{
 "id": "ameen-rihani/ever-to-be",
 "title": "Ever to Be",
 "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": 1,
 "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": 50,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "My far cry, though no one should echo⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though no one to listen should stand,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I shall dare with my burden the darkness",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And I shall not retreat from this land;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Though I’m hurled ’neath the feet of the millions,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who struggle their places to keep,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The sea-nymphs still bathe with my Fancy",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the Dryads still sweeten my sleep.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Though I’m crushed, cast away and forgotten⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though I’m buried in the dust of their cars,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I can see through their madness above me⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I can feel the quick pulse of the stars;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Though my head be the foot-stool of tyrants,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though my back be a step to their throne,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I still dwell with the kings of Orion",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And I walk with the sun-queen alone.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Though the fire of my youth should consume me⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Though my body a brimstone should be,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I can draw on the clouds for their water",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And behold! I’ve of water a sea;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And though roofless, and friendless, and hopeless,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And loveless, and godless I stand,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The waves of my Life shall continue",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To murmur and laugh on the Strand.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}