She will start from her slumber
When gusts shake the door;
She will hear the winds howling,
Will hear the waves roar.
We shall see, while above us
The waves roar and whirl,
A ceiling of amber,

A pavement of pearl;
Singing: "Here came a mortal,
But faithless was she!

And alone dwell for ever
The kings of the sea."

But, children, at midnight,
When soft the winds blow,
When clear falls the moonlight,
When spring tides are low;
When sweet airs come seaward
From heaths starr'd with broom,
And high rocks throw mildly
On the blanch'd sands a gloom;
Up the still, glistening beaches,
Up the creeks we will hie,
Over banks of bright seaweed
The ebb-tide leaves dry.

We will gaze, from the sand hills,
At the white, sleeping town;

At the church on the hill-side-
And then come back down,

Singing: "There dwells a loved one,
But cruel is she!

She left lonely for ever

The kings of the sea."

(1849)

SOHRAB AND RUSTUM

MATTHEW ARNOLD

120

130

140

[The story of this poem is from the great Persian epic, or "Book of Kings," the Shahnamah. Arnold develops it in the style of the Homeric epic, and the numerous poetic comparisons or "Homeric similes" (as in lines 110115, 154-157, 160-169, etc.) are due to this. The opening word "And" is intended to show that the poem presents an episode in a longer story. The scene is in the midst of an invasion of Persia by the Tartars, commanded by Peran Wisa, general of the Tartar king.

The young warrior Sohrab, though his father was Persian, had grown to manhood among the Tartars, his mother's people, and is now their champion. The river Oxus was at this time the boundary of Persia; it rises north of India in the Pamir plateau, and flows northwest to the Aral Sea. At certain points (as lines 388-397 and 709-715) Arnold introduces the Oriental philosophy of fatalism.]

And the first gray of morning fill'd the

east,

And the fog rose out of the Oxus stream. But all the Tartar camp along the stream

And Peran-Wisa heard him, though the step

Was dull'd; for he slept light, an old man's sleep;

And he rose quickly on one arm, and said:30

"Who art thou? for it is not yet clear dawn.

Speak! is there news, or any night alarm?" But Sohrab came to the bedside, and said:

"Thou know'st me, Peran-Wisa! it is I. The sun is not yet risen, and the foe Sleep; but I sleep not; all night long I lie Tossing and wakeful, and I come to thee. For so did King Afrasiab bid me seek

But far hence seek him, for he is not here. For now it is not as when I was young, When Rustum was in front of every fray; But now he keeps apart, and sits at home, In Seistan, with Zal, his father old, 82 Whether that his own mighty strength at last

Feels the abhorr'd approaches of old age, Or in some quarrel with the Persian king. There go!-Thou wilt not? Yet my heart forebodes

Danger of death awaits thee on this field. Fain would I know thee safe and well, though lost

To us; fain therefore send thee hence, in peace

To seek thy father, not seek single fights In vain;-but who can keep the lion's cub From ravening, and who govern Rustum's

Betwixt the silent hosts, and spake, and said:

"Ferood, and ye, Persians and Tartars, hear!

150 Let there be truce between the hosts today.

But choose a champion from the Persian lords

To fight our champion Sohrab, man to man."

As, in the country, on a morn in June, When the dew glistens on the pearlèd ears, A shiver runs through the deep corn for joy

So, when they heard what Peran-Wisa said,

A thrill through all the Tartar squadrons

Choked by the air, and scarce can they themselves

Slake their parch'd throats with sugar'd mulberries

In single file they move, and stop their breath,

For fear they should dislodge the o'erhanging snows

So the pale Persians held their breath with fear.

And to Ferood his brother chiefs came up

170

To counsel: Gudurz and Zoarrah came, And Feraburz, who ruled the Persian host

Second, and was the uncle of the king; These came and counsell'd, and then Gudurz said:

"Ferood, shame bids us take their challenge up,

Yet champion have we none to match this youth.

He has the wild stag's foot, the lion's heart.

But Rustum came last night; aloof he sits And sullen, and has pitch'd his tents apart. Him will I seek, and carry to his ear 180 The Tartar challenge, and this young man's name.

Haply he will forget his wrath, and fight.

Before him; and he look'd, and saw him stand,

And with a cry sprang up and dropp'd the bird,

And greeted Gudurz with both hands, and said:

"Welcome! these eyes could see no better sight,

What news? but sit down first, and eat and drink."

But Gudurz stood in the tent door, and said::

"Not now! a time will come to eat and drink,

But not to-day; to-day has other needs, The armies are drawn out, and stand at gaze;

210

For from the Tartars is a challenge brought

To pick a champion from the Persian lords

To fight their champion-and thou know'st his name

Sohrab men call him, but his birth is hid.

230

A son so famed, so brave, to send to war, And I to tarry with the snow-hair'd Zal, My father, whom the robber Afghans vex, And clip his borders short, and drive his herds,

And he has none to guard his weak old age.

There would I go, and hang my armor up, And with my great name fence that weak old man,

And spend the goodly treasures I have got,

And rest my age, and hear of Sohrab's fame,

And leave to death the hosts of thankless kings, 240

And with these slaughterous hands draw sword no more."

He spoke, and smiled; and Gudurz made reply::

"What then, O Rustum, will men say to this,

When Sohrab dares our bravest forth, and seeks

Thee most of all, and thou, whom most he seeks, Hidest thy face? should say:

I Iran. Persia.

Take heed lest men

Like some old miser, Rustum hoards his fame,

And shuns to peril it with younger men.” And, greatly moved, then Rustum made reply:

"O Gudurz, wherefore dost thou say such words?

250 Thou knowest better words than this to say.

What is one more, one less, obscure or famed,

Valiant or craven, young or old, to me? Are not they mortal, am not I myself? But who for men of nought would do great deeds?

Come, thou shalt see how Rustum hoards his fame!

But I will fight unknown, and in plain