{
 "id": "ameen-rihani/in-the-palm-groves-of-memphis",
 "title": "In the Palm Groves of Memphis",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Ameen Rihani",
 "poet_slug": "ameen-rihani",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "A Chant of Mystics and Other Poems",
 "book_slug": "a-chant-of-mystics-and-other-poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 6,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1921,
  "venue": "A Chant of Mystics and Other Poems (1921)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/chantofmysticsot00riha"
  ]
 },
 "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": 136,
  "n_stanzas": 17,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 76,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "The Khamsin comes robed in the Lybian sands,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Veiled in the haze of June,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Armed with Sahara’s serpent-wreathed brands,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shod with the sun and moon;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Swift winging in a cycloramic flame⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Typhon born, unseeing and untame⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She comes her reign of terror to proclaim,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While crowning day and night with all the blazonry of tropic noon.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "She claps her iridescent wings, and lo!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The rolling heat,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Tremulous, reverberant, a-glow,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sibilant, fleet,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Sweeps over the land with unabating ire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Devouring Spring’s heritage entire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Setting the very pyramids a-fire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Engulfing even the turtle’s shelter and the turtle-dove’s retreat.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Alas! where are the roses which the prime",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of summer share",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "With the sesame, the myrtle and the thyme",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In meadows fair?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Where is the sacred lotus and the bloom",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of cumin and mimosa, whose perfume",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Once filled the shrine of Isis and her tomb?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where is the pomegranate flower that shone in Cleopatra’s hair?",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Where is the riant beauty of the land",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of mystic runes",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That decorates its shimmering robes of sand",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With emerald moons?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Where are the emerald shelters, desert-bound,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That with the prayer of caravans resound?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where is the desert trail, the watering ground",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That murmurs low of lost oases amidst the fast dissolving dunes?",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Where is the caravan that yesternight,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To the merry sound",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Of bells, set out of the city of delight",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To Nubia bound?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Where is the Nubian caravan that late",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Passed heavy-laden through Denderah’s gate,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Speeding to reach the city for the fete,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When gold and silver freely flow, when Allah’s bounties abound?",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Where is the crested lark, the golden thrush",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the sacred grove,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Which made the sensitive accacia blush",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And bloom with love?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Where has the bearded bustard fallen? where",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is Ibis, once the pet of Hermes fair,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nursing his purple wings and his despair?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where is the red flamingo hiding, where’s the house of the turtle-dove?",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Across the welkin, like a shadow cast",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon a cloud, but one",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Undaunted dips his black wings in the blast",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And rears anon",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "His form against the rushing winds; alone",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The vulture hovers around the flame-draped throne",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Death, and over the palms that rock and moan,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Peering through the desolation, staring at the laughing sun.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And Khamsin, in her chariot of fire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon which clings",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The moult of her unsatiable desire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Delirious sings,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And shakes the harvest from her tangled hair⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The sesame seeds, the grasses sere, the tare,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The golden tassels which the rushes wear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The purple feathers of the ibis and the swallow’s shrivelled wings.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "She shakes her booty from her sapphire tresses",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In gleeful guile,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "As she in passing savagely caresses",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The crouching Nile;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "While everywhere, within her sight or call,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Along its banks or in its rushes tall,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All things are swooning in her leaden thrall⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yea, prostrate is the salamander, prostrate is the crocodile.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And when at intervals her madness takes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A sudden turn,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A lull ensues and over Egypt breaks",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The sacred urn",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Of silence; while to quench her ancient thirst,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which licked up every running stream and cursed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Every pool in cave or hollow nursed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She plunges deep into the Nile and wonders why his waters burn.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And wonders too when in the winnowed sands,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Out of the gloom",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Of labyrinthine avenues and lands",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of mystic bloom,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Arise the scents of blossoms that have known",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ten thousand Khamsins, and were often blown",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To dust ere Menes sat upon his throne⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The blossoms of the teeming depths that float above the crest of doom.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Yea, and in the scattered dust of Ptah,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The flawless gleam",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That once shone in the fane of Amen-Ra",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Would fain redeem",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "From darknesses of immemorial time,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which swallowed Thebes and Memphis in their prime,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The symbol of a heritage sublime,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And light again the sacred temple of the world’s eternal dream.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For though the earth itself should perish in",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A flaming pyre,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the wasting sun should like a spider spin",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His cobwebs of fire,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Yet in the serdabs under Khamsin’s feet,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Around the blue of Osiris’s judgment seat,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is this, which glyphs vermilion repeat:⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The sun of thought, of faith, of God shall never expire, shall never expire.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Albeit, in a mocking gust she veers",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into the gloom",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That knows nor time nor sun, nor ever hears",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The voice of Doom;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And, rifling the bejewelled gods, she drops",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The veil of splendor from her howdah’s tops",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And rocks in state from Karnak to Cheops",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To tramp the dust of Pharoah’s pride, to smite the phantom of his tomb.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But mocking Khamsin, when her mood is spent,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lulls the morn",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "In luscious breezes swooning with the scent",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of love reborn;⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Carressing winds! the tree senescent grows",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In you as young as fruitful, and the rose",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon the bistre lips of Ramesis blows,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whispering of things immortal to the wandering seed and the reed forlorn.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "She passes in phantasmagoric waves",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Over shifting dunes,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Through shattered orbs, beyond the barren caves",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of mouldering moons,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "While the antique youth the Sun, as young today",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As when the cricket first essayed her lay,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Across the flood of Nilus makes his way,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And with him weaves for Egypt wondrous summer garlands and galloons.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And lo, the Khamsin of the world, in flames",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of crimson hue",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And clouds of vitriolic dust, proclaims",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The era new;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But through the storm a spirit wings his flight",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Across the phosphorescent gulfs of night.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And this, upon the rising sun, doth write:⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "God liveth, yea, God liveth still and man shall nothing rue.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}