she
Last Line: On my throat was raining.


Beautiful is she,
Beauty all excelling,
A world of witchery
In her gestures dwelling.

Fairer than the moon
Which, her charms so slender
Beholding, craves the boon
Humbly to attend her.

See, the shining grace
Of its crescent golden
Is but her radiant face
In a glass beholden.

On her cheek the mole
Punctuates and stresses
The calligraphic scroll
Lettered by her tresses.

As I lay at night
Nigh to her, night fashioned
Two fires: her beauty bright,
And my sighs impassioned.

Like as o'er his gold
Palpitates the miser,
So yearned I in my hold
Wholly to comprise her.

Yea, I bound her well
In my ardent rapture,
Afraid lest my gazelle
Should escape my capture.

Yet I kissed her not,
Chastity denying
My lust, a furnace hot
In my bosom sighing.

Marvel, if you will:
I, of thirst complaining,
While yet the healing rill
On my throat was raining.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net