Yasmini
At night, when Passion's ebbing tideLeft bare the Sands of Truth,Yasmini, resting by my side,Spoke softly of her youth.
"And one" she said "was tall and slim,Two crimson rose leaves made his mouth,And I was fain to follow himDown to his village in the South.
"He was to build a hut hard byThe stream where palms were growing,We were to live, and love, and lie,And watch the water flowing.
"Ah, dear, delusive, distant shore,By dreams of futile fancy gilt!The riverside we never saw,The palm leaf hut was never built!
"One had a Tope of Mangoe trees,Where early morning, noon and late,The Persian wheels, with patient ease,Brought up their liquid, silver freight.
"And he was fain to rise and reachThat garden sloping to the sea,Whose groves along the wave-swept beachShould shelter him and love and me.
"Doubtless, upon that western shoreWith ripe fruit falling to the ground,There dwells the Peace he hungered for,The lovely Peace we never found.
"Then there came one with eager eyesAnd keen sword, ready for the fray.He missed the storms of Northern skies,The reckless raid and skirmish gay!
"He rose from dreams of war's alarms,To make his daggers keen and bright,Desiring, in my very arms,The fiercer rapture of the fight!
"He left me soon; too soon, and soughtThe stronger, earlier love again.News reached me from the Cabul Court,Afterwards nothing; doubtless slain.
"Doubtless his brilliant, haggard eyes,Long since took leave of life and light,And those lithe limbs I used to prizeFeasted the jackal and the kite.
"But the most loved! his sixteen yearsShone in his cheeks' transparent red.My kisses were his first: my tearsFell on his face when he was dead.
"He died, he died, I speak the truth,Though light love leave his memory dim,He was the Lover of my YouthAnd all my youth went down with him.
"For passion ebbs and passion flows,But under every new caressThe riven heart more keenly knowsIts own inviolate faithfulness.
"Our Gods are kind and still deem fitAs in old days, with those to lie,Whose silent hearths are yet unlitBy the soft light of infancy.
"Therefore, one strange, mysterious nightAlone within the Temple shade,Recipient of a God's delightI lay enraptured, unafraid.
"Also to me the boon was given,But mourning quickly followed mirth,My son, whose father stooped from Heaven,Died in the moment of his birth.
"When from the war beyond the seasThe reckless Lancers home returned,Their spoils were laid across my kneesAbout my lips their kisses burned.
"Back from the Comradeship of Death,Free from the Friendship of the Sword,With brilliant eyes and famished breathThey came to me for their reward.
"Why do I tell you all these things,Baring my life to you, unsought?When Passion folds his wearied wingsSleep should be follower, never Thought.
"Ay, let us sleep. The window paneGrows pale against the purple sky.The dawn is with us once again,The dawn; which always means good-bye."
Within her little trellised room, beside the palm-fringed sea,She wakeful in the scented gloom, spoke of her youth to me.
Words in this poem 19
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- futile a.
- Talkative; loquacious; tattling. [L. futilis that easily pours out, that easily lets loose, vain, worthless, from the root of fundere to pour out: cf. F. futile. See Fuse, v. t.]
- riverside n.
- The side or bank of a river.
- tope n.
- A moundlike Buddhist sepulcher, or memorial monument. often erected over a Buddhish relic. [Probably from Skr. stpa a tope, astupa, through Prakrin tppo.]
- doubtless a.
- Free from fear or suspicion.
- hungered a.
- Hungry; pinched for food.
- haggard a.
- Wild or intractable; disposed to break away from duty; untamed; as, a haggard or refractory hawk. Shak [F. hagard; of German origin, and prop. meaning, of the hegde or woods, wild, untamed. See Hedge, 1st Haw, and -ard.]
- lithe v. i.
- To listen or listen to; to hearken to. P. Plowman. [Icel Listen.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- caress n.
- An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness. [F. caresse, It. carezza, LL. caritia dearness, fr. L. carus dear. See Charity.]
- keenly adv.
- In a keen manner.
- inviolate a.
- Not violated; uninjured; unhurt; unbroken. [L. inviolatus. See In- not, and Violate.]
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
- boon n.
- A prayer or petition. [OE. bone, boin, a petition, fr. Icel. b; akin to Sw. & Dan. b, AS. b, and perh. to E. ban; but influenced by F. bon good, fr. L. bonus. Ban, Bounty.]
- comradeship n.
- The state of being a comrade; intimate fellowship.
- pane n.
- The narrow edge of a hammer head. See Peen. [F. panne.]
- trellised a.
- Having a trellis or trellises.
- wakeful a.
- Not sleeping; indisposed to sleep; watchful; vigilant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Yasmini 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, Yasmini, in India's Love Lyrics (1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8197, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hope-india/yasmini.html, id L22590.
Form and metre
Yasmini is 86 lines in 22 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 17 of its 22 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 ABAB tideA · truthB · sideA · youthB
- 2 ABAB slimA · mouthB · himA · southB
- 3 ABAB byA · growingB · lieA · flowingB
- 4 -A-A shore · giltA · saw · builtA
- 5 ABAB treesA · lateB · easeA · freightB
- 6 ABAB reachA · seaB · beachA · meB
- 7 ABAB shoreA · groundB · forA · foundB
- 8 ABAB eyesA · frayB · skiesA · gayB
- 9 ABAB alarmsA · brightB · armsA · fightB
- 10 -A-A sought · againA · court · slainA
- 11 ABAB eyesA · lightB · prizeA · kiteB
- 12 ABAB yearsA · redB · tearsA · deadB
- 13 ABAB truthA · dimB · youthA · himB
- 14 ABAB flowsA · caressB · knowsA · faithfulnessB
- 15 A-A- fitA · lie · unlitA · infancy
- 16 ABAB nightA · shadeB · delightA · unafraidB
- 17 -A-A given · mirthA · heaven · birthA
- 18 ABAB seasA · returnedB · kneesA · burnedB
- 19 ABAB deathA · swordB · breathA · rewardB
- 20 ABAB thingsA · unsoughtB · wingsA · thoughtB
- 21 ABAB paneA · skyB · againA · byeB
- 22 AA seaA · meA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| At night, when Passion's ebbing tide | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Left bare the Sands of Truth, | 6 | ······ |
| Yasmini, resting by my side, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Spoke softly of her youth. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| "And one" she said "was tall and slim, | 8 | ········ |
| Two crimson rose leaves made his mouth, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And I was fain to follow him | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Down to his village in the South. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| "He was to build a hut hard by | 8 | ········ |
| The stream where palms were growing, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| We were to live, and love, and lie, | 8 | ········ |
| And watch the water flowing. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| "Ah, dear, delusive, distant shore, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| By dreams of futile fancy gilt! | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The riverside we never saw, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The palm leaf hut was never built! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| "One had a Tope of Mangoe trees, | 8 | ········ |
| Where early morning, noon and late, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The Persian wheels, with patient ease, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Brought up their liquid, silver freight. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| "And he was fain to rise and reach | 8 | ········ |
| That garden sloping to the sea, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Whose groves along the wave-swept beach | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Should shelter him and love and me. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| "Doubtless, upon that western shore | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| With ripe fruit falling to the ground, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| There dwells the Peace he hungered for, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The lovely Peace we never found. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| "Then there came one with eager eyes | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And keen sword, ready for the fray. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| He missed the storms of Northern skies, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The reckless raid and skirmish gay! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| "He rose from dreams of war's alarms, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| To make his daggers keen and bright, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Desiring, in my very arms, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| The fiercer rapture of the fight! | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| "He left me soon; too soon, and sought | 8 | ········ |
| The stronger, earlier love again. | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| News reached me from the Cabul Court, | 8 | ········ |
| Afterwards nothing; doubtless slain. | 8 | /˘˘/˘/˘· |
| "Doubtless his brilliant, haggard eyes, | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| Long since took leave of life and light, | 8 | ········ |
| And those lithe limbs I used to prize | 8 | ········ |
| Feasted the jackal and the kite. | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| "But the most loved! his sixteen years | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| Shone in his cheeks' transparent red. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| My kisses were his first: my tears | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Fell on his face when he was dead. | 8 | ········ |
| "He died, he died, I speak the truth, | 8 | ········ |
| Though light love leave his memory dim, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| He was the Lover of my Youth | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And all my youth went down with him. | 8 | ········ |
| "For passion ebbs and passion flows, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| But under every new caress | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The riven heart more keenly knows | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Its own inviolate faithfulness. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| "Our Gods are kind and still deem fit | 8 | /······· |
| As in old days, with those to lie, | 8 | ········ |
| Whose silent hearths are yet unlit | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| By the soft light of infancy. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| "Therefore, one strange, mysterious night | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Alone within the Temple shade, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Recipient of a God's delight | 8 | ˘/˘···˘/ |
| I lay enraptured, unafraid. | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| "Also to me the boon was given, | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| But mourning quickly followed mirth, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| My son, whose father stooped from Heaven, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Died in the moment of his birth. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| "When from the war beyond the seas | 8 | ········ |
| The reckless Lancers home returned, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Their spoils were laid across my knees | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| About my lips their kisses burned. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| "Back from the Comradeship of Death, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Free from the Friendship of the Sword, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With brilliant eyes and famished breath | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| They came to me for their reward. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| "Why do I tell you all these things, | 8 | ········ |
| Baring my life to you, unsought? | 8 | /˘······ |
| When Passion folds his wearied wings | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Sleep should be follower, never Thought. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| "Ay, let us sleep. The window pane | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Grows pale against the purple sky. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The dawn is with us once again, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The dawn; which always means good-bye." | 8 | ···/···· |
| Within her little trellised room, beside the palm-fringed sea, | 14 | ···/˘/˘·˘/···· |
| She wakeful in the scented gloom, spoke of her youth to me. | 14 | ·/˘··/˘······· |
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