{
 "id": "ameen-rihani/a-spring-dirge",
 "title": "A Spring Dirge",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Ameen Rihani",
 "poet_slug": "ameen-rihani",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Myrtle and Myrrh",
 "book_slug": "myrtle-and-myrrh",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": null,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1905,
  "venue": "Myrtle and Myrrh (1905)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/myrtlemyrrhpoems00riha"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/ameen-rihani_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Myrtle_and_Myrrh",
   "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Chant_of_Mystics_and_Other_Poems",
   "https://archive.org/details/myrtlemyrrhpoems00riha",
   "https://archive.org/details/chantofmysticsot00riha"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 24,
  "n_stanzas": 3,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 31,
  "max_indent": 2
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Sad, sad, sad⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In vain thou comest, Spring;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Sad, sad, sad⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In vain thy birds all sing:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Perfumeless is thy rose;",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Thy breeze, which softly blows,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Disturbs my sea of woes,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Ay, Death is on the wing.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Gone, gone, gone⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Go seek her, mocking Spring;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Gone, gone, gone⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Aside thy garlands fling;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Destroy thy laughing bower;",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Call back an April shower",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "To weep with me this hour:",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "He came, not reckoning.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Love, love, love⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What sendest thou with Spring?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Love, love, love⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What tidings these birds bring!",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "They tell me they can hear",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Thee, in a higher sphere;",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "But can that dry a tear,",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Or give my wish a wing?",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}