The Garden of Kama: Kama the Indian Eros
The daylight is dying,The Flying fox flying,Amber and amethyst burn in the sky.See, the sun throws a late,Lingering, roseateKiss to the landscape to bid it good-bye.
The time of our Trysting!Oh, come, unresisting,Lovely, expectant, on tentative feet.Shadow shall cover us,Roses bend over us,Making a bride chamber, sacred and sweet.
We know not life's reason,The length of its season,Know not if they know, the great Ones above.We none of us sought it,And few could support it,Were it not gilt with the glamour of love.
But much is forgivenTo Gods who have given,If but for an hour, the Rapture of Youth.You do not yet know it,But Kama shall show it,Changing your dreams to his Exquisite Truth.
The Fireflies shall light you,And naught shall afright you,Nothing shall trouble the Flight of the Hours.Come, for I wait for you,Night is too late for you,Come, while the twilight is closing the flowers.
Every breeze still is,And, scented with lilies,Cooled by the twilight, refreshed by the dew,The garden lies breathless,Where Kama, the Deathless,In the hushed starlight, is waiting for you.
Words in this poem
- daylight n.
- The light of day as opposed to the darkness of night; the light of the sun, as opposed to that of the moon or to artificial light.
- amethyst
- A variety of crystallized quartz, of a purple or bluish violet color, of different shades. It is much used as a jeweler's stone. [F. ametiste, amatiste, F. améthyste, L. amethystus, fr. Gr. Mead.]
- roseate a.
- Full of roses; rosy; as, roseate bowers. [Cf. L. roseus, rosatus, prepared from roses. See Roseal, Rose.]
- trysting n.
- An appointment; a tryst. Trysting day, an arranged day of meeting or assembling, as of soldiers, friends, and the like.
- tentative a.
- Of or pertaining to a trial or trials; essaying; experimental. [L. tentare to try: cf. F. tentatif. See Tempt.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- glamour n.
- A charm affecting the eye, making objects appear different from what they really are. [Scot. glamour, glamer; cf. Icel. glámeggdr one who is troubled with the glaucoma; or Icel. glam-s weakness of sight, glamour; glamr name of the moon, also of a ]
- kama n.
- The Hindoo Cupid. He is represented as a beautiful youth, with a bow of sugar cane or flowers. [Skr. kama love, the god of love.]
- breathless a.
- Spent with labor or violent action; out of breath.
- deathless a.
- Not subject to death, destruction, or extinction; immortal; undying; imperishable; as, deathless beings; deathless fame.
- starlight n.
- The light given by the stars.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Garden of Kama: Kama the Indian Eros 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, The Garden of Kama: Kama the Indian Eros, in India's Love Lyrics (1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8197, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hope-india/the-garden-of-kama-kama-the-indian-eros.html, id L22626.
Form and metre
The Garden of Kama: Kama the Indian Eros is 36 lines in 6 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is dactylic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
See other poems in dactylic dimeter.
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 AABCCB dyingA · flyingA · skyB · lateC · roseateC · byeB
- 2 AABCCB trystingA · unresistingA · feetB · usC · usC · sweetB
- 3 AABCCB reasonA · seasonA · aboveB · itC · itC · loveB
- 4 AABCCB forgivenA · givenA · youthB · itC · itC · truthB
- 5 AABAAB youA · youA · hoursB · youA · youA · flowersB
- 6 AABCCB isA · liliesA · dewB · breathlessC · deathlessC · youB
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 dactylic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The daylight is dying, | 6 | ·/··/˘ |
| The Flying fox flying, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Amber and amethyst burn in the sky. | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| See, the sun throws a late, | 6 | ······ |
| Lingering, roseate | 6 | /˘˘/˘˘ |
| Kiss to the landscape to bid it good-bye. | 10 | ···/······ |
| The time of our Trysting! | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Oh, come, unresisting, | 6 | ······ |
| Lovely, expectant, on tentative feet. | 9 | /˘˘/˘·/˘· |
| Shadow shall cover us, | 6 | /··/˘· |
| Roses bend over us, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Making a bride chamber, sacred and sweet. | 10 | /˘··/˘/˘·· |
| We know not life's reason, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| The length of its season, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Know not if they know, the great Ones above. | 10 | ·········· |
| We none of us sought it, | 6 | ······ |
| And few could support it, | 6 | ···˘/· |
| Were it not gilt with the glamour of love. | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| But much is forgiven | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| To Gods who have given, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| If but for an hour, the Rapture of Youth. | 10 | ····/·/˘·· |
| You do not yet know it, | 6 | ······ |
| But Kama shall show it, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Changing your dreams to his Exquisite Truth. | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| The Fireflies shall light you, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And naught shall afright you, | 6 | ······ |
| Nothing shall trouble the Flight of the Hours. | 10 | /˘·/˘····/ |
| Come, for I wait for you, | 6 | ······ |
| Night is too late for you, | 6 | ······ |
| Come, while the twilight is closing the flowers. | 10 | ···/··/˘·/ |
| Every breeze still is, | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| And, scented with lilies, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Cooled by the twilight, refreshed by the dew, | 10 | ···/·˘/··· |
| The garden lies breathless, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Where Kama, the Deathless, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| In the hushed starlight, is waiting for you. | 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.