His host surged through the palmy land.
He wound his locks with a purple band;
He hung on his shoulders a lionskin;
The cymbals crashed with a warlike din.
Like termites traveled the savage swarm.
With gold-encircled, ebony arm
Around his darling, he said, well pleased,
Adorn thyself for the victory feast!
Behold the glistening pearls I bear!
They’ll braid through thy black and kinky hair –
Where Persia’s tide over corals swished,
There have our dripping wet divers fished.
Behold, ostrich feathers! Wear them with grace,
Let them gleam white o’er the dark of thy face!
Fix up the tent! Make ready to sup!
Fill up and garland the victory cup!
Out of shimmering white tent door
Did step the armored and princely Moor;
So, where the shimmering clouds do soar,
Comes a darkened eclipse of the moon to the fore.
They greet him, shouting, the crowd approves,
They greet him, stamping, the horses’ hooves,
It boils for him, the negroes’ blood,
And the Niger’s mysterious flood.
“So lead us to victory, lead us to fight!”
They battled from morning ’til deep in the night.
From an elephant’s hollowed tusk doth blare
A battle cry for the men fighting there.
The lion takes flight, away slithers the snake
From the rattling drum with the skulls that shake.
High waves the flag, announcing the dead:
The hue of the desert turns to red. –
So rages the fight in the palmy vale!
But she is at home, preparing the meal;
With nectar of palms she fills the carafe,
And garlands with flowers the tent-pole staff.
From Persia’s tide, the pearls so rare
She braids in her black and kinky hair,
With dangling feathers she spangles her brow,
And her neck and her arm with bright mussels now.
She sits down before the Belov
(Hermann Ferdinand Freiligrath)
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Based on Topics: Man Poems, Night Poems, War & Peace Poems, Faces Poems, Home Poems, Success Poems, Hair Poems, Romantic Love Poems, Lions PoemsBased on Keywords: niger, mussels, swished, slithers, kinky, tent-pole, carafe, termites
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