Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ARABIA, by LUCY AIKEN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ARABIA, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Over arabia's desert sands
Last Line: Poor, -- yet blest with liberty.
Alternate Author Name(s): Aikin, Lucy


Over Arabia's desert sands
The patient camel walks;
Mid lonely caves and rocky lands
The fell hyaena stalks.
On the cool and shady hills
Coffee shrubs and tamarinds grow,
Headlong fall the welcome rills
Down the fruitful dells below.

The fragrant myrrh and healing balm
Perfume the passing gale;
Thick hung with dates, the spreading palm
Tow'rs o'er the people vale.
Locusts oft, a living cloud,
Hover in the darken'd air;
Like a torrent dashing loud,
Bringing famine and despair.

And often o'er the level waste
The stifling hot winds fly;
Down falls the swain with trembling haste,
The gasping cattle die.
Shepherd people on the plain
Pitch their tents and wander free;
Wealthy cities they disdain,
Poor, -- yet blest with liberty.





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