Far are the shades of Arabia, 
Where the Princes ride at noon, 
'Mid the verdurous vales and thickets, 
Under the ghost of the moon; 
And so dark is that vaulted purple 
Flowers in the forest rise 
And toss into blossom 'gainst the phantom stars 
Pale in the noonday skies. 

Sweet is the music of Arabia 
In my heart, when out of dreams 
I still in the thin clear mirk of dawn 
Descry her gliding streams; 
Hear her strange lutes on the green banks 
Ring loud with the grief and delight 
Of the dim-silked, dark-haired Musicians 
In the brooding silence of night. 

They haunt me -- her lutes and her forests; 
No beauty on earth I see 
But shadowed with that dream recalls 
Her loveliness to me: 
Still eyes look coldly upon me, 
Cold voices whisper and say -- 
'He is crazed with the spell of far Arabia, 
They have stolen his wits away.'