The Desert-born[1] Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Thomas Hood

The Desert-born[1] Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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Fly to the desert fly with me LADY HESTER STANHOPE	A
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'Twas in the wilds of Lebanon amongst its barren hills	B
To think upon it even now my very blood it chills	B
My sketch book spread before me and my pencil in my hand	C
I gazed upon the mountain range the red tumultuous sand	C
The plumy palms the sombre firs the cedars tall and proud	D
When lo a shadow pass'd across the paper like a cloud	D
And looking up I saw a form apt figure for the scene	E
Methought I stood in presence of some oriental queen	E
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The turban on her head was white as any driven snow	F
A purple bandalette past o'er the lofty brow below	F
And thence upon her shoulders fell by either jewell'd ear	G
In yellow folds voluminous she wore her long cachemere	G
Whilst underneath with ample sleeves a turkish robe of silk	H
Enveloped her in drapery the color of new milk	H
Yet oft it floated wide in front disclosing underneath	I
A gorgeous Persian tunic rich with many a broider'd wreath	I
Compelled by clasps of costly pearls around her neck to meet	J
And yellow as the amber were the buskins on her feet	J
Of course I bowed my lowest bow of all the things on earth	K
The reverence due to loveliness to rank or ancient birth	K
To pow'r to wealth to genius or to anything uncommon	L
A man should bend the lowest in a Desert to a Woman	L
Yet some strange influence stronger still though vague and undefin'd	M
Compell'd me and with magic might subdued my soul and mind	M
There was a something in her air that drew the spirit nigh	N
Beyond the common witchery that dwells in woman's eye	N
With reverence deep like any slave of that peculiar land	C
I bowed my forehead to the earth and kissed the arid sand	C
And then I touched her garment's hem devoutly as a Dervise	B
Predestinated so I felt forever to her service	B
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Nor was I wrong in auguring thus my fortune from her face	B
She knew me seemingly as well as any of her race	B
Welcome she cried as I uprose submissive to my feet	J
It was ordained that you and I should in this desert meet	J
Aye ages since before thy soul had burst its prison bars	B
This interview was promis'd in the language of the stars	B
Then clapping as the Easterns wont her all commanding hands	B
A score of mounted Arabs came fast spurring o'er the sands	B
Nor rein'd they up their foaming steeds till in my very face	B
They blew the breath impetuous and panting from the race	B
Fear nought exclaimed the radiant one as I sprang off aloof	O
Thy precious frame need never fear a blow from horse's hoof	O
Thy natal star was fortunate as any orb of birth	K
And fate hath held in store for thee the rarest gift of earth	K
Then turning to the dusky men that humbly waited near	G
She cried Go bring the BEAUTIFUL for lo the MAN is here	G
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Off went th' obsequious train as swift as Arab hoofs could flee	P
But Fancy fond outraced them all with bridle loose and free	P
And brought me back for love's attack some fair Circassian bride	Q
Or Georgian girl the Harem's boast and fit for sultan's side	Q
Methought I lifted up her veil and saw dark eyes beneath	I
Mild as gazelle's a snowy brow ripe lips and pearly teeth	I
A swanlike neck a shoulder round full bosom and a waist	R
Not too compact and rounded limbs to oriental taste	R
Methought but here alas alas the airy dream to blight	S
Behold the Arabs leading up a mare of milky white	S
To tell the truth without reserve evasion or remorse	B
The last of creatures in my love or liking is a horse	B
Whether in early youth some kick untimely laid me flat	T
Whether from born antipathy as some dislike a cat	T
I never yet could bear the kind from Meux's giant steeds	B
Down to those little bearish cubs of Shetland's shaggy breeds	B
As for a warhorse he that can bestride one is a hero	G
Merely to look at such a sight my courage sinks to zero	G
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With lightning eyes and thunder mane and hurricanes of legs	B
Tempestuous tail to picture him description vainly begs	B
His fiery nostrils send forth clouds of smoke instead of breath	U
Nay was it not a Horse that bore the grisly Shape of Death	U
Judge then how cold an ague fit of agony was mine	V
To see the mistress of my fate imperious make a sign	V
To which my own foreboding soul the cruel sense supplied	Q
Mount happy man and run away with your Arabian bride	Q
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Grim was the smile and tremulous the voice with which I spoke	W
Like any one's when jesting with a subject not a joke	W
So men have trifled with the axe before the fatal stroke	W
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Lady if mine had been the luck in Yorkshire to be born	X
Or any of its ridings this would be a blessed morn	X
But hapless one I cannot ride there's something in a horse	B
That I can always honor but I never could endorse	B
To speak still more commercially in riding I am quite	S
Averse to running long and apt to be paid off at sight	S
In legal phrase for every class to understand me still	Y
I never was in stirrups yet a tenant but at will	Y
Or if you please in artist terms I never went a straddle	Z
On any horse without 'a want of keeping' in the saddle	Z
In short and here I blush'd abash'd and held my head full low	G
I'm one of those whose infant ears have heard the chimes of Bow	A2
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The lady smiled as houris smile adown from Turkish skies	B
And beams of cruel kindness shone within her hazel eyes	B
Stranger she said or rather say my nearest dearest friend	B2
There's something in your eyes your air and that high instep's bend	B2
That tells me you're of Arab race whatever spot of earth	K
Cheapside or Bow or Stepney had the honor of your birth	K
The East it is your country Like an infant changed to nurse	B
By fairies you have undergone a nurtureship perverse	B
But this these desert sands these palms and cedars waving wild	C2
All all adopt thee as their own an oriental child	C2
The cloud may hide the sun awhile but soon or late no doubt	D2
The spirit of your ancestry will burst and sparkle out	D2
I read the starry characters and lo 'tis written there	G
Thou wert foredoom'd of sons of men to ride upon this Mare	G
A Mare till now was never back'd by one of mortal mould	E2
Hark how she neighs as if for thee she knew that she was foal'd	E2
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And truly I devoutly wish'd a blast of the simoom	F2
Had stifled her the Mare herself appeared to mock my doom	F2
With many a bound she caper'd round and round me like a dance	B
I feared indeed some wild caress would end the fearful prance	B
And felt myself and saw myself the phantasy was horrid	E2
Like old Redgauntlet with a shoe imprinted on my forehead	E2
On bended knees with bowing head and hands uprais'd in pray'r	G
I begg'd the turban'd Sultaness the issue to forbear	G
I painted weeping orphan babes around a widow'd wife	G2
And drew my death as vividly as others draw from life	G2
Behold I said a simple man for such high feats unfit	E2
Who never yet has learn'd to know the crupper from the bit	E2
Whereas the boldest horsemanship and first equestrian skill	Y
Would well be task'd to bend so wild a creature to the will	Y
Alas alas 'twas all in vain to supplicate and kneel	H2
The quadruped could not have been more cold to my appeal	H2
Fear nothing said the smiling Fate when human help is vain	I2
Spirits shall by thy stirrups fly and fairies guide the rein	I2
Just glance at yonder animal her perfect shape remark	J2
And in thy breast at once shall glow the oriental spark	J2
As for thy spouse and tender babes no Arab roams the wild	E2
But for a mare of such descent would barter wife and child	E2
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Nay then cried I heav'n shrive the lie to tell the secret truth	K2
'Twas my unhappy fortune once to over ride a youth	K2
A playful child so full of life a little fair haired boy	L2
His sister's pet his father's hope his mother's darling joy	L2
Ah me the frantic shriek she gave I hear it ringing now	A2
That hour upon the bloody spot I made a holy vow	A2
A solemn compact deeply sworn to witness my remorse	B
That never more these limbs of mine should mount on living horse	B
Good Heav'n to see the angry glance that flashed upon me now	A2
A chill ran all my marrow through the drops were on my brow	A2
I knew my doom and stole a glance at that accursed Mare	G
And there she stood with nostrils wide that snuff'd the sultry air	G
How lion like she lash'd her flanks with her abundant tail	M2
While on her neck the stormy mane kept tossing to the gale	M2
How fearfully she roll'd her eyes between the earth and sky	N
As if in wild uncertainty to gallop or to fly	N
While with her hoof she scoop'd the sand as if before she gave	N2
My plunge into eternity she meant to dig my grave	N2
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And I that ne'er could calmly hear a horse's ears at play	O2
Or hear without a yard of jump his shrill and sudden neigh	N2
Whose foot within a stable door had never stood an inch	P2
Whose hand to pat a living steed would feel an awful flinch	P2
I that had never thrown a leg across a pony small	Q2
To scour the pathless desert on the tallest of the tall	Q2
For oh it is no fable but at ev'ry look I cast	E2
Her restless legs seem'd twice as long as when I saw them last	E2
In agony I shook and yet although congealed by fears	B
My blood was boiling fast to judge from noises in my ears	B
I gasp'd as if in vacuo and thrilling with despair	G
Some secret Demon seem'd to pass his fingers through my hair	G
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I could not stir I could not speak I could not even see	P
A sudden mist rose up between that awful Mare and me	P
I tried to pray but found no words tho' ready ripe to weep	R2
No tear would flow o'er ev'ry sense a swoon began to creep	R2
When lo to bring my horrid fate at once unto the brunt	E2
Two Arabs seized me from behind two others in the front	E2
And ere a muscle could be strung to try the strife forlorn	X
I found myself Mazeppa like upon the Desert Born	X
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Terrific was the neigh she gave the moment that my weight	E2
Was felt upon my back as if exulting in her freight	E2
Whilst dolefully I heard a voice that set each nerve ajar	G
Off with the bridle quick and leave his guidance to his star	G
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Allah il Allah rose the shout and starting with a bound	E2
The dreadful Creature cleared at once a dozen yards of ground	E2
And grasping at her mane with both my cold convulsive hands	B
Away we flew away away across the shifting sands	B
My eyes were closed in utter dread of such a fearful race	B
But yet by certain signs I knew we went no earthly pace	B
For turn whichever way we might the wind with equal force	B
Rush'd like a horrid hurricane still adverse to our course	B
One moment close at hand I heard the roaring Syrian Sea	P
The next is only murmur'd like the humming of a bee	P
And when I dared at last to glance across the wild immense	B
Oh ne'er shall I forget the whirl that met the dizzy sense	B
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What seem'd a little sprig of fern ere lips could reckon twain	I2
A palm of forty cubits high we passed it on the plain	I2
What tongue could tell what pencil paint what pen describe the ride	E2
Now off now on now up now down and flung from side to side	E2
I tried to speak but had no voice to soothe her with its tone	S2
My scanty breath was jolted out with many a sudden groan	S2
My joints were racked my back was strained so firmly I had clung	T2
My nostrils gush'd and thrice my teeth had bitten through my tongue	T2
When lo farewell all hope of life she turn'd and faced the rocks	B
None but a flying horse could clear those monstrous granite blocks	B
So thought I but I little knew the desert pride and fire	G
Deriv'd from a most deer like dam and lion hearted sire	G
Little I guess'd the energy of muscle blood and bone	S2
Bound after bound with eager springs she clear'd each massive stone	S2
Nine mortal leaps were pass'd before a huge gray rock at length	U2
Stood planted there as if to dare her utmost pitch of strength	U2
My time was come that granite heap my monument of death	U
She paused she snorted loud and long and drew a fuller breath	U
Nine strides and then a louder beat that warn'd me of her spring	V2
I felt her rising in the air like eagle on the wing	V2
But oh the crash the hideous shock the million sparks around	E2
Her hindmost hoofs had struck the crest of that prodigious mound	E2
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Wild shriek'd the headlong Desert Born or else 'twas demon's mirth	K
One second more and Man and Mare roll'd breathless on the earth	K
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How long it was I cannot tell ere I revived to sense	B
And then but to endure the pangs of agony intense	B
For over me lay powerless and still as any stone	S2
The Corse that erst had so much fire strength spirit of its own	S2
My heart was still my pulses stopp'd midway 'twixt life and death	U
With pain unspeakable I fetch'd the fragment of a breath	U
Not vital air enough to frame one short and feeble sigh	N2
Yet even that I loath'd because it would not let me die	N2
Oh slowly slowly slowly on from starry night till morn	X
Time flapp'd along with leaden wings across that waste forlorn	X
I cursed the hour that brought me first within this world of strife	N2
A sore and heavy sin it is to scorn the gift of life	N2
But who hath felt a horse's weight oppress his laboring breast	E2
Why any who has had like me the NIGHT MARE on his chest	E2