To the Unattainable: Lament of Mahomed Akram
I would have taken Golden Stars from the sky for your necklace,I would have shaken rose-leaves for your rest from all the rose-trees.
But you had no need; the short sweet grass sufficed for your slumber,And you took no heed of such trifles as gold or a necklace.
There is an hour, at twilight, too heavy with memory.There is a flower that I fear, for your hair had its fragrance.
I would have squandered Youth for you, and its hope and its promise,Before you wandered, careless, away from my useless passion.
But what is the use of my speech, since I know of no words to recall you?I am praying that Time may teach, you, your Cruelty, me, Forgetfulness.
About this text
To the Unattainable: Lament of Mahomed Akram 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, To the Unattainable: Lament of Mahomed Akram, in India's Love Lyrics (1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8197, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hope-india/to-the-unattainable-lament-of-mahomed-akram.html, id L22578.
Form and metre
To the Unattainable: Lament of Mahomed Akram is 10 lines in 5 stanzas of 2 lines each. 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I would have taken Golden Stars from the sky for your necklace, | 15 | ···/˘/˘······/˘ |
| I would have shaken rose-leaves for your rest from all the rose-trees. | 15 | ···/˘·········· |
| But you had no need; the short sweet grass sufficed for your slumber, | 15 | ·········˘/··/˘ |
| And you took no heed of such trifles as gold or a necklace. | 15 | ·······/˘····/˘ |
| There is an hour, at twilight, too heavy with memory. | 15 | ···/˘·/··/˘·/˘˘ |
| There is a flower that I fear, for your hair had its fragrance. | 15 | ···/˘········/˘ |
| I would have squandered Youth for you, and its hope and its promise, | 15 | ···/˘········/˘ |
| Before you wandered, careless, away from my useless passion. | 15 | ···/˘/˘˘/··/˘/˘ |
| But what is the use of my speech, since I know of no words to recall you? | 18 | ···············/·· |
| I am praying that Time may teach, you, your Cruelty, me, Forgetfulness. | 17 | ··/˘······/˘·˘/˘˘ |
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.