Classic and Contemporary Poetry
HIS CAMEL, by ALQAMATH First Line: So leave her, and cast care from thy heart with a sturdy Last Line: Mislikes it, all the choice is to journey on. Subject(s): Arabia; Camels; Deserts; Food & Eating; Travel; Journeys; Trips | ||||||||
SO leave her, and cast care from thy heart with a sturdy mounta camel that ambles tireless, carrying riders twain; To Harith, the generous Lord, I drive her unsparing on, with pantings that shake her breast and throb through her ribs and flanks: A fleet runner whose flesh over sides and where neck meets hump has vanished beneath noon-tide's hot breath and the onward press; And yet after night's long toil the dawn breaks and finds her fresh as antelope, young and strong, that flees from the hunter's pack: They crouched by the artà-brake, the hunters, and thought to win a safe prey: but she escaped their shafts and pursuing hounds. So travels my beast, and makes her object a man far off, and little by little gains the way to his bounteous hand. Yet, thou wast her labor's endGod keep thee from curse, O King! and through all the Desert's sameness sped she, beset with fears. Towards thee the Pole-stars led, and there where men's feet had passed a track plain to see that wound by cairns over ridges scarred. There bodies of beasts outworn lay thickly along the road, their bones gleaming white, their hides all shriveled and hard and dry. I bring her to drink the dregs of cisterns all mire and draff; and if she mislikes it, all the choice is to journey on. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...RICHARD, WHAT'S THAT NOISE? by RICHARD HOWARD LOOKING FOR THE GULF MOTEL by RICHARD BLANCO RIVERS INTO SEAS by LYNDA HULL DESTINATIONS by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN THE ONE WHO WAS DIFFERENT by RANDALL JARRELL THE CONFESSION OF ST. JIM-RALPH by DENIS JOHNSON SESTINA: TRAVEL NOTES by WELDON KEES TO H. B. (WITH A BOOK OF VERSE) by MAURICE BARING |
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