The Asra
Daily the fair Sultan’s daughter
Wanders to and fro at twilight
By the margin of the fountain,
Where the waters white are rippling.
Daily the young slave at twilight
Stands beside the fountain’s margin,
Where the waters white are rippling,
Daily grows he pale and paler.
There one evening moved the princess
Toward the slave with words swift-spoken
“Tell me, tell me what thy name is,
Where thy home is, what thy lineage?”
Spake the youthful slave: “My name is
Mahomet, I come from Yemen;
And by birth I am an Asra,
One who dieth when he loves.”