Sher Afzul Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCB DEFG HIJI KLML NOAO PQAQ RESG TPUP BVWV XYSY ZVA2V B2C2D2C2 B2E2A2E2 F2G2H2G2 I2J2K2J2 L2M2QM2 F2N2O2N2 F2P2Q2P2 R2KS2K ABT2B U2V2W2V2| This was the tale Sher Afzul told to me | A |
| While the spent camels bubbled on their knees | B |
| And ruddy camp fires twinkled through the gloom | C |
| Sweet with the fragrance from the Sinjib trees | B |
| - | |
| I had a friend who lay condemned to death | D |
| In gaol for murder wholly innocent | E |
| Yet caught in webs of luckless circumstance | F |
| Thou know'st how lies of good and ill intent | G |
| - | |
| Cluster like flies around a justice court | H |
| Wheel within wheel revolving screw on screw | I |
| But from his prison he escaped and fled | J |
| Keeping his liberty a night or two | I |
| - | |
| Among the lonely hills where shackled still | K |
| He braved a village seeking for a file | L |
| To loose his irons alas he lost his life | M |
| Through the base sweetness of a woman's smile | L |
| - | |
| Lovely she was and young who gave the youth | N |
| Kind words and promised succor and repose | O |
| Till on the quilt of false security | A |
| He found exhausted sleep but ere he rose | O |
| - | |
| Entered the guards brought by her messenger | P |
| Thus was he captured slain and on her breast | Q |
| Soon shone the guerdon of her treachery | A |
| The price of blood in gold made manifest | Q |
| - | |
| I might have killed her Brave men have died thus | R |
| Revenge demanded keener punishment | E |
| So I walked softly on those lilac hills | S |
| Touching my rhibab lightly as I went | G |
| - | |
| I found her fair 't was no unpleasant task | T |
| In the young spring time when the fruit trees flower | P |
| To pass her door and pause and pass again | U |
| Shading mine eyes against her beauty's power | P |
| - | |
| Warmly I wooed her while the almond trees | B |
| Broke into fragile clouds of rosy snow | V |
| Her dawning passion feared her lord's return | W |
| Ever she pleaded softly Let us go | V |
| - | |
| But I spoke tenderly and said Beloved | X |
| Shall not thy lips give orders to my heart | Y |
| Yet there is one small matter in these hills | S |
| Claiming attention ere I can depart | Y |
| - | |
| Let us not waste these days thine absent lord | Z |
| Cannot return thou know'st before the snow | V |
| Has melted and the almond fruits appear | A2 |
| This time she answered Naught but thee I know | V |
| - | |
| I too was young I could have loved her well | B2 |
| When her soft eyes across the twilight burned | C2 |
| But suddenly around her amber neck | D2 |
| The golden beads would sparkle as she turned | C2 |
| - | |
| And I remembered swift mine eyelids fell | B2 |
| To hide the hate that festered in my soul | E2 |
| Ever more deeply with the rising fear | A2 |
| That Love might wrench Revenge from my control | E2 |
| - | |
| But when at last she acquiescent lay | F2 |
| In the sweet scented shadow of the firs | G2 |
| Lovely and broken granting asking all | H2 |
| It was his eyes I met not hers not hers | G2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| Three months I waited all the village talked | I2 |
| And ever anxiously she urged our flight | J2 |
| Yet still I lingered till her beauty paled | K2 |
| And wearily she came to me at night | J2 |
| - | |
| Then seeing Love subservient to Revenge | L2 |
| Had well achieved his own creative end | M2 |
| And in his work must soon be manifest | Q |
| Compassing thus my duty to my friend | M2 |
| - | |
| One tranquil sultry night I rode away | F2 |
| Till far behind the purple hills were dim | N2 |
| Exulting in my spirit Thus I leave | O2 |
| Her to her fate and my revenge to him | N2 |
| - | |
| Swiftly he struck her lord the body lay | F2 |
| With hacked off breasts dishonoured in the Pass | P2 |
| Months later riding lonely through the gorge | Q2 |
| I saw it still among the long grown grass | P2 |
| - | |
| It was well done my soul is satisfied | R2 |
| Friendship is sweet and Love is sweeter still | K |
| But Vengeance has a savour all its own | S2 |
| A strange delight well known to those who kill | K |
| - | |
| Such was the story Afzul told to me | A |
| While wood fires crackled in the evening breeze | B |
| And blows on hammered tent pegs stirred the air | T2 |
| Sweet with the fragrance from the Sinjib trees | B |
| - | |
| Tent like above up held by jagged peaks | U2 |
| The heavy purple of the tranquil sky | V2 |
| Shed its oft broken promises of peace | W2 |
| While twinkling stars bemocked the worn out lie | V2 |
Laurence Hope (adela Florence Cory Nicolson)
(1)
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