The Philistine
The cricket to the corn-crake came one day,
Shivering, yet buzzing in his wanton way,
And said: “I’m slain
By hunger, brother, turn thou not from me;
’Tis winter, and I only beg of thee
A little grain.”
The corn-crake grinned and said in tone sublime:
“Where wert thou hidden in the harvest time,
Thou dinning drone?
Why didst thou not come with us to the fields
To gather something for thy winter meals
Of what had grown?”
“O, I was entertaining with my rhymes
The vineyards, and the fig trees, and the thymes
The summer long.”
“No then,” replied the corn-crake, “not a seed
Have I for such as thou; go home and feed
Upon thy Song.”
From Myrtle and Myrrh (The Gorham Press, 1905) by Ameen Rihani. This poem is in the public domain.
Ameen Rihani
Ameen Fares Rihani, who is regarded as a founder of Arab American literature and a major figure in the Mahjar movement, was born in Freike, Lebanon, then part of the Ottoman Empire, on November 24, 1876. Rihani was one of six children and the eldest son born to a Lebanese Christian (Maronite) silk manufacturer. Rihani moved to New York City with one of his brothers in 1888 and began to learn English. Three years later, Rihani became an American citizen.