The Desert-born[1] Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBCCDDEE FFGGHHIIJJKKLLMMNNCC BB BBJJBBBBBBOOKKGG PPQQIIRRSSBBTTBBGG BBUUVVQQ WWW XXBBSSYYZZGA2 BBB2B2KKBBC2C2D2D2GG E2E2 F2F2BBE2E2GGG2G2E2E2 YYH2H2I2I2J2J2E2E2 K2K2L2L2A2A2BBA2A2GG M2M2NNN2N2 O2N2P2P2Q2Q2E2E2BBGG PPR2R2E2E2XX E2E2GG E2E2BBBBBBPPBB I2I2E2E2S2S2T2T2BBGG S2S2U2U2UUV2V2E2E2 KK BBS2S2UUN2N2XXN2N2E2 E2| Fly to the desert fly with me LADY HESTER STANHOPE | A |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| '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 |
| - | |
| 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 |
| - | |
| 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 |
| - | |
| 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 |
| - | |
| 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 |
| - | |
| 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 |
| - | |
| 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 |
| - | |
| 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 |
| - | |
| 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 |
| - | |
| 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 |
| - | |
| 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 |
| - | |
| 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 |
| - | |
| 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 |
| - | |
| 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 |
| - | |
| 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 |
| - | |
| 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 |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| 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 |
Thomas Hood
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
About The Desert-born[1]
The Desert-born[1] is a poem by Thomas Hood. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
Write your comment about The Desert-born[1] poem by Thomas Hood
Best Poems of Thomas Hood