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Home  »  A Library of American Literature  »  Persia

Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889

Persia

By Richard Henry Stoddard (1825–1903)

[From Poems. Complete Edition. 1880.]

WE parted in the streets of Ispahan.

I stopped my camel at the city gate:

Why did I stop? I left my heart behind.

I heard the sighing of thy garden palms,

I saw the roses burning up with love,

I saw thee not: thou wert no longer there.

We parted in the streets of Ispahan.

A moon has passed since that unhappy day;

It seems an age: the days are long as years.

I send thee gifts by every caravan.

I send thee flasks of attar, spices, pearls,

I write thee loving songs on golden scrolls.

I meet the caravans when they return.

“What news?” I ask. The drivers shake their heads.

We parted in the streets of Ispahan.