Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/102

64 To seek thy father, not seek single fights

In vain. But who can keep the lion's cub

From ravening, and who govern Rustum's son?

Go, I will grant thee what thy heart desires."

So said he, and dropped Sohrab's hand, and left

His bed, and the warm rugs whereon he lay;

And o'er his chilly limbs his woollen coat

He passed, and tied his sandals on his feet,

And threw a white cloak round him, and he took

In his right hand a ruler's staff, no sword;

And on his head he set his sheep-skin cap,

Black, glossy, curled, the fleece of Kara-Kul;

And raised the curtain of his tent, and called

His herald to his side, and went abroad.

The sun by this had risen, and cleared the fog

From the broad Oxus and the glittering sands.

And from their tents the Tartar horsemen filed

Into the open plain: so Haman bade,—

Haman, who next to Peran-Wisa ruled

The host, and still was in his lusty prime.

P'rom their black tents, long files of horse, they streamed;

As when some gray November morn the files,

In marching order spread, of long-necked cranes

Stream over Casbin and the southern slopes

Of Elburz, from the Aralian estuaries,

Or some frore Caspian reed-bed, southward bound

For the warm Persian seaboard,—so they streamed.

The Tartars of the Oxus, the king's guard,

First, with black sheep-skin caps and with long spears;

Large men, large steeds, who from Bokhara come

And Khiva, and ferment the milk of mares.

Next, the more temperate Toorkmuns of the south,

The Tukas, and the lances of Salore,