To my sisters Saada and Adele To my brother Joseph...

Pardon, dear reader. The stranger at thy gate, hailing from the Orient, holds out to thee a gaunt and tattooed hand. This hand has often made mud-pies from earth that might have once mapped out the st...

My far cry, though no one should echo⁠— Though no one to listen should stand, I shall dare with my burden the darkness And I shall not retreat from this land; Though I’m hurled ’neath the feet of the ...

My soul and I, upon the peak Of Sanneen grim and grey, Sat musing in the twilight of A sombre summer day. “Great Saturn and the Moon are gone Together o’er the sea; But will great Saturn e’er return S...

The cricket to the corn-crake came one day, Shivering, yet buzzing in his wanton way, And said: “I’m slain By hunger, brother, turn thou not from me; ’Tis winter, and I only beg of thee A little grain...

Into this world they tell me I was sent Wrapt in a burnoose, which was rudely rent And flung away, by her who first didst touch My steaming flesh; I never loved her much, The surly, stolid, sordid, sp...

Sad, sad, sad⁠— In vain thou comest, Spring; Sad, sad, sad⁠— In vain thy birds all sing: Perfumeless is thy rose; Thy breeze, which softly blows, Disturbs my sea of woes, Ay, Death is on the wing. Gon...

“Here she is: O take her not away so soon! Spare her youth⁠—the fatal cup from her withhold! Let her groan within my arms in life’s forenoon; Let me still my soul within her eyes unfold.” God of Love!...

Adele! a name that kindled in the breast Of France’s first-born of the fairest Muse A flame in which a thousand colors fuse And shame the April rainbows of the West; But I can only stand upon the cres...

If I should worship at thine ancient shrine, Where thy good sons, incensed by love of war, Now clamor, as their fathers did of yore⁠— If I should sacrifice what is not mine, Nor any living god’s, nor ...

The ghost of Winter stalks amidst the boughs Of Spring and drags along his icy shroud; The corn flowers and the wheat, with broken vows, Are now beneath the storm untimely bowed. O Winter, thou wert b...

O, how the light drifts from the hemlock grove, How in the night disarmed Desires do rove! A sister to the dumb hydrangea thou, A mystery born of the Then and Now. The color on thy clouded face⁠—ah me...

Of all my desert days Thou art the only one Upon whose sandy face A strip of pleasure’s foliage trembling grows; Of all the winding ways. Which with my rapture shone But one can I retrace, And there t...

O kiss me now; the end is near The bright beginning; kiss me, dear. I would not that thou shouldst one day In bitter thought remembering say: “When in the high tide of our bliss Upon these lips I slew...

The shadow of thy curls I see Upon thy lovely face; And just a little wish is mine⁠— The shadow to embrace. On thy black and silken tresses, Ah, one longs to feast the sight; But the shadows of their ...

O, sweet Sometime, the gardens bloom the while I wait; Each moment melts a tear of joy before thy gate; It is thy pleasure that I burn⁠—it is my fate, O, sweet Sometime! O, when the moment in this int...

I saw one day on the horizon grey, As with my load I wandered near the sea, A whiff of smoke embrace the sleeping sun; And just as their enchantment had begun, A lonely cloud that roved above the lea ...

Ah, talk to me of something else, I pray; I’m weary of the dreams that bring nor sleep, Nor rest, nor love, nor something from the deep, Where buried are the gods of yesterday; Ah, talk to me of Death...

How I did hold in deep contempt The slaves and queens of love! How I disguised my feelings when I met a deer or a dove! How I did smile and sniff and rail At lovers young and old; How I denied, in day...

Grieve not, for I am near thee; Sigh not, for I can hear thee; Wash from thy heart all memory of past wrong; Doubt not that doubts besmear thee; Speak not, for I do fear thee; Let thine eyes whisper l...

At night on the radiant Rialto, By the stars in their houses of glass, I strolled with my soul in my pocket And prayed that my night might not pass; I have seen ’neath the high heels of Beauty My hear...

There’s one upon whose youthful breast I fain would die: My soul upon her lingering lips through mine I’d pour In torrents that would reach and thrill Love’s every shore⁠— In floods that drown the ear...

Outside the gates of night, above the moon, Where breatheth none but gods, where light alone Forever rules from his star-studded throne, Where Melancholy never reaches noon, And where the Pleiades the...

Regardless of the cries of priests and sages I strove to give my bleeding soul her wages; And each embrace or memory of one Is worth to me the treasures of the ages, Is worth to me the treasures of th...

I languish in thy penetrating clasp, Just as a bird entangled on a bough Shaken by the wind; Yet here would I be happy in the grasp Of death; but in thy breast I’m hidden now, And death is blind. I me...

The moon hath said her sad good-bye, My sleeping queen; And all the stars are wondering why Thou art unseen. Behold! abashed, they take to flight, As through the casement breaks thy light. Arise, my d...

I love thy color and thy symmetry; I love the art that wrought thy glittering arms, Thy canopy, thy satin portieres too; I love the silks and feathers on thy breast⁠— The cushions and the pillows and ...

Like yonder swallow, I would soar away⁠— Above the sea, far from this buzzing mart; But how can I? A cruel, little fay Has fettered with three golden threads my heart. Her honeyed tongue the one; her ...

When the spring boughs were told Soon the rose will unfold Herself in the bower Of which she is queen, Their blossoms, beguiling The sad leaves, said smiling: “No slaves to a flower Have we ever been....

The old gods and their slaves I’ve deserted; The new gods I’ve shunned at first sight; And my god is the god of the goddess That presides at my feast of delight. But once, when the dark moment lingere...

O, thou, who loved me once, From thy Pagoda glance; Shoot down a poisoned lance: All’s well that comes from thee. Look back, look down once more; Dear was to thee this shore; I see thee nevermore Bene...

’T is but a score of hours when he didst swear My sorrow and my joy to share, Despite the fates, fore’er; But now he’s gone to cash again his lie; Others his shame with me will wear, Why should I die?...

Upon the face of darkness beams my soul⁠— Nearby, behind the curtains of my sight; And ’round it weary waves of wonder roll⁠— Sad seas of color o’er dead seas of light: Here is no Space, no Time⁠—nor ...

Long hast thou suffered, sister of my heart, Still thou art Fair to see; Thy pains thou entertainest with thy song, But how long Will this be? The seasons all have come and gone, my dear, But thy chee...

O, bleeding blossoms, tell, were my heart there⁠— There in your bed, Would that sweet thief that stole you unaware Have stolen it instead? Come with me, scarlet salvias, to your home; We are not late;...

The violets their soft, dark lashes part, While robins serenade them far and near; But the anemone, with ebon heart And blood-shot eyes, pretends she does not hear. The violets invite the nightingale ...

Beneath the salvias, where some angel slew The favors that were granted by his god, My heart is hidden; let thy feet be shod With feathers plucked from my wings of crimson hue. When here again thou mi...

Must I convey at last the news to thee? Must I now mourn the love that lived in me? Gone with the autumn, with the dying year. Gone with the kisses that are yet so near! Gone with the swallows somewhe...

Though cribbed and gyved, thou canst within thy walls Unfold a wondrous wealth of worlds unseen, And flood the soul’s abyss with moonlight sheen, As well as darken passions’ gilded halls; Thy fourteen...

The Tomb said to the Rose: O Flower of Love, where goes Each tear which Dawn upon thy cheeks doth shed? The Rose said to the Tomb: What makest in thy gloom Impenetrable of the countless dead? Said the...

Long have I a word enshrined And worshipped with a piety blind! Long have I been seeking Rest In the East and in the West! Here and there and everywhere Have I seen her shadow fair; But the shadow see...

To the Ruins of Palmyra this the “Flatiron” addrest: “Did you ever in your glory Dream of looking up to see my crest?” To the “Flatiron” the Ruins thus replied across the sea: “We were like thee yeste...

I strolled upon the Brooklyn Bridge one day, Beneath the storm; None but a lad in rags upon the way I saw;⁠—there on a bench he lay Heedless of form. He seemingly was reading what the Shower Was publi...

When tears wash tears and soul upon soul leaps, When clasped in arms of anguish and of pain, When love beneath the feet of passion creeps, Ah me, what do we gain? When we our rosy bower to demons leas...

Thy love’s as tender as the drooping rose that sadly says to earth: “No more have I the strength to take what thou giv’st me;” But unlike her, alas, thy love’s complaint of dearth: “Thou hast no stren...

Hold back thy lips, I pray; Just let me rest this way; My soul is in the spray Arising from the silvery cascades murmuring farewell to the day. Thy kisses ’neath a sigh Of mine extinguished lie; O fri...

Onward keep! Forget the self that cried: “This world’s a forest choked with ice and snow; No spark of fire through it can ever ride, No human flame in it can ever glow.” And keeping onward, now, I fin...

Though I’m God, thou art man, we are one, We are all and we shall ever be; Though the light of my sky thou didst shun, Thou shalt love me ere thy course is run, As forever I live loving thee. Thou art...

When my parched lips upon thy princely brow, Placid as tropic mead, as glacier cold, Imprinted a last farewell, where wert thou⁠— Where didst thy soul its loveliness unfold? Can’t be that in some undi...

In thy melancholy’s pensive Fancy Wisdom rolled its beauteous stars and moons, Just as in my riotings of pleasure Thy lone midnights roll into my noons. Abu’l-Ala, in thy glorious darkness Didst thou ...

Over the White Way’s flood of light, Over its sea of fiery flowers, Arose the voice of the ancient Night And the youthful Towers: “O Night of nations passed,” the Towers said, “One day stood high your...

The deed is done, O Kings: the blood is shed: The sword is broken:⁠—broken, too, the Cross. But she, the mother eternal of the dead, Though sorrow-laden, smiles at the loss. You go down grimed with th...

Even through the City of the Dead she passed, Her sack of Horror’s harvest to refill; And lo, into the untilled world she cast, With a million hands, the black seeds of her will. But in the bone-strew...

I walked along the countryside At eventide, And everywhere The road was fair With moons of water here and there, Into whose heart the grasses spied. And suddenly upon them shone The light of the City’...

’T is Night; all the Sirens are silent, All the Vultures asleep; And the horns of the Tempest are stirring Under the Deep; ’T is Night; all the snow-burdened Mountains Dream of the Sea, And down in th...

Said the folded Leaves upon the Heath To the opening Leaves upon the Tree: “Soon will the Warders of the Storm Bring us to our Mother-Sea, Even as they opened yesternight Our prison doors of Destiny: ...

When Othman’s sword, as Paleologue’s, is broken And Othman’s gods are smitten to the dust, And naught remains, not even a rusty token Of their hierarchal cruelty and lust;⁠— When church and mosque and...

There was a rhapsody in all her moods, A child-like grace, a passion unrestrained; Her throne, which bard and saki shared, was stained With virgin wine as with the blood of feuds; And in her lyric-wov...

There was a rhapsody in all her moods, A child-like grace, a passion unrestrained; Her throne, which bard and saki shared, was stained With virgin wine as with the blood of feuds; And in her lyric-wov...

Gods of the silence, still remembering The dying echoes of her lute, bemoan, In canticles of golden monotone, Her Orient splendor too soon vanishing; And while lions guard her courts, grey eagles wing...

In the bewildering grove of colonnades, Once brilliant with a flood of saffron light, Poured from ten thousand lanterns day and night, Her memory, like spikenard in the glades Of distant Ind or Yemen,...

Not with the Orient glamor of her pleasures, Nor with fond rhapsodies of prayer or song Could she her sovereign reign a day prolong; Not in the things of beauty that man measures By the variable humor...

The Khamsin1 comes robed in the Lybian sands, Veiled in the haze of June, Armed with Sahara’s serpent-wreathed brands, Shod with the sun and moon; Swift winging in a cycloramic flame⁠— Of Typhon born,...

O Lord of Bounties, melt thy heaven’s breath, Which spreads its gold around the head of Death⁠— Which, while it smiles, devours all living things, Giving to Desolation wondrous wings: Lest in the wast...

Here are flowers, O my Beloved, Here are flowers; Let us lay our hearts today Among the flowers; Let us not be led astray By the mirage far away; Here is verdure, and in verdure Love embowers. Here ar...

Allah is merciful, Allah is kind, His heart, in the tears of the earth, is enshrined; He chains the desire Of whirlwind and fire:⁠— The Drought, the Simoon and their forces entire, In the fast spreadi...

Her sable robes the gloaming trails From golden strand to purple height, And softly, over the wealds and dales, Into the vacant House of Night. But lo, where first her footsteps mark The sunset’s last...

Is ’t strange that in the cycle of his woes, Which shakes his cloud-embosomed peak of years And shatters the very fountain of his tears, He seeks the friendly path of winds and snows? When Villany for...

I wander among the hills of alien lands Where Nature her prerogative resigns To Man; where Comfort in her shack reclines And all the arts and sciences commands. But in my soul The eastern billows roll...

O my Love, how long wilt thou continue Fondly nursing every dreaming Hour! Our Lebanus, O my Love, is calling, Yea, and waiting in his ancient Tower. In his ancient, cedar-shaded castle, Night and day...

I walked into her Temple, as of yore My Tyrian sires, allured by cryptic signs; But sudden as I entered closed the door Upon the hope that mortal love resigns Before her ancient, myrtle-bowered shrine...

O Master, I can not adventure with thee; At the Door of the Dawn, in my lone wandering, I have broken my staff; for the true dawn is she Who comes every day with her jar to the spring. Ay, Master, I t...

Why art thou so hushed and sad, So thin and wan? Who robbed thee of thy flesh and song⁠— Was it Ramadhan? Nay, Ramadhan is not to blame, For I have ceased to fast and pray; But to my vacant Dwelling c...

She went out singing, and the poppies still Crowd round her door awaiting her return; She went out dancing, and the doleful rill Lingers beneath her walls her news to learn. Their love is but a seed o...

Hanem, we must have met before, Perhaps a thousand years ago; I still remember when I tore Your virgin veil of lunar snow. By Allah, I remember, too, When, sousing in my mortal bain, You bit my lip an...

O Freedom, in thy cause I fought, For twenty years I fought in vain; And in my mountain shelter naught But worthless trophies now remain. Yet in my heart I hear a cry, Which never there makes a vain a...

She sits upon a rock along the stream That heard the whisper of her first Desire, Washing the faded garment of her Dream, Which she had often carried to the Dyer⁠— The Dream of her self-centred lyric ...

At eventide the Pilgrim came And knocked at the Belovéd’s door. “Whose there!” a voice within, “Thy name?” “ ’T is I,” he said.⁠—“Then knock no more. As well ask thou a lodging of the sea⁠— There is n...

My heart ’s the field I sow for thee, For thee to water and to reap; My heart ’s the house I ope for thee, For thee to air and dust and sweep; My heart ’s the rug I spread for thee, For thee to dance ...

In the grotto the forest designed, Where the firefly first dreamed of the sun And the cricket first chirped to the blind Zoophyte⁠—in the cave of the mind We were born and our cradle is one. We are br...

God of the Distances, hear us⁠— Hear us and guide us today. Thy footsteps, though never so near us, Are lost in the dust of the fray. Thy high priests, who often have spoken The word that was heeded, ...

Seek what you shall e’er possess, O Badruddin, Although it be a will-o’-the-wisp Of the Unseen, Which you may never behold Until my suns and satellites are cold. And in the seeking you shall find The ...

Lulled in the purple darkness is my soul, Behind the curtain, Allah, of my sight, Where recreative waves of wonder roll From sad seas of color over dead seas of light:⁠— I close my eyes and lo, the la...

I saw Thee following me, I heard Thee calling me, I even felt Thine arrows in my tears; I know Thou art shadowing me, And wilt yet, forestalling me, Whip out the vanities of all my years. I ran and st...

From the Mist of Arcana we rise, Through the Universe of Secrets we come, And we enter the Tavern as Lovers, Whose features are pale as the false dawn, Whose statures are lean as the new moon. Like un...

A dry wind from the Sahara that prevails in Egypt about fifty days. Hence its name⁠—Khamsin. ↩ I have tried to embody in these stanzas the idea, shared partly by the Sufi, that God and the Universe ar...