Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79.
Arab Prayer
By Bayard Taylor (18251878)“La illah il’ Allah!” the muezzin’s call
Comes from the minaret, slim and tall,
That looks o’er the distant city’s wall.
With God and the Prophet this hour to plead:
Whose ear is open to hear their need.
The path of his going with dusky bars.
The silent desert awaits the stars.
I strike my forehead upon the sand,
And I pray aloud, that He understand.
Not in my wandering brothers’ stead,—
For myself alone I bow the head.
He knoweth the hearts of the children of dust,—
He is the Helper; in him I trust.
With the sense of unforgotten wrong,
And the hate that waits and watches long.
But let the hour at last appear,
When Vengeance makes my honor clear.
His blood will cleanse my sabre’s stain,
And I shall stand erect again.
Wide as the desert whirlwinds go,
And seek, by the sun and stars, my foe.
Whose harems the Georgian girls infold,
Whiter than snow, but not so cold;
Or fountains that play among Persian flowers;
Better than all delights and powers,
The stern atonement, long denied,
That righteous Vengeance gives to Pride.