The Golden Journey to Samarkand by James Elroy Flecker

Описание: The Golden Journey to Samarkand

by James Elroy Flecker

W E who with songs beguile your pilgrimage
— And swear that Beauty lives though lilies die,
We Poets of a proud old lineage
— Who sing to find your hearts, we know not why, —
What shall we tell you? Tales, marvellous tales
— Of ships and stars and isles where good men rest,
Where nevermore the rose of sunset pales,
— And winds and shadows fall toward the West
And there the world's first huge white-bearded kings
— In dim glades sleeping, murmur in their sleep,
And closer round their breasts the ivy clings,
— Cutting its pathway slow and red and deep.
And how beguile you? Death has no repose
— Warmer and deeper than that Orient sand
Which hides the beauty and bright faith of those
— Who made the Golden Journey to Samarkand.
And now they wait and whiten peaceably,
— Those conquerors, those poets, those so fair:
They know time comes, not only you and I,
— But the whole world shall whiten, here or there;
When those long caravans that cross the plain
— With dauntless feet and sound of silver bells
Put forth no more for glory or for gain,
— Take no more solace from the palm-girt wells.
When the great markets by the sea shut fast
— All that calm Sunday that goes on and on:
When even lovers find their peace at last
— And Earth is but a star, that once had shone.