C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Ahi, the Sigher
Poems from Oriental Languages: Lament
From the ‘Firak-Nameh’ (The Farewell Book) of Ahi, the Sigher
L
Mateless in a death-black valley,
Where no lily springeth,
Where no bulbul singeth,
Whence gazelle is never seen to sally,
Such am I: Woe is me!
Poor, sad, all unknown,
Lone, lone, lone!
Alien from his hive and fellows,
Humming moanful ditties;—
Far from men and cities
Roaming glades which autumn rarely mellows,
Such am I: Woe is me!
Poor, sad, all unknown,
Lone, lone, lone!
All whose crew by night have perished,
Drifting on the ocean
Still with shoreward motion,
Though none live by whom Hope’s throb is cherished,
Such am I: Woe is me!
Poor, sad, all unknown,
Lone, lone, lone!
Till the night that knows no morrow
Sees me wrapped in clay-vest:
Thou, chill world, that gavest
Me the bitter boon alone of Sorrow,
Give, then, a grave to me,
Dark, sad, all unknown,
Lone, lone, lone!