Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79.
Oman’s Sea
By Thomas Moore (1779–1852)’T
Her banks of pearl and palmy isles
Bask in the night-beam beauteously,
And her blue waters sleep in smiles.
’T is moonlight in Harmozia’s walls,
And through her Emir’s porphyry halls,
Where, some hours since, was heard the swell
Of trumpet and the clash of zel
Bidding the bright-eyed sun farewell;—
The peaceful sun, whom better suits
The music of the bulbul’s nest,
Or the light touch of lovers’ lutes,
To sing him to his golden rest.
All hushed,—there ’s not a breeze in motion;
The shore is silent as the ocean.
If zephyrs come, so light they come,
Nor leaf is stirred nor wave is driven;
The wind-tower on the Emir’s dome
Can hardly win a breath from heaven.