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Home  »  An American Anthology, 1787–1900  »  1310 Quatrains

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By James BenjaminKenyon

1310 Quatrains

THE BEDOUINS OF THE SKIES

YON clouds that roam the deserts of the air,

On wind-swift barbs, o’er many an azure plain,

Scarce pause to lift to Allah one small prayer,

Ere Ishmael’s spirit drives them forth again.

THE TWO SPIRITS

I DREAMED two spirits came—one dusk as night:

“Mortals miscall me Life,” he sadly saith;

The other, with a smile like morning light,

Flashed his strong wings and spake,

“Men name me Death.”

A CHALLENGE

ARISE, O soul, and gird thee up anew,

Though the black camel Death kneel at thy gate;

No beggar thou that thou for alms shouldst sue;

Be the proud captain still of thine own fate!