Two Songs by Sitara, of Kashmir
Beloved! your hair was goldenAs tender tints of sunrise,As corn beside the RiverIn softly varying hues.I loved you for your slightness,Your melancholy sweetness,Your changeful eyes, that promisedWhat your lips would still refuse.
You came to me, and loved me,Were mine upon the River,The azure water saw usAnd the blue transparent sky;The Lotus flowers knew it,Our happiness together,While life was only River,Only love, and you and I.
Love wakened on the River,To sounds of running water,With silver Stars for witnessAnd reflected Stars for light;Awakened to existence,With ripples for first musicAnd sunlight on the RiverFor earliest sense of sight.
Love grew upon the RiverAmong the scented flowers,The open rosy flowersOf the Lotus buds in bloom--Love, brilliant as the Morning,More fervent than the Noon-day,And tender as the TwilightIn its blue transparent gloom.
Love died upon the River!Cold snow upon the mountains,The Lotus leaves turned yellowAnd the water very grey.Our kisses faint and falter,The clinging hands unfasten,The golden time is overAnd our passion dies away.
Away. To be forgotten,A ripple on the River,That flashes in the sunset,That flashed,--and died away.
Words in this poem
- slightness n.
- The quality or state of being slight; slenderness; feebleness; superficiality; also, formerly, negligence; indifference; disregard.
- changeful a.
- Full of change; mutable; inconstant; fickle; uncertain.
- fervent a.
- Hot; glowing; boiling; burning; as, a fervent summer. [F. fervent, L. fervens, -entis. p.pr. of fervere o the boiling hot, to boil, glow.]
- falter v. t.
- To thrash in the chaff; also, to cleanse or sift, as barley.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Two Songs by Sitara, of Kashmir 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, Two Songs by Sitara, of Kashmir, in India's Love Lyrics (1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8197, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hope-india/two-songs-by-sitara-of-kashmir.html, id L22606.
Form and metre
Two Songs by Sitara, of Kashmir is 44 lines in 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 ---ABB-A golden · sunrise · river · huesA · slightnessB · sweetnessB · promised · refuseA
- 2 AB-A--BA meA · riverB · us · skyA · it · together · riverB · iA
- 3 A--B--AB riverA · water · witness · lightB · existence · music · riverA · sightB
- 4 -AAB---B river · flowersA · flowersA · bloomB · morning · day · twilight · gloomB
- 5 ---A---A river · mountains · yellow · greyA · falter · unfasten · over · awayA
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Beloved! your hair was golden | 8 | ˘/˘···/˘ |
| As tender tints of sunrise, | 7 | ·/˘··/· |
| As corn beside the River | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| In softly varying hues. | 7 | ·/˘/˘˘· |
| I loved you for your slightness, | 8 | ··˘···/˘ |
| Your melancholy sweetness, | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Your changeful eyes, that promised | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| What your lips would still refuse. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| You came to me, and loved me, | 8 | ······˘· |
| Were mine upon the River, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The azure water saw us | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| And the blue transparent sky; | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| The Lotus flowers knew it, | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| Our happiness together, | 8 | /˘/˘˘˘/˘ |
| While life was only River, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Only love, and you and I. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Love wakened on the River, | 8 | ·/˘˘··/˘ |
| To sounds of running water, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| With silver Stars for witness | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| And reflected Stars for light; | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Awakened to existence, | 8 | ˘/˘˘·˘/˘ |
| With ripples for first music | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| And sunlight on the River | 7 | ·/···/˘ |
| For earliest sense of sight. | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| Love grew upon the River | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Among the scented flowers, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| The open rosy flowers | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Of the Lotus buds in bloom-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Love, brilliant as the Morning, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| More fervent than the Noon-day, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And tender as the Twilight | 7 | ·/˘··/· |
| In its blue transparent gloom. | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Love died upon the River! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Cold snow upon the mountains, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The Lotus leaves turned yellow | 8 | ·/˘··˘/˘ |
| And the water very grey. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Our kisses faint and falter, | 8 | /˘/˘··/˘ |
| The clinging hands unfasten, | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| The golden time is over | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And our passion dies away. | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Away. To be forgotten, | 7 | ˘/··˘/˘ |
| A ripple on the River, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| That flashes in the sunset, | 7 | ·/˘··/· |
| That flashed,--and died away. | 7 | ··˘··˘/ |
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.