ARABIA.
O’ER Arabia's desert sands
The patient camel walks;
'Mid lonely caves and rocky lands
The fell hyena stalks.
On the cool and shady hills
Coffee shrubs and tamarinds grow;
Headlong fall the welcome rills
Down the fruitful dells below.
The fragrant myrrh and healing balm
Perfume the passing gale;
Thick hung with dates, the spreading palm
Towers o'er the peopled vale.
Locusts oft, a living cloud,
Hover in the darkened air,
Like a torrent dashing loud,
Bringing famine and despair.
And often o'er the level waste
The stifling hot winds fly;
Down falls the swain with trembling haste,
The gasping cattle die.
Shepherd people on the plain
Pitch their tents and wander free;
Wealthy cities they disdain,
Poor, yet blest with liberty.
Lucy Aikin.