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| AS I came down from Lebanon, | |
| Came winding, wandering slowly down | |
| Through mountain passes bleak and brown, | |
| The cloudless day was well-nigh done. | |
| The city, like an opal set | 5 |
| In emerald, showed each minaret | |
| Afire with radiant beams of sun, | |
| And glistened orange, fig, and lime, | |
| Where song-birds made melodious chime, | |
| As I came down from Lebanon. | 10 |
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| As I came down from Lebanon, | |
| Like lava in the dying glow, | |
| Through olive orchards far below | |
| I saw the murmuring river run; | |
| And ’neath the wall upon the sand | 15 |
| Swart sheiks from distant Samarcand, | |
| With precious spices they had won, | |
| Lay long and languidly in wait | |
| Till they might pass the guarded gate, | |
| As I came down from Lebanon. | 20 |
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| As I came down from Lebanon, | |
| I saw strange men from lands afar, | |
| In mosque and square and gay bazar, | |
| The Magi that the Moslem shun, | |
| And grave Effendi from Stamboul, | 25 |
| Who sherbet sipped in corners cool; | |
| And, from the balconies o’errun | |
| With roses, gleamed the eyes of those | |
| Who dwell in still seraglios, | |
| As I came down from Lebanon. | 30 |
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| As I came down from Lebanon, | |
| The flaming flower of daytime died, | |
| And Night, arrayed as is a bride | |
| Of some great king, in garments spun | |
| Of purple and the finest gold, | 35 |
| Outbloomed in glories manifold, | |
| Until the moon, above the dun | |
| And darkening desert, void of shade, | |
| Shone like a keen Damascus blade, | |
| As I came down from Lebanon. | 40 |
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