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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


HASSAN'S MUSIC by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH

Poet Analysis

First Line: LAND OF DELIGHT! YOU DID NOT HOLD US LONG
Last Line: SAILED DOWN TO TARSUS TO MARK ANTONY.
Subject(s): MUSIC & MUSICIANS;

Land of Delight! you did not hold us long:
Three moons we spent with Hassan, but those three,
Like flies in amber, lie in memory —
Three languid moons, three moons of dream and song.
When Hassan played, the musky winds of night
Trembled, and turned to music with delight!
Lo! it was melody's insanity:
Now 'twas a honey-throated nightingale,
And now a sigh, a soul in agony,
A troubled dead-march with melodious wail,
A fall of tears — then it came daintily,
Like the perfumèd air that smote the sail
Of Cleopatra's golden barge, when she
Sailed down to Tarsus to Mark Antony.



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