Tent-like, above, up-held by jagged peaks,
    The heavy purple of the tranquil sky
Shed its oft-broken promises of peace,
    While twinkling stars bemocked the worn-out lie!

Nay, not To-night

Nay, not to-night;—­the slow, sad rain is falling
    Sorrowful tears, beneath a grieving sky,
Far off a famished jackal, faintly calling,
    Renders the dusk more lonely with its cry.

The mighty river rushes, sobbing, seawards,
    The shadows shelter faint mysterious fears,
I turn mine eyes for consolation theewards,
    And find thy lashes tremulous with tears.

If some new soul, asearch for incarnation,
    Should, through our kisses, enter Life again,
It would inherit all our desolation,
    All the soft sorrow of the slanting rain.

When thou desirest Love’s supreme surrender,
    Come while the morning revels in the light,
Bulbuls around us, passionately tender,
    Singing among the roses red and white.

Thus, if it be my sweet and sacred duty,
    Subservient to the Gods’ divine decree,
To give the world again thy vivid beauty,
    I should transmit it with my joy in thee.

I could not if I would, Beloved, deceive thee. 
    Wouldst thou not feel at once a feigned caress? 
Yet, do not rise, I would not have thee leave me,
    My soul needs thine to share its loneliness.

Let the dim starlight, when the low clouds sunder,
    Silver the perfect outline of thy face. 
Such faces had the saints; I only wonder
    That thine has sought my heart for resting-place.

The Dying Prince

There are no days for me any more, for the dawn is dark with tears,
There is no rest for me any more, for the night is thick with fears. 
There are no flowers nor any fruit, for the sorrowful locusts came,
And the garden is but a memory, the vineyard only a name.

There is no light in the empty sky, no sail upon the sea,
Birds are yet on their nests perchance, but they sing no more to me. 
Past—­vanished—­faded away—­all the joys that were. 
My youth died down in a swift decline when they married her to despair.

“My lord, the crowd in the Audience Hall; how long wilt thou have them wait?”
I have given my father’s younger son the guidance of the State. 
“The steeds are saddled, the Captains call for the orders of the day.” 
Tell them that I shall ride no more to the hunting or the fray.

“Sweet the scent of the Moghra flowers;” Brother, it may be so. 
“The young, flushed spring is with us again.”  Is it?  I did not know. 
“The Zamorin’s daughter draweth near, on slender golden feet;”
Oh, a curse upon all sweet things say I, to whom they are no more sweet!

Dost think that a man as sick as I can compass a woman’s ease? 
That the sons of a man who is like to me could ever find rest or peace? 
Tell them to marry them where they will, if their longing be so sore,
Such are the things that all men seek, but I shall seek no more.