Arab Song
When her eyes' sudden challenge first halted my feet on the path,I stood like a shivering caught fugitive, and strained at my breath,And the Truth in her eyes was the portent of Love and of Death,For I am of the tribe of Ben Asra, who die when they love.
O you who have faded because girls were contemptuous and cold,I pitied you; but mine I have won, and her breast I enfoldDespairing, and in agony long for the thing that I hold:For I am of the tribe of Ben Asra, who die when they love.
She is fair; and her eyes in her hair are like stars in a stream.She is kind: never vaporous sleep-eddying maid in a dreamLeaning over my darkness-drowned pillow more tender did seem.But her beauty and sweetness are as blasts from the sands of the South.Drink me, palsy me, flay me, bleed my veins, chain my limbs,choke my mouth,And make salt to my lips the wine that should temper my drouth:For I am of the tribe of Ben Asra, who die when they love.
Death must come: it were best by a knife in her hand or my own.She'd not strike and I dare not, but here, as I wander alone,Should the wood topple over at a beast flying out like a stoneI shall smile in its face at her image bending down from the sky,And its teeth in my neck will be hers, and its snarls as I dieWill be gentle and sweet to my ears as the voice of the dove:For I am of the tribe of Ben Asra, who die when they love.
Words in this poem
- portent n.
- That which portends, or foretoken; esp., that which portends evil; a sign of coming calamity; an omen; a sign. [L. portentum. See Portend.]
- enfold v. t.
- To infold. See Infold.
- despairing a.
- Feeling or expressing despair; hopeless.
- topple v. i.
- To fall forward; to pitch or tumble down. [From Top summit.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Arab Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems - First Series, Project Gutenberg ebook #37860; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Collings Squire, Arab Song, in Poems: First Series (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #37860, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/squire-poems/arab-song.html, id L23188.
Form and metre
Arab Song is 23 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 61% of the lines. The metre is anapaestic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in anapaestic 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- path · breathA · deathA · love
- 2 AAA- coldA · enfoldA · holdA · love
- 3 AAAB-BB- streamA · dreamA · seemA · southB · limbs · mouthB · drouthB · love
- 4 AAABBCC ownA · aloneA · stoneA · skyB · dieB · doveC · loveC
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 anapaestic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When her eyes' sudden challenge first halted my feet on the path, | 15 | ···/˘/˘·/˘····· |
| I stood like a shivering caught fugitive, and strained at my breath, | 15 | ····/˘·/˘˘····· |
| And the Truth in her eyes was the portent of Love and of Death, | 15 | ········/˘····· |
| For I am of the tribe of Ben Asra, who die when they love. | 15 | ··············· |
| O you who have faded because girls were contemptuous and cold, | 15 | ····/˘····˘/˘·· |
| I pitied you; but mine I have won, and her breast I enfold | 15 | ·/···········˘/ |
| Despairing, and in agony long for the thing that I hold: | 15 | ˘/˘··/˘˘······· |
| For I am of the tribe of Ben Asra, who die when they love. | 15 | ··············· |
| She is fair; and her eyes in her hair are like stars in a stream. | 15 | ··············· |
| She is kind: never vaporous sleep-eddying maid in a dream | 15 | ···//˘˘·/˘˘···· |
| Leaning over my darkness-drowned pillow more tender did seem. | 15 | /˘···/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| But her beauty and sweetness are as blasts from the sands of the South. | 16 | ··/˘·/˘········· |
| Drink me, palsy me, flay me, bleed my veins, chain my limbs, | 13 | ··/˘········· |
| choke my mouth, | 3 | ··· |
| And make salt to my lips the wine that should temper my drouth: | 14 | ··········/˘·· |
| For I am of the tribe of Ben Asra, who die when they love. | 15 | ··············· |
| Death must come: it were best by a knife in her hand or my own. | 15 | ··············· |
| She'd not strike and I dare not, but here, as I wander alone, | 15 | ···········/˘˘/ |
| Should the wood topple over at a beast flying out like a stone | 15 | ···/˘····/˘···· |
| I shall smile in its face at her image bending down from the sky, | 16 | ········/˘/˘···· |
| And its teeth in my neck will be hers, and its snarls as I die | 15 | ··············· |
| Will be gentle and sweet to my ears as the voice of the dove: | 15 | ··/˘··········· |
| For I am of the tribe of Ben Asra, who die when they love. | 15 | ··············· |
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.