Fugitive Poetry. 1600–1878/Song of an Arabian Girl

Song of an Arabian Girl.
Ah! would I were in Araby!For every splendour here I seeIs far less lovely—far less fairThan Nature's simplest treasures there.
There, mid the burning desert's waste,The crystal fount how sweet to taste;The cooling shade of palmy treeHow welcome in bright Araby.
There the fierce sun shoots from his rayA blaze of glory o'er the day;And moon and stars at soothing nightShed beams of softer, holier light.
But, ah! beyond e'en charms like these,An Arab maiden's heart to please,My love is there!—to him I'd flee,And live and die in Araby.