SONG FROM THE PERSIAN
by: Thomas Bailey Aldrich
(1836-1906)
- H, sad are
they who know not love,
- But, far from passion's tears and smiles,
- Drift down a moonless sea, beyond
- The silvery coasts of fairy isles.
-
- And sadder they whose longing lips
- Kiss empty air, and never touch
- The dear warm mouth of those they love --
- Waiting, wasting, suffering much.
-
- But clear as amber, fine as musk,
- Is life to those who, pilgrim-wise,
- Move hand in hand from dawn to dusk,
- Each morning nearer Paradise.
-
- Ah, not for them shall angels pray!
- They stand in everlasting light,
- They walk in Allah's smile by day,
- And slumber in his heart by night.
"Song from the Persian"
is reprinted from The Little Book of American Poets: 1787-1900.
Ed. Jessie B. Rittenhouse. Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1915. |
MORE POEMS BY THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH |
|
|
|
|