Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TALES OF ARABIA, by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON


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TALES OF ARABIA, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Yes, friend, I own these tales of arabia
Last Line: Edible, flatter and wholly starve him.
Alternate Author Name(s): Stevenson, Robert Lewis Balfour
Subject(s): Arabia


Yes, friend, I own these tales of Arabia
Smile not, as smiled their flawless originals
Age-old but yet untamed, for ages
Pass and the magic is undiminished.

Thus, friend, the tales of old Camaralzaman,
Ayoub, the Slave of Love, or the Calendars
Blind-eyed and ill-starred royal scions,
Charm us in age as they charmed in childhood.

Fair ones, beyond all numerability,
Beam from the palace, beam on humanity,
Bright-eyed, in truth, yet soulless houries
Offering pleasures and only pleasure.

Thus they, the venal Muses Arabian --
Unlike, indeed, to nobler divinities,
Greek Gods or old time-honoured muses
Easily proffer unloved caresses.

Lost, lost, the man who mindeth their minstrelsy;
Since still, in sandy, glittering pleasances,
Cold, stony fruits, gem-like but quite in -
Edible, flatter and wholly starve him.





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