India's Love Lyrics
Less than the dust, beneath thy Chariot wheel,Less than the rust, that never stained thy Sword,Less than the trust thou hast in me, O Lord,Even less than these!
Less than the weed, that grows beside thy door,Less than the speed of hours spent far from thee,Less than the need thou hast in life of me.Even less am I.
Since I, O Lord, am nothing unto thee,See here thy Sword, I make it keen and bright,Love's last reward, Death, comes to me to-night,Farewell, Zahir-u-din.
Oh, that my blood were water, thou athirst,And thou and I in some far Desert land,How would I shed it gladly, if but firstIt touched thy lips, before it reached the sand.
Once,--Ah, the Gods were good to me,--I threwMyself upon a poison snake, that creptWhere my Beloved--a lesser love we knewThan this which now consumes me wholly--slept.
But thou; Alas, what can I do for thee?By Fate, and thine own beauty, set aboveThe need of all or any aid from me,Too high for service, as too far for love.
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- athirst a.
- Wanting drink; thirsty. [OE. ofthurst, AS. ofpyrsted, p. p. of ofpyrstan; pref. of-, intensive + pyrstan to thirst. See Thirst.]
- gladly adv.
- Preferably; by choice. [From Glad, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
India's Love Lyrics is in the public domain. This text is taken from India's Love Lyrics, Project Gutenberg ebook #8197; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Laurence Hope, India's Love Lyrics, (1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8197, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hope-india/india-s-love-lyrics.html, id L26152.
Form and metre
India's Love Lyrics is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 6 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -AA- wheel · swordA · lordA · these
- 2 -AAA door · theeA · meA · iA
- 3 -AA- thee · brightA · nightA · din
- 4 ABAB athirstA · landB · firstA · sandB
- 5 ABAB threwA · creptB · knewA · sleptB
- 6 ABAB theeA · aboveB · meA · loveB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Less than the dust, beneath thy Chariot wheel, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Less than the rust, that never stained thy Sword, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Less than the trust thou hast in me, O Lord, | 10 | ·········· |
| Even less than these! | 5 | /˘··· |
| Less than the weed, that grows beside thy door, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Less than the speed of hours spent far from thee, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Less than the need thou hast in life of me. | 10 | ·········· |
| Even less am I. | 5 | /˘··· |
| Since I, O Lord, am nothing unto thee, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| See here thy Sword, I make it keen and bright, | 10 | ·········· |
| Love's last reward, Death, comes to me to-night, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Farewell, Zahir-u-din. | 6 | ·/˘/·· |
| Oh, that my blood were water, thou athirst, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And thou and I in some far Desert land, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| How would I shed it gladly, if but first | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| It touched thy lips, before it reached the sand. | 10 | ·········· |
| Once,--Ah, the Gods were good to me,--I threw | 10 | ·········· |
| Myself upon a poison snake, that crept | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| Where my Beloved--a lesser love we knew | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Than this which now consumes me wholly--slept. | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| But thou; Alas, what can I do for thee? | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| By Fate, and thine own beauty, set above | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The need of all or any aid from me, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Too high for service, as too far for love. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.