The King had watched with a heart sore stirred And still to all his court would he say, "What keeps my son so long away?" And they said: "The ports lie far and wide "And England's cliffs are not more white Than her women are, and scarce so light Her skies as their eyes are blue and bright; "And in some port that he reached from France The Prince has lingered for his pleasaunce." But once the King asked: "What distant cry And one said: "With suchlike shouts, pardie! And one: "Who knows not the shrieking quest 'Twas thus till now they had soothed his dread, Albeit they knew not what they said: But who should speak today of the thing Then pondering much they found a way, And the King sat with a heart sore stirred, 'Twas then through the hall the King was 'ware Of a little boy with golden hair, As bright as the golden poppy is That the beach breeds for the surf to kiss: Yet pale his cheek as the thorn in Spring, Nothing heard but his foot through the hall, And the King wondered, and said, “Alack! "Why, sweet heart, do you pace through the hall As though my court were a funeral?" Then lowly knelt the child at the dais, And looked up weeping in the King's face. "O wherefore black, O King, ye may say, For white is the hue of death today. "Your son and all his fellowship King Henry fell as a man struck dead; There's many an hour must needs beguile 7. Rede I read. Tale I told. Full many a lordly hour, full fain Of his realm's rule and pride of his reign: But this King never smiled again. By none but me can the tale be told, (Lands are swayed by a King on a throne.) 98 SOHRAB AND RUSTUM 1 MATTHEW ARNOLD And the first gray of morning fill'd the east, But all the Tartar camp along the stream Was hush'd, and still the men were plunged in sleep; He had lain wakeful, tossing on his bed; 1. "Sohrab and Rustum" is an episode taken from the Shah Nameh, the Persian Book of Kings. Rustum is the hero of many exploits, in all of which he is aided by his wonderful horse Ruksh. Rustum is to Central Asia what King Arthur is to England, and Charlemagne to France. In his wanderings he fell in love with and married a beautiful girl, the daughter of a petty king. The restless Rustum, however, left for new adventures before the birth of their child Sohrab, a son. Word was sent to the father that the child was a daughter. When Sohrab grew up to manhood he too became a great warrior. His mother told him that he was the son of Rustum, and Sohrab started out in search of his father. At the time of the episode_given in this poem Sohrab was a warrior in the Tartar army under Peran-Wisa, hoping in the course of the battles to find his father. The poem tells the story of their meeting. The scene of the story is laid in Central Asia near the Oxus river. It is scarcely worth while to attempt here to identify the numerous proper names. But when the gray dawn stole into his tent, Through the dim camp to Peran-Wisa's tent. Through the black Tartar tents he passed, which stood Clustering like bee-hives on the low flat strand Of Oxus, where the summer-floods o'erflow Through the black tents he pass'd, o'er that low strand, From the stream's brink—the spot where first a boat, "Who art thou? for it is not yet clear dawn I came among the Tartars and bore arms, This too thou know'st, that while I still bear on I seek one man, one man, and one alone- So I long hoped, but him I never find. Come then, hear now, and grant me what I ask. Will challenge forth the bravest Persian lords Old man, the dead need no one, claim no kin. Where host meets host, and many names are sunk; He spoke; and Peran-Wisa took the hand Canst thou not rest among the Tartar chiefs, To find a father thou hast never seen? To seek out Rustum-seek him not through fight! |