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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CHORUS OF THE CLOUD-MAIDEN: ANTISTROPHE, FR. THE CLOUDS by ARISTOPHANES THE TEMPTATION OF OUR LORD: BALEUS PROLOCUTOR by JOHN BALE THE POOR MAN'S PIG by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN POETS AND POETS by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN RETURN CREEPING by CLARISSA BUCKLIN FOURTH BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 5 by THOMAS CAMPION TOWARDS DEMOCRACY: PART 4. THE WANDERING LUNATIC MIND by EDWARD CARPENTER |