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Lyric Poem · Love

From the Arabic: An Imitation

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

1My faint spirit was sitting in the light

2Of thy looks, my love;

3It panted for thee like the hind at noon

4For the brooks, my love.

5Thy barb whose hoofs outspeed the tempest's flight

6Bore thee far from me;

7My heart, for my weak feet were weary soon,

8Did companion thee.

9Ah! fleeter far than fleetest storm or steed

10Or the death they bear,

11The heart which tender thought clothes like a dove

12With the wings of care;

13In the battle, in the darkness, in the need,

14Shall mine cling to thee,

15Nor claim one smile for all the comfort, love,

16It may bring to thee.

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Quick facts

Poem
From the Arabic: An Imitation
Poet
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Length
16 lines
Form
Lyric Poem
Themes
Love, Death & Loss, Nature

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape
16 lines · 2 octaves
The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

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Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record
Percy Bysshe Shelley1792–1822
Source record
PoetryDBFrom the Arabic: An Imitation by percy-bysshe-shelley, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision
Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record
Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint
SHA-256 edb67f8ccb7c1fd8
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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