YOUR caravel was loosely moored,—So lightly moored, so slightly moored,—It ranged with every passing swell,Your gipsy-hearted caravelThat only silken ropes secured.I dreamt that you might slip away,—Might slide away, might glide away,—When I was absent, on a breezeEnticing you to other seasWith whispers of a lovelier day.The sirens underneath the stars,—The flaunting stars, the haunting stars,—Would cast adrift your mooring-rope(Farewell, my heart! farewell, my hope!)And stretch the sails upon your spars,And you would sail before the wind,—Elusive wind, delusive wind,—All radiant on your moonlit deck,And not a moment would you reckOf me whom you had left behind.You’d come to legendary coasts,To nameless coasts, to tameless coasts,And hear of unimagined things:The exploits of vainglorious kings,Their fabled pride, and braggart boasts;Iris you’d meet, and Mercury,Sweet Mercury, fleet Mercury;You’d see the constellations change,You’d pass the magnet mountain-rangeThat draws a ship to mystery;You’d see, on black basaltic rocks,On jaggèd rocks, on craggèd rocks,The lonely Polyphemus stand,The scourge and terror of the land,Amongst his decimated flocks.You’d turn from thence; a rainbow arc,A magic arc, a tragic arc,That spanned the sky from east to westMight lure you on a dreamer’s questAnd close for ever on your barque.Ah God! perhaps this very night,This hated night, this fated night,You heard the breeze, the sirens’ spell....I faint, I look; your caravelIn harbour still lies gold and white.
YOUR caravel was loosely moored,—So lightly moored, so slightly moored,—It ranged with every passing swell,Your gipsy-hearted caravelThat only silken ropes secured.I dreamt that you might slip away,—Might slide away, might glide away,—When I was absent, on a breezeEnticing you to other seasWith whispers of a lovelier day.The sirens underneath the stars,—The flaunting stars, the haunting stars,—Would cast adrift your mooring-rope(Farewell, my heart! farewell, my hope!)And stretch the sails upon your spars,And you would sail before the wind,—Elusive wind, delusive wind,—All radiant on your moonlit deck,And not a moment would you reckOf me whom you had left behind.You’d come to legendary coasts,To nameless coasts, to tameless coasts,And hear of unimagined things:The exploits of vainglorious kings,Their fabled pride, and braggart boasts;Iris you’d meet, and Mercury,Sweet Mercury, fleet Mercury;You’d see the constellations change,You’d pass the magnet mountain-rangeThat draws a ship to mystery;You’d see, on black basaltic rocks,On jaggèd rocks, on craggèd rocks,The lonely Polyphemus stand,The scourge and terror of the land,Amongst his decimated flocks.You’d turn from thence; a rainbow arc,A magic arc, a tragic arc,That spanned the sky from east to westMight lure you on a dreamer’s questAnd close for ever on your barque.Ah God! perhaps this very night,This hated night, this fated night,You heard the breeze, the sirens’ spell....I faint, I look; your caravelIn harbour still lies gold and white.
YOUR caravel was loosely moored,—So lightly moored, so slightly moored,—It ranged with every passing swell,Your gipsy-hearted caravelThat only silken ropes secured.
I dreamt that you might slip away,—Might slide away, might glide away,—When I was absent, on a breezeEnticing you to other seasWith whispers of a lovelier day.
The sirens underneath the stars,—The flaunting stars, the haunting stars,—Would cast adrift your mooring-rope(Farewell, my heart! farewell, my hope!)And stretch the sails upon your spars,
And you would sail before the wind,—Elusive wind, delusive wind,—All radiant on your moonlit deck,And not a moment would you reckOf me whom you had left behind.
You’d come to legendary coasts,To nameless coasts, to tameless coasts,And hear of unimagined things:The exploits of vainglorious kings,Their fabled pride, and braggart boasts;
Iris you’d meet, and Mercury,Sweet Mercury, fleet Mercury;You’d see the constellations change,You’d pass the magnet mountain-rangeThat draws a ship to mystery;
You’d see, on black basaltic rocks,On jaggèd rocks, on craggèd rocks,The lonely Polyphemus stand,The scourge and terror of the land,Amongst his decimated flocks.
You’d turn from thence; a rainbow arc,A magic arc, a tragic arc,That spanned the sky from east to westMight lure you on a dreamer’s questAnd close for ever on your barque.
Ah God! perhaps this very night,This hated night, this fated night,You heard the breeze, the sirens’ spell....I faint, I look; your caravelIn harbour still lies gold and white.
SING of enchanted palacesIn Tripoli, in Tripoli,Above the sighing and the surgeOf the moaning sea, of the slothful sea;Of palaces upon the vergeOf the sleepy sea, of the sleepy sea.Sing of enchanted palacesIn Venice by the broad lagoonsOf long ago, of long ago,Where cupolas like cuspèd moonsIn waters dim reflected glow,And ghosts of stately frigatoonsIn dusky waters come and go.Sing of enchanted palacesIn cities set by gilded seas,Slenderly mimicked in the wavesThe lace of spires and balconies,The oriels and the architraves,—Dreams! dreams! where lead such dreams as these?
SING of enchanted palacesIn Tripoli, in Tripoli,Above the sighing and the surgeOf the moaning sea, of the slothful sea;Of palaces upon the vergeOf the sleepy sea, of the sleepy sea.Sing of enchanted palacesIn Venice by the broad lagoonsOf long ago, of long ago,Where cupolas like cuspèd moonsIn waters dim reflected glow,And ghosts of stately frigatoonsIn dusky waters come and go.Sing of enchanted palacesIn cities set by gilded seas,Slenderly mimicked in the wavesThe lace of spires and balconies,The oriels and the architraves,—Dreams! dreams! where lead such dreams as these?
SING of enchanted palacesIn Tripoli, in Tripoli,Above the sighing and the surgeOf the moaning sea, of the slothful sea;Of palaces upon the vergeOf the sleepy sea, of the sleepy sea.
Sing of enchanted palacesIn Venice by the broad lagoonsOf long ago, of long ago,Where cupolas like cuspèd moonsIn waters dim reflected glow,And ghosts of stately frigatoonsIn dusky waters come and go.
Sing of enchanted palacesIn cities set by gilded seas,Slenderly mimicked in the wavesThe lace of spires and balconies,The oriels and the architraves,—Dreams! dreams! where lead such dreams as these?
WAS it but a random bird,Harlequin on breast and wing?Or through aspens whisperingWas it some rare flute you heard,That you followed, wandering?Followed all that onward fled,Hares and squirrels, bounding roes,All that through the woodland goes,Wind that murmurs overhead,Leaves that scamper, stream that flows.Straight the pathway you forsookTempted by the beckoningOf the winded poplar’s swing,Tempted by the onward brook,In pursuit adventuring,By the bluebell’s fleeting drift,By the splash of light and shadeDown the ride in patterns laid,By the distant sunshine rift,Promise of the open glade.There, where they had seen you go,Those who loved you called your name,Searching, seeking, to and fro.True, to answer them you came,But your eyes were not the same.
WAS it but a random bird,Harlequin on breast and wing?Or through aspens whisperingWas it some rare flute you heard,That you followed, wandering?Followed all that onward fled,Hares and squirrels, bounding roes,All that through the woodland goes,Wind that murmurs overhead,Leaves that scamper, stream that flows.Straight the pathway you forsookTempted by the beckoningOf the winded poplar’s swing,Tempted by the onward brook,In pursuit adventuring,By the bluebell’s fleeting drift,By the splash of light and shadeDown the ride in patterns laid,By the distant sunshine rift,Promise of the open glade.There, where they had seen you go,Those who loved you called your name,Searching, seeking, to and fro.True, to answer them you came,But your eyes were not the same.
WAS it but a random bird,Harlequin on breast and wing?Or through aspens whisperingWas it some rare flute you heard,That you followed, wandering?
Followed all that onward fled,Hares and squirrels, bounding roes,All that through the woodland goes,Wind that murmurs overhead,Leaves that scamper, stream that flows.
Straight the pathway you forsookTempted by the beckoningOf the winded poplar’s swing,Tempted by the onward brook,In pursuit adventuring,
By the bluebell’s fleeting drift,By the splash of light and shadeDown the ride in patterns laid,By the distant sunshine rift,Promise of the open glade.
There, where they had seen you go,Those who loved you called your name,Searching, seeking, to and fro.True, to answer them you came,But your eyes were not the same.
SWEET Thyme, that underfoot so meekly growsIn humble companyOf splendid rose,Is all content to beThe acolyte, as each man knows,Of lavender, of rue, and rosemary.Sweet Time, that pilfers all my precious years,Will no wise blandishmentOr threat of tearsBring you to pause, content?—Hard-hearted greybeard, as he went,He winked at me, and clicked his wicked shears.
SWEET Thyme, that underfoot so meekly growsIn humble companyOf splendid rose,Is all content to beThe acolyte, as each man knows,Of lavender, of rue, and rosemary.Sweet Time, that pilfers all my precious years,Will no wise blandishmentOr threat of tearsBring you to pause, content?—Hard-hearted greybeard, as he went,He winked at me, and clicked his wicked shears.
SWEET Thyme, that underfoot so meekly growsIn humble companyOf splendid rose,Is all content to beThe acolyte, as each man knows,Of lavender, of rue, and rosemary.
Sweet Time, that pilfers all my precious years,Will no wise blandishmentOr threat of tearsBring you to pause, content?—Hard-hearted greybeard, as he went,He winked at me, and clicked his wicked shears.
LIKE hooded monks they go,Two by two,Pointed and black and slow,Chanting for you,Chanting without a tear,A final song,Chanting above your bierPassing along,Far from the living sun,Far from the day,—My lover, let us runAway, away!
LIKE hooded monks they go,Two by two,Pointed and black and slow,Chanting for you,Chanting without a tear,A final song,Chanting above your bierPassing along,Far from the living sun,Far from the day,—My lover, let us runAway, away!
LIKE hooded monks they go,Two by two,Pointed and black and slow,Chanting for you,Chanting without a tear,A final song,Chanting above your bierPassing along,Far from the living sun,Far from the day,—My lover, let us runAway, away!
THERE travelled north from Kurdistan along the lone Siberian trailsA merchant with his caravan and Eastern barter in his bales.He rode ahead, he rode apart, the city of Irkutsk his goal,Upon his lean Circassian foal, and after came the lumbering cartWith creaking wheel, deliberate spoke, and water-bullocks in the yoke;And after these in single string the boorish camels following,Slouching with high unwieldy packs like howdahs piled upon their backs;With slaver hanging from their lips and hatred worming in their brainThey slouched beneath their drivers’ whips across the white and mournful plain.The merchant riding on alone saw not the white incessant snow,He only saw the metal’s glow, the colour of the precious stone;He lingered on the merchandise that he had brought from Kurdistan,And turned, and swept his caravan with doting and voluptuous eyes,For there were choice Bokhara rugs, and daggers with Damascus bladeAnd hafts of turquoise-studded jade, and phials rich with scented drugs,Koràns inscribed on ass’s skin, and bales of silk from Temesvàr,And silver ear-rings beaten thin, and bargains from the cool bazaar.He felt the gold already pouched, he crooned to it with horrid love,As still the camels onward slouched with hatred of the men that drove.For thirty days the caravan trailed on behind the merchant’s foal,Through Persia and through Turkestan, the city of Irkutsk their goal;They passed the fruitful hill-girt lands where dwelt the fair-skinned Grecian race,And came into the wilder place, and sighted vagrant Cossack bandsThat wandered with their flocks and herds, and trafficked with the train of Kurds;They stirred the ghost of Tamerlane, who swept that way with Tartar hordes,The ghosts of dead barbarian lords, the Asiatic hurricane;They crossed the mighty road that runs from Moscow through to China’s wall,And trod the path of nomad Huns and knew Siberia’s white pallWhen fields of Persian asphodel were visions of a distant dayAnd boundless snow around them lay, and noiseless snow for ever fell,Where soon the fleeting day was done, and on the hard horizon lowThey saw the scarlet ball of sun divided by the ridge of snowSink down in skies incarnadine; and still with their disjointed gaitAnd nursing their malignant hate, the camels kept unbroken line.When yet a hundred miles or more stretched out between them and their goalThe merchant riding on before drew rein on his Circassian foalAnd called a halt with lifted hand as he had done unfailinglyEach night since the monotony began with that unvaried land.The dusk was suddenly alive as shouting voices passed the word,And all the drowsy train was stirred with movement like a shaken hive.The master merchant stiff from cramp was calling for his saddle flask,As each to his accustomed task ran swiftly in the growing camp.A tent like an inverted bell, all scarlet with the dyes of Tyre,Was lifted rapidly and well, and like a torch the kindled fireDestroyed the night with leaping tongue, and in a circle round the glowMen shovelled back the melting snow, and skins and Khelim rugs were flung—And unforgotten were the needs of water-bullocks standing byWhose brows are stained with orange dye, whose horns are looped with turquoise beads.The pariah dogs that slink and prowl secured their meat with furtive growl,And one by one the camels bent complaining to their warty kneesAnd grumbled at the men that went to loose their girths and give them ease.The merchant brooded silently on avaricious visions brightAnd listened to the revelry his men were making in the night.For one, a young and favourite Kurd, a mongrel child of the bazaar,Whose voice was like a singing bird, was striking on a harsh guitar—
THERE travelled north from Kurdistan along the lone Siberian trailsA merchant with his caravan and Eastern barter in his bales.He rode ahead, he rode apart, the city of Irkutsk his goal,Upon his lean Circassian foal, and after came the lumbering cartWith creaking wheel, deliberate spoke, and water-bullocks in the yoke;And after these in single string the boorish camels following,Slouching with high unwieldy packs like howdahs piled upon their backs;With slaver hanging from their lips and hatred worming in their brainThey slouched beneath their drivers’ whips across the white and mournful plain.The merchant riding on alone saw not the white incessant snow,He only saw the metal’s glow, the colour of the precious stone;He lingered on the merchandise that he had brought from Kurdistan,And turned, and swept his caravan with doting and voluptuous eyes,For there were choice Bokhara rugs, and daggers with Damascus bladeAnd hafts of turquoise-studded jade, and phials rich with scented drugs,Koràns inscribed on ass’s skin, and bales of silk from Temesvàr,And silver ear-rings beaten thin, and bargains from the cool bazaar.He felt the gold already pouched, he crooned to it with horrid love,As still the camels onward slouched with hatred of the men that drove.For thirty days the caravan trailed on behind the merchant’s foal,Through Persia and through Turkestan, the city of Irkutsk their goal;They passed the fruitful hill-girt lands where dwelt the fair-skinned Grecian race,And came into the wilder place, and sighted vagrant Cossack bandsThat wandered with their flocks and herds, and trafficked with the train of Kurds;They stirred the ghost of Tamerlane, who swept that way with Tartar hordes,The ghosts of dead barbarian lords, the Asiatic hurricane;They crossed the mighty road that runs from Moscow through to China’s wall,And trod the path of nomad Huns and knew Siberia’s white pallWhen fields of Persian asphodel were visions of a distant dayAnd boundless snow around them lay, and noiseless snow for ever fell,Where soon the fleeting day was done, and on the hard horizon lowThey saw the scarlet ball of sun divided by the ridge of snowSink down in skies incarnadine; and still with their disjointed gaitAnd nursing their malignant hate, the camels kept unbroken line.When yet a hundred miles or more stretched out between them and their goalThe merchant riding on before drew rein on his Circassian foalAnd called a halt with lifted hand as he had done unfailinglyEach night since the monotony began with that unvaried land.The dusk was suddenly alive as shouting voices passed the word,And all the drowsy train was stirred with movement like a shaken hive.The master merchant stiff from cramp was calling for his saddle flask,As each to his accustomed task ran swiftly in the growing camp.A tent like an inverted bell, all scarlet with the dyes of Tyre,Was lifted rapidly and well, and like a torch the kindled fireDestroyed the night with leaping tongue, and in a circle round the glowMen shovelled back the melting snow, and skins and Khelim rugs were flung—And unforgotten were the needs of water-bullocks standing byWhose brows are stained with orange dye, whose horns are looped with turquoise beads.The pariah dogs that slink and prowl secured their meat with furtive growl,And one by one the camels bent complaining to their warty kneesAnd grumbled at the men that went to loose their girths and give them ease.The merchant brooded silently on avaricious visions brightAnd listened to the revelry his men were making in the night.For one, a young and favourite Kurd, a mongrel child of the bazaar,Whose voice was like a singing bird, was striking on a harsh guitar—
THERE travelled north from Kurdistan along the lone Siberian trailsA merchant with his caravan and Eastern barter in his bales.He rode ahead, he rode apart, the city of Irkutsk his goal,Upon his lean Circassian foal, and after came the lumbering cartWith creaking wheel, deliberate spoke, and water-bullocks in the yoke;And after these in single string the boorish camels following,Slouching with high unwieldy packs like howdahs piled upon their backs;With slaver hanging from their lips and hatred worming in their brainThey slouched beneath their drivers’ whips across the white and mournful plain.
The merchant riding on alone saw not the white incessant snow,He only saw the metal’s glow, the colour of the precious stone;He lingered on the merchandise that he had brought from Kurdistan,And turned, and swept his caravan with doting and voluptuous eyes,For there were choice Bokhara rugs, and daggers with Damascus bladeAnd hafts of turquoise-studded jade, and phials rich with scented drugs,Koràns inscribed on ass’s skin, and bales of silk from Temesvàr,And silver ear-rings beaten thin, and bargains from the cool bazaar.
He felt the gold already pouched, he crooned to it with horrid love,As still the camels onward slouched with hatred of the men that drove.
For thirty days the caravan trailed on behind the merchant’s foal,Through Persia and through Turkestan, the city of Irkutsk their goal;They passed the fruitful hill-girt lands where dwelt the fair-skinned Grecian race,And came into the wilder place, and sighted vagrant Cossack bandsThat wandered with their flocks and herds, and trafficked with the train of Kurds;They stirred the ghost of Tamerlane, who swept that way with Tartar hordes,The ghosts of dead barbarian lords, the Asiatic hurricane;They crossed the mighty road that runs from Moscow through to China’s wall,And trod the path of nomad Huns and knew Siberia’s white pallWhen fields of Persian asphodel were visions of a distant dayAnd boundless snow around them lay, and noiseless snow for ever fell,Where soon the fleeting day was done, and on the hard horizon lowThey saw the scarlet ball of sun divided by the ridge of snowSink down in skies incarnadine; and still with their disjointed gaitAnd nursing their malignant hate, the camels kept unbroken line.
When yet a hundred miles or more stretched out between them and their goalThe merchant riding on before drew rein on his Circassian foalAnd called a halt with lifted hand as he had done unfailinglyEach night since the monotony began with that unvaried land.The dusk was suddenly alive as shouting voices passed the word,And all the drowsy train was stirred with movement like a shaken hive.The master merchant stiff from cramp was calling for his saddle flask,As each to his accustomed task ran swiftly in the growing camp.A tent like an inverted bell, all scarlet with the dyes of Tyre,Was lifted rapidly and well, and like a torch the kindled fireDestroyed the night with leaping tongue, and in a circle round the glowMen shovelled back the melting snow, and skins and Khelim rugs were flung—And unforgotten were the needs of water-bullocks standing byWhose brows are stained with orange dye, whose horns are looped with turquoise beads.The pariah dogs that slink and prowl secured their meat with furtive growl,And one by one the camels bent complaining to their warty kneesAnd grumbled at the men that went to loose their girths and give them ease.
The merchant brooded silently on avaricious visions brightAnd listened to the revelry his men were making in the night.For one, a young and favourite Kurd, a mongrel child of the bazaar,Whose voice was like a singing bird, was striking on a harsh guitar—
I know a Room where tulips tallAnd almond-blossom paleAre coloured on the frescoed wall.I know a River where the shipsDrift by with ghostly sailAnd dead men chant with merry lips.I know the Garden by the seaWhere birds with painted wingsMottle the dark magnolia Tree.I know the never-failing Source,I know the Bush that sings,The Vale of Gems, the flying Horse.I know the Dog that was a Prince,The talking Nightingale,The Hill of glass, the magic Quince.I know the lovely Lake of Van;Yet, knowing all these things,I wander with a Caravan,I wander with a Caravan!
I know a Room where tulips tallAnd almond-blossom paleAre coloured on the frescoed wall.I know a River where the shipsDrift by with ghostly sailAnd dead men chant with merry lips.I know the Garden by the seaWhere birds with painted wingsMottle the dark magnolia Tree.I know the never-failing Source,I know the Bush that sings,The Vale of Gems, the flying Horse.I know the Dog that was a Prince,The talking Nightingale,The Hill of glass, the magic Quince.I know the lovely Lake of Van;Yet, knowing all these things,I wander with a Caravan,I wander with a Caravan!
I know a Room where tulips tallAnd almond-blossom paleAre coloured on the frescoed wall.
I know a River where the shipsDrift by with ghostly sailAnd dead men chant with merry lips.
I know the Garden by the seaWhere birds with painted wingsMottle the dark magnolia Tree.
I know the never-failing Source,I know the Bush that sings,The Vale of Gems, the flying Horse.
I know the Dog that was a Prince,The talking Nightingale,The Hill of glass, the magic Quince.
I know the lovely Lake of Van;Yet, knowing all these things,I wander with a Caravan,I wander with a Caravan!
The cold moon rose remotely higher, insensibly the voices hushed,And men with wine and laughter flushed were sleeping all around the fire,Till one alone sat on erect, his ready gun across his knees,The sentry of the night elect, guardian of sleeping destinies.The water-bullocks lay as dead; the dogs drew near with noiseless tread,And huddled in a loose-limbed heap beside the fire, and through their sleepThey twitched at some remembered hunt; the merchant in his sheepskin rolledWithin the tent saw dreams of gold; the camels with uneasy gruntAnd quake of their distorted backs slept on with loathing by their packs.At dawn the weary sentry rose to throw some brushwood on the flames,Called on his comrades by their names, and turned to greet the endless snows,But then from his astonished lips a cry of unbelieving rangAnd all the men towards him sprang, the camel drivers with their whips,The bullock driver with his yoke, and gazed in loud bewildermentTill slowly in his fur-lined cloak the merchant issued from his tent.Then he too started at the sight and clamoured with his clamorous men,And swore he could not see aright, and rubbed his eyes and stared again;The camels came with lurching tread and stood in loose fantastic ringWith necks outstretched and swaying head and mouths all slackly slobbering,And drew from some unclean recess within their body’s secret lairA bladder smeared with filthiness that bubbled on the morning air.For there upon the shining plain a city radiantly lay,All coloured in the rising day, amid the snow a jewelled stain,And in her walls a spacious gate gave entrance to a varied streamOf folk that went incorporate like figures in a silent dream,And high above the roofs arose, more coloured for the hueless snows,The domes of churches, bronze and green, like peacocks in their painted sheen.The merchant, with a trembling hand extended far, extended wideAgainst illusion’s fairyland, at length articulately cried:“Irkutsk! but twice a hundred miles remained of weary pilgrimageBefore we hoped with happy smiles to reach our final anchorage.But look again. That rosy tower that rises like a tulip straightWithin the walls beside the gate, a balanced plume, a springing flower,And pointed with a lance-like spire of bronze, was fifty years ago—A boy, I saw it standing so,—demolished and destroyed by fire.”And one, a venerable Kurd, took up again the fallen word:“I travelled both as boy and man between Irkutsk and Kurdistan,But never since my beard was grown saw I that inn beside the wayWherewith the Council made away, full fifty counted years aflown.”They gazed upon the marvel long, the spectre city wonderful,Until the youth who made the song cried out, “We grow too fanciful.Irkutsk with roofs of coloured tiles lies distant twice a hundred miles,And this, a city of the shades, a rainbow of the echoing air,As fair as false, and false as fair, already into nothing fades.”And like a bubble, like the mist that in the valley faintly swirls,Like orient sheen on sulky pearls, like hills remotely amethyst,Like colours on Phœnician glass, like plumage on the ‘fisher’s wing,Like music on the breath of spring, they saw the vision lift and pass,Till only white unbroken snow stretched out before the caravan,And the bewildered heart of man truth from delusion could not know.But all the long laborious train moved slowly on its course againAcross the snow unbroken, white, and nursing each his private creed,The merchant his illusive greed, the camels their illusive spite.
The cold moon rose remotely higher, insensibly the voices hushed,And men with wine and laughter flushed were sleeping all around the fire,Till one alone sat on erect, his ready gun across his knees,The sentry of the night elect, guardian of sleeping destinies.The water-bullocks lay as dead; the dogs drew near with noiseless tread,And huddled in a loose-limbed heap beside the fire, and through their sleepThey twitched at some remembered hunt; the merchant in his sheepskin rolledWithin the tent saw dreams of gold; the camels with uneasy gruntAnd quake of their distorted backs slept on with loathing by their packs.At dawn the weary sentry rose to throw some brushwood on the flames,Called on his comrades by their names, and turned to greet the endless snows,But then from his astonished lips a cry of unbelieving rangAnd all the men towards him sprang, the camel drivers with their whips,The bullock driver with his yoke, and gazed in loud bewildermentTill slowly in his fur-lined cloak the merchant issued from his tent.Then he too started at the sight and clamoured with his clamorous men,And swore he could not see aright, and rubbed his eyes and stared again;The camels came with lurching tread and stood in loose fantastic ringWith necks outstretched and swaying head and mouths all slackly slobbering,And drew from some unclean recess within their body’s secret lairA bladder smeared with filthiness that bubbled on the morning air.For there upon the shining plain a city radiantly lay,All coloured in the rising day, amid the snow a jewelled stain,And in her walls a spacious gate gave entrance to a varied streamOf folk that went incorporate like figures in a silent dream,And high above the roofs arose, more coloured for the hueless snows,The domes of churches, bronze and green, like peacocks in their painted sheen.The merchant, with a trembling hand extended far, extended wideAgainst illusion’s fairyland, at length articulately cried:“Irkutsk! but twice a hundred miles remained of weary pilgrimageBefore we hoped with happy smiles to reach our final anchorage.But look again. That rosy tower that rises like a tulip straightWithin the walls beside the gate, a balanced plume, a springing flower,And pointed with a lance-like spire of bronze, was fifty years ago—A boy, I saw it standing so,—demolished and destroyed by fire.”And one, a venerable Kurd, took up again the fallen word:“I travelled both as boy and man between Irkutsk and Kurdistan,But never since my beard was grown saw I that inn beside the wayWherewith the Council made away, full fifty counted years aflown.”They gazed upon the marvel long, the spectre city wonderful,Until the youth who made the song cried out, “We grow too fanciful.Irkutsk with roofs of coloured tiles lies distant twice a hundred miles,And this, a city of the shades, a rainbow of the echoing air,As fair as false, and false as fair, already into nothing fades.”And like a bubble, like the mist that in the valley faintly swirls,Like orient sheen on sulky pearls, like hills remotely amethyst,Like colours on Phœnician glass, like plumage on the ‘fisher’s wing,Like music on the breath of spring, they saw the vision lift and pass,Till only white unbroken snow stretched out before the caravan,And the bewildered heart of man truth from delusion could not know.But all the long laborious train moved slowly on its course againAcross the snow unbroken, white, and nursing each his private creed,The merchant his illusive greed, the camels their illusive spite.
The cold moon rose remotely higher, insensibly the voices hushed,And men with wine and laughter flushed were sleeping all around the fire,Till one alone sat on erect, his ready gun across his knees,The sentry of the night elect, guardian of sleeping destinies.The water-bullocks lay as dead; the dogs drew near with noiseless tread,And huddled in a loose-limbed heap beside the fire, and through their sleepThey twitched at some remembered hunt; the merchant in his sheepskin rolledWithin the tent saw dreams of gold; the camels with uneasy gruntAnd quake of their distorted backs slept on with loathing by their packs.
At dawn the weary sentry rose to throw some brushwood on the flames,Called on his comrades by their names, and turned to greet the endless snows,But then from his astonished lips a cry of unbelieving rangAnd all the men towards him sprang, the camel drivers with their whips,The bullock driver with his yoke, and gazed in loud bewildermentTill slowly in his fur-lined cloak the merchant issued from his tent.Then he too started at the sight and clamoured with his clamorous men,And swore he could not see aright, and rubbed his eyes and stared again;The camels came with lurching tread and stood in loose fantastic ringWith necks outstretched and swaying head and mouths all slackly slobbering,And drew from some unclean recess within their body’s secret lairA bladder smeared with filthiness that bubbled on the morning air.
For there upon the shining plain a city radiantly lay,All coloured in the rising day, amid the snow a jewelled stain,And in her walls a spacious gate gave entrance to a varied streamOf folk that went incorporate like figures in a silent dream,And high above the roofs arose, more coloured for the hueless snows,The domes of churches, bronze and green, like peacocks in their painted sheen.
The merchant, with a trembling hand extended far, extended wideAgainst illusion’s fairyland, at length articulately cried:“Irkutsk! but twice a hundred miles remained of weary pilgrimageBefore we hoped with happy smiles to reach our final anchorage.
But look again. That rosy tower that rises like a tulip straightWithin the walls beside the gate, a balanced plume, a springing flower,And pointed with a lance-like spire of bronze, was fifty years ago—A boy, I saw it standing so,—demolished and destroyed by fire.”
And one, a venerable Kurd, took up again the fallen word:“I travelled both as boy and man between Irkutsk and Kurdistan,But never since my beard was grown saw I that inn beside the wayWherewith the Council made away, full fifty counted years aflown.”
They gazed upon the marvel long, the spectre city wonderful,Until the youth who made the song cried out, “We grow too fanciful.Irkutsk with roofs of coloured tiles lies distant twice a hundred miles,And this, a city of the shades, a rainbow of the echoing air,As fair as false, and false as fair, already into nothing fades.”
And like a bubble, like the mist that in the valley faintly swirls,Like orient sheen on sulky pearls, like hills remotely amethyst,Like colours on Phœnician glass, like plumage on the ‘fisher’s wing,Like music on the breath of spring, they saw the vision lift and pass,Till only white unbroken snow stretched out before the caravan,And the bewildered heart of man truth from delusion could not know.But all the long laborious train moved slowly on its course againAcross the snow unbroken, white, and nursing each his private creed,The merchant his illusive greed, the camels their illusive spite.
(Villanelle).For B. M.
LOTUS flowers clusteringRound your feet in storeys laid,Splendid daughter of a King.In a graven vase of MingPeaches, apricots of jade,Lotus flowers clustering,All their scentless riches bring,All around your throne displayed,Costly daughter of a King.What young prince astonishingRides along the inky glade,Lotus flowers clusteringRound his camel travelling?See the leopards unafraid,Slender daughter of a King!Coromandel picturing,Strangely, marvellously made.Lotus flowers clustering,Nightingales that cannot sing,What celestial escapadeAre they nightly witnessing,Through lotus flowers clustering,O subtle daughter of a King?
LOTUS flowers clusteringRound your feet in storeys laid,Splendid daughter of a King.In a graven vase of MingPeaches, apricots of jade,Lotus flowers clustering,All their scentless riches bring,All around your throne displayed,Costly daughter of a King.What young prince astonishingRides along the inky glade,Lotus flowers clusteringRound his camel travelling?See the leopards unafraid,Slender daughter of a King!Coromandel picturing,Strangely, marvellously made.Lotus flowers clustering,Nightingales that cannot sing,What celestial escapadeAre they nightly witnessing,Through lotus flowers clustering,O subtle daughter of a King?
LOTUS flowers clusteringRound your feet in storeys laid,Splendid daughter of a King.
In a graven vase of MingPeaches, apricots of jade,Lotus flowers clustering,
All their scentless riches bring,All around your throne displayed,Costly daughter of a King.
What young prince astonishingRides along the inky glade,Lotus flowers clustering
Round his camel travelling?See the leopards unafraid,Slender daughter of a King!
Coromandel picturing,Strangely, marvellously made.Lotus flowers clustering,
Nightingales that cannot sing,What celestial escapadeAre they nightly witnessing,Through lotus flowers clustering,O subtle daughter of a King?
IN the last orgy of Creation’s hour,—That fabled day, when all to sudden birthSprang,—as the toy of his redundant mirthGod tossed in bounty Colour to the earth.He held the exquisite and pallid flower,Spoke new strange words, and in his hands there blushedThe great white rose to crimson slowly flushed.
IN the last orgy of Creation’s hour,—That fabled day, when all to sudden birthSprang,—as the toy of his redundant mirthGod tossed in bounty Colour to the earth.He held the exquisite and pallid flower,Spoke new strange words, and in his hands there blushedThe great white rose to crimson slowly flushed.
IN the last orgy of Creation’s hour,—That fabled day, when all to sudden birthSprang,—as the toy of his redundant mirthGod tossed in bounty Colour to the earth.He held the exquisite and pallid flower,Spoke new strange words, and in his hands there blushedThe great white rose to crimson slowly flushed.
LYING on Downs above the wrinkling bayI with the kestrels shared the cleanly day,The candid day; wind-shaven, brindled turf;Tall cliffs; and long sea-line of marbled surfFrom Cornish Lizard to the Kentish NoreLipping the bulwarks of the English shore,While many a lovely ship below sailed byOn unknown errand, kempt and leisurely;And after each, oh, after each, my heartFled forth, as, watching from the Downs apart,I shared with ships good joys and fortunes wideThat might befall their beauty and their pride;Shared first with them the blessèd void reposeOf oily days at sea, when only roseThe porpoise’s slow wheel to break the sheenOf satin water indolently green,When for’ard the crew, caps tilted over eyes,Lay heaped on deck; slept; murmured; smoked; threw dice;The sleepy summer days; the summer nights(The coast pricked out with rings of harbour-lights),The motionless nights, the vaulted nights of JuneWhen high in the cordage drifts the entangled moon,And blocks go knocking, and the sheets go slapping,And lazy swells against the sides come lapping;And summer mornings off red Devon rocks,Faint inland bells at dawn and crowing cocks.Shared swifter days, when headlands into kenTrod grandly; threatened; and were lost again,Old fangs along the battlemented coast;And followed still my ship, when winds were mostNight-purified, and, lying steeply over,She fled the wind as flees a girl her lover,Quickened by that pursuit for which she fretted,Her temper by the contest proved and whetted;Wild stars swept overhead; her lofty sparsReared to a ragged heaven sown with starsAs leaping out from narrow English easeShe faced the roll of long Atlantic seas;Her captain then was I, I was her crew,The mind that laid her course, the wake she drew,The waves that rose against her bows, the gales,—Nay, I was more: I was her very sailsRounded before the wind, her eager keel,Her straining mast-heads, her responsive wheel,Her pennon stiffened like a swallow’s wing;Yes, I was all her slope and speed and swing,Whether by yellow lemons and blue seaShe dawdled through the isles off Thessaly,Or saw the palms like sheaves of scimitarsOn desert’s verge below the sunset bars,Or passed the girdle of the planet whereThe Southern Cross looks over to the Bear,And strayed, cool Northerner beneath strange skies,Flouting the lure of tropic estuaries,Down that long coast, and saw Magellan’s Clouds arise.And some that beat up Channel homeward-boundI watched, and wondered what they might have found,What alien ports enriched their teeming holdWith crates of fruit or bars of unwrought gold?And thought how London clerks with paper-clipsHad filed the bills of lading of those ships,Clerks that had never seen the embattled sea,But wrote down jettison and barratry,Perils, Adventures, and the Act of God,Having no vision of such wrath flung broad;Wrote down with weary and accustomed penThe classic dangers of sea-faring men;And wrote “Restraint of Princes,” and “the actsOf the King’s Enemies,” as vacant facts,Blind to the ambushed seas, the encircling roarOf angry nations foaming into war.
LYING on Downs above the wrinkling bayI with the kestrels shared the cleanly day,The candid day; wind-shaven, brindled turf;Tall cliffs; and long sea-line of marbled surfFrom Cornish Lizard to the Kentish NoreLipping the bulwarks of the English shore,While many a lovely ship below sailed byOn unknown errand, kempt and leisurely;And after each, oh, after each, my heartFled forth, as, watching from the Downs apart,I shared with ships good joys and fortunes wideThat might befall their beauty and their pride;Shared first with them the blessèd void reposeOf oily days at sea, when only roseThe porpoise’s slow wheel to break the sheenOf satin water indolently green,When for’ard the crew, caps tilted over eyes,Lay heaped on deck; slept; murmured; smoked; threw dice;The sleepy summer days; the summer nights(The coast pricked out with rings of harbour-lights),The motionless nights, the vaulted nights of JuneWhen high in the cordage drifts the entangled moon,And blocks go knocking, and the sheets go slapping,And lazy swells against the sides come lapping;And summer mornings off red Devon rocks,Faint inland bells at dawn and crowing cocks.Shared swifter days, when headlands into kenTrod grandly; threatened; and were lost again,Old fangs along the battlemented coast;And followed still my ship, when winds were mostNight-purified, and, lying steeply over,She fled the wind as flees a girl her lover,Quickened by that pursuit for which she fretted,Her temper by the contest proved and whetted;Wild stars swept overhead; her lofty sparsReared to a ragged heaven sown with starsAs leaping out from narrow English easeShe faced the roll of long Atlantic seas;Her captain then was I, I was her crew,The mind that laid her course, the wake she drew,The waves that rose against her bows, the gales,—Nay, I was more: I was her very sailsRounded before the wind, her eager keel,Her straining mast-heads, her responsive wheel,Her pennon stiffened like a swallow’s wing;Yes, I was all her slope and speed and swing,Whether by yellow lemons and blue seaShe dawdled through the isles off Thessaly,Or saw the palms like sheaves of scimitarsOn desert’s verge below the sunset bars,Or passed the girdle of the planet whereThe Southern Cross looks over to the Bear,And strayed, cool Northerner beneath strange skies,Flouting the lure of tropic estuaries,Down that long coast, and saw Magellan’s Clouds arise.And some that beat up Channel homeward-boundI watched, and wondered what they might have found,What alien ports enriched their teeming holdWith crates of fruit or bars of unwrought gold?And thought how London clerks with paper-clipsHad filed the bills of lading of those ships,Clerks that had never seen the embattled sea,But wrote down jettison and barratry,Perils, Adventures, and the Act of God,Having no vision of such wrath flung broad;Wrote down with weary and accustomed penThe classic dangers of sea-faring men;And wrote “Restraint of Princes,” and “the actsOf the King’s Enemies,” as vacant facts,Blind to the ambushed seas, the encircling roarOf angry nations foaming into war.
LYING on Downs above the wrinkling bayI with the kestrels shared the cleanly day,The candid day; wind-shaven, brindled turf;Tall cliffs; and long sea-line of marbled surfFrom Cornish Lizard to the Kentish NoreLipping the bulwarks of the English shore,While many a lovely ship below sailed byOn unknown errand, kempt and leisurely;And after each, oh, after each, my heartFled forth, as, watching from the Downs apart,I shared with ships good joys and fortunes wideThat might befall their beauty and their pride;
Shared first with them the blessèd void reposeOf oily days at sea, when only roseThe porpoise’s slow wheel to break the sheenOf satin water indolently green,When for’ard the crew, caps tilted over eyes,Lay heaped on deck; slept; murmured; smoked; threw dice;The sleepy summer days; the summer nights(The coast pricked out with rings of harbour-lights),The motionless nights, the vaulted nights of JuneWhen high in the cordage drifts the entangled moon,And blocks go knocking, and the sheets go slapping,And lazy swells against the sides come lapping;And summer mornings off red Devon rocks,Faint inland bells at dawn and crowing cocks.
Shared swifter days, when headlands into kenTrod grandly; threatened; and were lost again,Old fangs along the battlemented coast;And followed still my ship, when winds were mostNight-purified, and, lying steeply over,She fled the wind as flees a girl her lover,Quickened by that pursuit for which she fretted,Her temper by the contest proved and whetted;Wild stars swept overhead; her lofty sparsReared to a ragged heaven sown with starsAs leaping out from narrow English easeShe faced the roll of long Atlantic seas;
Her captain then was I, I was her crew,The mind that laid her course, the wake she drew,The waves that rose against her bows, the gales,—Nay, I was more: I was her very sailsRounded before the wind, her eager keel,Her straining mast-heads, her responsive wheel,Her pennon stiffened like a swallow’s wing;Yes, I was all her slope and speed and swing,Whether by yellow lemons and blue seaShe dawdled through the isles off Thessaly,Or saw the palms like sheaves of scimitarsOn desert’s verge below the sunset bars,Or passed the girdle of the planet whereThe Southern Cross looks over to the Bear,And strayed, cool Northerner beneath strange skies,Flouting the lure of tropic estuaries,Down that long coast, and saw Magellan’s Clouds arise.
And some that beat up Channel homeward-boundI watched, and wondered what they might have found,What alien ports enriched their teeming holdWith crates of fruit or bars of unwrought gold?And thought how London clerks with paper-clipsHad filed the bills of lading of those ships,Clerks that had never seen the embattled sea,But wrote down jettison and barratry,Perils, Adventures, and the Act of God,Having no vision of such wrath flung broad;Wrote down with weary and accustomed penThe classic dangers of sea-faring men;And wrote “Restraint of Princes,” and “the actsOf the King’s Enemies,” as vacant facts,Blind to the ambushed seas, the encircling roarOf angry nations foaming into war.
I saw a ship sailing,No other ship in sight.Steadily she was sailingAlthough the wind fell light.Although the wind was failingStill she kept sailing.No hand there that steered her,No wind that strained her sheet.And as I gazed I feared her:Why should she be so fleetSince no crew’s chanty cheered her,And no wind neared her?Her strange sure motionCarried her swiftly past;Over the rim of oceanI watched her dip her mast.Still no wind blew in motionAcross the ocean.
I saw a ship sailing,No other ship in sight.Steadily she was sailingAlthough the wind fell light.Although the wind was failingStill she kept sailing.No hand there that steered her,No wind that strained her sheet.And as I gazed I feared her:Why should she be so fleetSince no crew’s chanty cheered her,And no wind neared her?Her strange sure motionCarried her swiftly past;Over the rim of oceanI watched her dip her mast.Still no wind blew in motionAcross the ocean.
I saw a ship sailing,No other ship in sight.Steadily she was sailingAlthough the wind fell light.Although the wind was failingStill she kept sailing.
No hand there that steered her,No wind that strained her sheet.And as I gazed I feared her:Why should she be so fleetSince no crew’s chanty cheered her,And no wind neared her?
Her strange sure motionCarried her swiftly past;Over the rim of oceanI watched her dip her mast.Still no wind blew in motionAcross the ocean.
THEY garnered wealth from far barbarian shores,From Caffa, Tyre, and Trebizond,And Tartar provinces beyond;Furs, spices, oranges, and slaves.High galleys waited, runged with tiers of oars,And rippled their reflection in the waves.Bearded and serge-clad merchants, tightly-lipped,They stood in groups along the foreign quaysWatching the cargo shippedBy coloured sons of Asia; theseGroaned loaded up the planks, and rolledTheir burdens down the hold;And back the planks unburdened nimbly tripped,Their pumpkin-fluted turbans and their scarvesBallooning as they swarmed upon the wharves.And some old shaven brightly-plumaged priest,Drowsing outside his mosque when shadows fallLike lengthened lances pointing to the East,From fourfold minaret,And through the iron grating in the wallThe sun-flushed Himalaya guards Thibet,—He, fat and somnolent,Yawning amongst the pigeons’ sleek content,Opened one crafty, long, Mongolian eye,And saw the slim Italian passing byWith soft-foot treadInto the mosque, but never raised his head,And slipped his cedar beads, and never stirredThough the quick patter of the coins he heardFall in a handful mixed of maize and riceFlung to the pigeons, coins that were his price.While far, in Europe, lay the Flemish fairs,The marts of Ypres, the Jews of busy ThamesGreedy to clutch the unfamiliar gems,And rummage in the bales of rich exotic wares.
THEY garnered wealth from far barbarian shores,From Caffa, Tyre, and Trebizond,And Tartar provinces beyond;Furs, spices, oranges, and slaves.High galleys waited, runged with tiers of oars,And rippled their reflection in the waves.Bearded and serge-clad merchants, tightly-lipped,They stood in groups along the foreign quaysWatching the cargo shippedBy coloured sons of Asia; theseGroaned loaded up the planks, and rolledTheir burdens down the hold;And back the planks unburdened nimbly tripped,Their pumpkin-fluted turbans and their scarvesBallooning as they swarmed upon the wharves.And some old shaven brightly-plumaged priest,Drowsing outside his mosque when shadows fallLike lengthened lances pointing to the East,From fourfold minaret,And through the iron grating in the wallThe sun-flushed Himalaya guards Thibet,—He, fat and somnolent,Yawning amongst the pigeons’ sleek content,Opened one crafty, long, Mongolian eye,And saw the slim Italian passing byWith soft-foot treadInto the mosque, but never raised his head,And slipped his cedar beads, and never stirredThough the quick patter of the coins he heardFall in a handful mixed of maize and riceFlung to the pigeons, coins that were his price.While far, in Europe, lay the Flemish fairs,The marts of Ypres, the Jews of busy ThamesGreedy to clutch the unfamiliar gems,And rummage in the bales of rich exotic wares.
THEY garnered wealth from far barbarian shores,From Caffa, Tyre, and Trebizond,And Tartar provinces beyond;Furs, spices, oranges, and slaves.High galleys waited, runged with tiers of oars,And rippled their reflection in the waves.
Bearded and serge-clad merchants, tightly-lipped,They stood in groups along the foreign quaysWatching the cargo shippedBy coloured sons of Asia; theseGroaned loaded up the planks, and rolledTheir burdens down the hold;And back the planks unburdened nimbly tripped,Their pumpkin-fluted turbans and their scarvesBallooning as they swarmed upon the wharves.
And some old shaven brightly-plumaged priest,Drowsing outside his mosque when shadows fallLike lengthened lances pointing to the East,From fourfold minaret,And through the iron grating in the wallThe sun-flushed Himalaya guards Thibet,—He, fat and somnolent,Yawning amongst the pigeons’ sleek content,Opened one crafty, long, Mongolian eye,And saw the slim Italian passing byWith soft-foot treadInto the mosque, but never raised his head,And slipped his cedar beads, and never stirredThough the quick patter of the coins he heardFall in a handful mixed of maize and riceFlung to the pigeons, coins that were his price.
While far, in Europe, lay the Flemish fairs,The marts of Ypres, the Jews of busy ThamesGreedy to clutch the unfamiliar gems,And rummage in the bales of rich exotic wares.
WHEN little lights in little ports come out,Quivering down through water with the stars,And all the fishing fleet of slender sparsRange at their moorings, veer with tide about;When race of wind is stilled and sails are furled,And underneath our single riding-lightThe curve of black-ribbed deck gleams palely white,And slumbrous waters pool a slumbrous world,—Then, and then only, have I thought how sweetOld age might sink upon a windy youth,Quiet beneath the riding-light of truth,Weathered through storms, and gracious in retreat.
WHEN little lights in little ports come out,Quivering down through water with the stars,And all the fishing fleet of slender sparsRange at their moorings, veer with tide about;When race of wind is stilled and sails are furled,And underneath our single riding-lightThe curve of black-ribbed deck gleams palely white,And slumbrous waters pool a slumbrous world,—Then, and then only, have I thought how sweetOld age might sink upon a windy youth,Quiet beneath the riding-light of truth,Weathered through storms, and gracious in retreat.
WHEN little lights in little ports come out,Quivering down through water with the stars,And all the fishing fleet of slender sparsRange at their moorings, veer with tide about;
When race of wind is stilled and sails are furled,And underneath our single riding-lightThe curve of black-ribbed deck gleams palely white,And slumbrous waters pool a slumbrous world,
—Then, and then only, have I thought how sweetOld age might sink upon a windy youth,Quiet beneath the riding-light of truth,Weathered through storms, and gracious in retreat.
“Sumurun,”Cornwall, 1920.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
POEMS OF WESTAND EAST
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BY THE SAME AUTHOR
THE DRAGONIN SHALLOW WATERS
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