| |
| OH, the wind from the desert blew in!— | |
| Khamsin, | |
| The wind from the desert blew in! | |
| It blew from the heart of the fiery south, | |
| From the fervid sand and the hills of drouth, | 5 |
| And it kissed the land with its scorching mouth; | |
| The wind from the desert blew in! | |
| |
| It blasted the buds on the almond bough, | |
| And shrivelled the fruit on the orange-tree; | |
| The wizened dervish breathed no vow, | 10 |
| So weary and parched was he. | |
| The lean muezzin could not cry; | |
| The dogs ran mad, and bayed the sky; | |
| The hot sun shone like a copper disk, | |
| And prone in the shade of an obelisk | 15 |
| The water-carrier sank with a sigh, | |
| For limp and dry was his water-skin; | |
| And the wind from the desert blew in. | |
| |
| The camel crouched by the crumbling wall, | |
| And oh the pitiful moan it made! | 20 |
| The minarets, taper and slim and tall, | |
| Reeled and swam in the brazen light; | |
| And prayers went up by day and night, | |
| But thin and drawn were the lips that prayed. | |
| The river writhed in its slimy bed, | 25 |
| Shrunk to a tortuous, turbid thread; | |
| The burnt earth cracked like a cloven rind; | |
| And still the wind, the ruthless wind, | |
| Khamsin, | |
| The wind from the desert blew in. | 30 |
| |
| Into the cool of the mosque it crept, | |
| Where the poor sought rest at the Prophet’s shrine; | |
| Its breath was fire to the jasmine vine; | |
| It fevered the brow of the maid who slept, | |
| And men grew haggard with revel of wine. | 35 |
| The tiny fledgelings died in the nest; | |
| The sick babe gasped at the mother’s breast. | |
| Then a rumor rose and swelled and spread | |
| From a tremulous whisper, faint and vague, | |
| Till it burst in a terrible cry of dread, | 40 |
| The plague! the plague! the plague!— | |
| Oh the wind, Khamsin, | |
| The scourge from the desert, blew in! | |
| |
