The Asra

Daily the fair Sultan's daughter

Wanders to and fro at twilight

By the margin of the fountain,

Where the waters white are rippling.

Daily the young slave at twilight

Stands beside the fountain's margin,

Where the waters white are rippling,

Daily grows he pale and paler.

There one evening moved the princess

Toward the slave with words swift-spoken

Tell me, tell me what thy name is,

Where thy home is, what thy lineage?

Spake the youthful slave: My name is

Mahomet, I come from Yemen;

And by birth I am an Asra,

One who dieth when he loves.