,,by ,,the ,,same ,,author ,,fiction ,,the ,,gates ,,john ,,stuart ,,verse ,,songs ,,and ,,satires ,,theatre ,,les ,,pariahs ,,the ,,cap ,,and ,,bells ,,people ,,like ,,ourselves ,,class ,,theatre ,,in ,,verse ,,foolery ,,dusk ,,the ,,singing ,,caravan ,,recent ,,poetry ,,the ,,heart ,,of ,,peace ,by ,,laurence ,,housman4 #es4 net ,,escape ,,and ,,fantasy ,by ,,george ,,rostrevor4 #cs4 #f;d4 net ,,the ,,sailing ,,ships ,by ,,enid ,,bagnold4 #es4 net ,,counter-,,attack ,by ,,siegfried ,,sassoon4 #bs4 #f;d4 net ,,poems ,by ,,geoffrey ,,dearmer4 #bs4 #f;d4 net ,,the ,,singing ,,caravan ,a ,,sufi ,,tale ,,by ,,robert ,,vansittart ,each man is many as a caravan2 ,his straggling selves collect in tales like these4 ,only the love of one can make him one4 ,who takes the ,sufi ,way--the ,way of ,peace8 ,,new ,,york ,,george ,h4 ,,doran ,,company #aiai ,printed in ,great ,britain ,,in ,,memoriam ,,my ,,brother ,,arnold #b,,nd ,,lieutenant1 #aa,,th ,,hussars ,,killed ,,in ,,action ,,near ,,ypres ,,may #aiae ,in twenty years of lands and seas and cities ,i had small joy and sought for it the more1 ,thinking3 ,if ever ,i am polymtis1 ',tis yours to draw upon the hard-won store4 ,i had some bouts from ,samarkand to ,paris1 ,and took some falls 'twixt ,sweden and ,sudan4 ,if ,i was slow and patient learning parries1 ,i hoped to teach you when you were a man4 ,i cannot fall to whining round the threshold ,where ,death awaited you4 ,i lack the skill ,of hands for ever working out a fresh hold ,on life4 ,in mystic ways ,i serve you still4 ,the age of miracles is not yet ended4 ,as on the humble feast of ,galilee ,surely a touch of heaven has descended ,on the cheap earthen vessel1 even on me1 ,whose weak content--the soul ,i travail under-- ,unstable as water1 to myself untrue1 ,god's mercy makes an everlasting wonder1 ,stronger than life or death1 my love of you4 ,i am indebted to ,mr4 ,arthur ,humphreys1 ,mr4 ,john ,murray1 and the ,editor of the ,spectator for kind permission to reproduce a few of the shorter poems in this tale of ,persian mystics4 ,i have included them1 firstly1 because ,i wished otherwise new work1 being a memorial1 to include such fragments of the past as might be worth preserving2 secondly1 because decreasing leisure inspires a diffidence in the future that may justify me in asking a reader or a friend to judge or remember me only by ,foolery and ,the ,singing ,caravan4 ,r4 ,v4 ,,contents ,,page ,,in ,,memoriam vi ,,acknowledgements viii ,,prelude #a ,i4 ,,the ,,view ,,of ,,the ,,watchmen #i ,,ii4 ,,the ,,joy ,,of ,,the ,,words #ae ,,iii4 ,,the ,,depth ,,of ,,the ,,night #ag ,,iv4 ,,the ,,inwardness ,,of ,,the ,,merchant #bj ,v4 ,,the ,,lesson ,,of ,,the ,,camel #bb ,,vi4 ,,the ,,boasting ,,of ,,youth #bh ,,vii4 ,,the ,,heart ,,of ,,the ,,slave #cc ,,viii4 ,,the ,,tale ,,of ,,the ,,cheapjack #cg ,,ix4 ,,the ,,experience ,,of ,,the ,,door #ci ,x4 ,,the ,,song ,,of ,,the ,,selves #di ,,xi4 ,,the ,,story ,,of ,,the ,,sutler #eg ,,xii4 ,,the ,,legend ,,of ,,the ,,peasant #fb ,,xiii4 ,,the ,,promotion ,,of ,,the ,,soldier #ff ,,xiv4 ,,the ,,moral ,,of ,,the ,,scholar #gh ,,xv4 ,,the ,,conclusions ,,of ,,the ,,sheikh #ha ,,xvi4 ,,the ,,argument ,,of ,,the ,,sceptic #ij ,,xvii4 ,,the ,,pride ,,of ,,the ,,tailor #ajj ,,xviii4 ,,the ,,history ,,of ,,the ,,adventurer #ajc ,,xix4 ,,fusion #afa ,,xx4 ,,long ,,leave #afg ,,epilogue #afi ,,prelude ,the sun smote ,elburz like a gong4 ,slow down the mountain's molten face ,zigzagged the caravan of song4 ,time was its slave and went its pace4 ,it bore a white ,transcaspian ,queen ,whose barque had touched at ,enzel4 ,splendid in jewelled palanquin ,she cleft ,iran from sea to sea1 ,bound for the ,persian ,gulf of ,pearls1 ,where demons sail for drifting isles ,with bodyguards of dancing girls ,and four tamed winds for music1 smiles ,for passports4 ,thus the caravan1 ,singing from chief to charvadar1 ,reached the great gate of screened ,tehran4 ,the burrows of the dim bazaar ,swarmed thick to see the vision pass ,on broidered camels like a fleet ,of swaying silence4 ,one there was ,who joined the strangers in the street4 ,they called him ,dreamer-of-the-,age1 ,the least of ,allah's ,muslimeen ,who knew the joys of pilgrimage ,and wore the sign of sacred green1 ,a poet1 poor and wistful-eyed4 ,him all the beauty and the song ,drew by swift magic to her side1 ,and in a trance he went along ,past friends who questioned of his goal3 ,the ,brazen ,cliffs8 ,the ,realms of ,musk8 ,goes he to ,mecca for his soul8444 ,the town-light dwindled in the dusk ,behind4 ,ahead ,misr8 ,el ,katf8 ,the moon far up a brine-green sky ,made ,demavend a huge pale reef ,set in an ocean long gone dry4 ,bleached mosques like dwarf cave-stalagmites1 ,smooth silver-bouldered biyaban ,and sevenfold velvet of white nights ,vied with the singing caravan ,to make her pathway plain4 ,then one ,beside the poet murmured low3 ,i plod behind1 sun after sun1 ,o master1 whither do we go8 ,are we for some palmed port of ,fars1 ,or tombed ,kerbela1 or ,baghdad ,the ,town-of-,knowledge-of-the-,stars8 ,is worship wise or are we mad8 ,answered the poet3 ,do we ask ,allah to buy each ,friday's throng8 ,none to whom worship is a task ,should join the caravan of song4 ,with heart and eyes unquestioning1 friend1 ,we follow love from sea to sea1 ,and ,love and ,prayer have common end3 ',may ,god be merciful to me6' ,so fared they1 camped from noon to even1 ,till dawn1 quick-groping through the gloom1 ,pounced on gilt planets low in heaven4 ,thus they beheld the domes of ,kum4 ,and onward nightly4 ,though the dust ,swirled in dread shapes of desert ,jinn1 ,ever the footsore poet's trust ,soared to the jewelled palanquin1 ,parched1 but still singing3 ,god1 being great1 ,lent me a star from sea to sea1 ,the drop in his hand-hollow1 ,fate4 ,he holds it high1 and signs to me ,although ,she--,she may not 444 ,for thirst ,my songs and dreams like mirage fail4 ,yea1 mad --his fellow pilgrim cursed-- ,i was4 ,the ,queen lifts not her veil4 ,put no conditions to her glance1 ,o happy desert1 where the guide ,is ,love's own self1 ,life's only chance 444 ,he saw not where the other died1 ,but pressed on strongly1 loth to halt ,at ,persia's pride1 ,rose-,ispahan1 ,whose hawks are bathed in pure cobalt4 ,to meet the singing caravan ,came henna-bearded prince and sage ,with henna-fingered houris1 who ,strove to retard the pilgrimage1 ,saying3 ,our streets are fair and you ,a poet4 ,sing of us instead4 ,god may be good1 but life is short4 ,yon are the mountains of the dead4 ,here are clean robes to wear at court4 ,he said3 ,i seek a bliss beyond ,the range of your muezzin-call4 ,do birds cease song till heaven respond8 ,the road is naught4 ,the ,hope is all4 ,you know not this ,transcaspian ,queen1 ,or what the journey's end may be4 ,fool among ,allah's ,muslimeen1 ,you chase a myth from sea to sea4 ,because ,i bargain not nor guess ,if ,waste or ,garden wait for me1 ,love gives me inner loveliness4 ,i hold to her from sea to sea4 ,so he was gone1 nor seemed to care ,for beckoning shade1 or boasting brook1 ,or human alabaster-ware ,flaunted before him in the suk1 ,nor paused at sunburnt far ,shiraz1 ,the home of sinful yellow wine1 ,where morning mists1 like violet gauze1 ,deck the bare hills1 and blossoms twine ,in seething coloured foam around ,the lighthouse minarets4 ,and sheer-- ,a thin cascade bereft of sound-- ,the track falls down to dank ,bushr4 ,the caravan slipped to the plain4 ,its song rose through the rising damp1 ,till1 through the grey stockade of rain1 ,the ,gulf of ,pearls shone like a lamp4 ,here waiting rode a giant dhow1 ,each hand a captive ,roumi lord1 ,who rose despite his chains to bow ,as straight her beauty went aboard1 ,sailed4 ,for the ,tableland of ,rhyme8 ,the ,crystal ,archipelago8 ,who knows6 ,this happened on a time ,among the times of long ago4 ,he only1 ,dreamer-of-the-,age1 ,was left alone upon the sands1 ,the goal of his long pilgrimage1 ,the soil of all the promised lands1 ,watching the dhow cut like a sword ,the leaden waves4 ,yet1 ere she sailed1 ,god poured on broken eyes reward ,out of ,heaven's heart4 ,the ,queen unveiled4 ,there for a space fulfilment shone1 ,while worship had his soul for priest ,and altar4 ,then the light was gone1 ,and on the sea the singing ceased4 99 99 99 99 99 ,and is this all my story8 ,yes1 ,save that the ,sufi's dream is true4 ,dearest1 in its deep lowliness ,this tale is told of me and you4 ,o love of mine1 while ,i have breath1 ,whatever my last fate shall be1 ,i seek you1 you alone1 till death ,with all my life--from sea to sea4 ,and ,god be merciful to me4 ,i ,,the ,,view ,,of ,,the ,,watchmen ,the pilgrims from the north ,beat on the southern gate ,all eager to set forth1 ,in little mood to wait ,while watchman ,abdelal ,expounded the ,koran ,to that wise seneschal1 ,his mate1 ,ghaffr ,sultan4 ,at length ,ghaffr3 ,enough6 ,even watchmen's heads may nod4 ,asril is not rough ,if we have faith in ,god4 ,his fellow tapped the book3 ,the ,darawish discuss ,the point you overlook3 ,has ,allah faith in us8 ,know1 then1 that ,allah1 fresh ,and splendid as a boy ,who thinks no ill of flesh1 ,had one desire3 a toy4 ,and so he took for site ,to build his perfect plan ,the ,earth1 where ,his delight ,was manufactured3 ,man4 ,ah1 had we ever seen ,the draft1 our ,maker's spit1 ,i think we must have been ,drawn to live up to it4 ,god was so pure and kind ,he showed ,shaitan the lease ,of earth that ,he had signed ,for us1 ,his masterpiece4 ,the pilgrims cried3 ,you flout ,our calm4 ,beware4 ,it flags4 ,unbar and let us out1 ,sons of a thousand rags4 ,and ,abdelal said3 ,hark6 ,methought ,i heard a din4 ,said ,ghaffr3 ,after dark ,i let no devils in4 ,proceed4 ,he sucked his pipe3 ,god in ,his happiest mood ,laid down our prototype1 ,and saw that man was good4 ,aglow with generous pride3 ,shaitan the son of ,jann1 ,this is my crown1 ,he cried4 ,bow down and worship man4 ,said ,evil with a smirk-- ,he was too sly to hiss-- ,i cannot praise your work4 ,i could have bettered this4 ,god said3 ,i could have sown ,the soil my puppet delves1 ,yet rather gave my own ,power to perfect themselves4 ,still the fiend stiffened4 ,i ,bow not4 ,our prophet saith ,that he would not comply ,because he had no faith ,in us4 ,he only saw ,the worst of ,allah's toy1 ,the springs1 some surface flaw1 ,the strengthening alloy4 ,said ,god3 ,the faults are mine4 ,i gave him hope and doubt1 ,the mind that my design ,shall have to work ,me out4 ,what though he fall6 ,is love ,so faint that ,i should grieve8 ,how else1 friend1 should ,i prove ,to him that ,i believe8 ,and how else should he rise8 ,lo1 ,i1 that made the night1 ,have given his conscience eyes ,therein to find the ,right4 ,i have stretched out his hand1 ,oh1 not to grasp but feel1 ,have taught his aims to land1 ,but tipped the aims with steel2 ,have given him iron resolve ,and one great master-key1 ,courage1 to bid revolve ,the hinge of destiny1 ,and beams from heaven to build ,the road to ,otherwise1 ,with broken gloom to gild ,the causeway of his sighs ,whereby ,i watch him come ,at last to judge of ,me1 ,beyond the thunder's drum1 ,the cymbals of the sea4 ,aye1 ,shaitan1 plumb the ,space ,and ,time that planets buoy1 ,and you shall know the place ,appointed for my toy4 ,i could not give him rest1 ,and see him satiate ,at once1 or make the zest ,of life an opiate4 ,i might have been his lord1 ,i had not been his friend ,to sheathe his spirit's sword ,and start him at the end4 ,i would not make him old1 ,that he might see his port ,fling its nocturne of gold ,and cheerfulness athwart ,the dusk4 ,i planned the wave1 ,and wealth of wind and star4 ,could one be gay and brave ,who never saw afar ,the cause that he outlives ,only because he fought1 ,the peaks to which he strives1 ,the ranges of his thought1 ,until the dawn to be ,relieve his watchfires dim1 ,not by his faith in ,me ,but by my faith in him6 ,i also have my dreams1 ,and through my darkest cloud ,his climbing phalanx gleams ,to my salute1 and1 proud ,of him even in defeat1 ,my light upon his brow1 ,my roughness at his feet1 ,i triumph4 ,shaitan1 bow6 ,but ,shaitan like an ass ,jibbed and would not give ear4 ,just so it came to pass1 ,declares our ,book1 ,ghaffr4 ,we know that in the heat ,of disputation--well1 ,allah shot out his feet1 ,and ,shaitan went to hell4 ,thus ,abdelal4 ,the gate ,shook to the pilgrims' cry3 ,when will you cease to prate1 ,beards of calamity6 ,the poet3 ,allah's bliss ,fall on his watchmen6 ,thus ,our journey's password is ,that ,god has faith in us4 ,,ii ,,the ,,joy ,,of ,,the ,,words ,the ,sufis trembled3 ,open1 open wide1 ,dismiss us to illuminate the ,east4 ,old ,ghaffr fumbled the reluctant bolts1 ,lifting his hands and eyes as for a feast4 ,and this was their viaticum4 ,his words ,were mingled with their eagerness like yeast3 ,go forth1 poor words6 ,if truly you are free1 ,simple1 direct1 you shall be winged like birds1 ,voiced like the sea4 ,walk humbly clad6 ,be sure those words are lame ,that ride a-clatter1 or that deck and pad ,a puny frame4 ,as in your dress1 ,so in your speech be plain6 ,be not deceived2 the ,mighty ,meaningless ,are loud in vain4 ,be not puffed up1 ,nor drunk with your own sound6 ,shall men drink deeply when an empty cup ,is handed round8 ,shout not at heaven6 ,say what ,i bade you say4 ,simplicity is beauty dwelling even ,in yea or nay4 ,be this your goal4 ,beauty within man's reach ,is poetry4 ,you cannot touch man's soul ,save with man's speech4 ,therefore go straight4 ,you shall not turn aside ,to vain display2 for yonder lies the gate ,where gods abide ,your coming4 ,go6 ,the way was never hard4 ,what would you more than common flowers or snow8 ,for your reward1 ,be understood1 ,and thus shall you be sung4 ,aye1 you who think to show us any good1 ,speak in our tongue4 ,,iii ,,the ,,depth ,,of ,,the ,,night ,the watchman finished1 as the southern gate ,clanged1 and the breathless city lay behind4 ,the ,dreamer's shadows shrank against the wall1 ,as though the desert called and none replied1 ,till the young pilot1 standing out to night1 ,swung clear these lines to sound the depths of her3 ,blue ,persian night1 ,soft1 voiceless as the summer sea6 ,flooding the bouldered desert sand1 submerge ,this cypressed isle ,and ,demavend's snow-spire--a sunken rock ,on your hushed floor1 where ,i the diver stand ,beyond the reach of day4 ,and though1 up through your overwhelming peace1 ,i see your surface1 heaven1 ,i would not rise there1 being drowned in you1 ,blue ,persian night4 ,blue ,persian night1 ,o consolation of the ,east6 ,in your clear breathless oceanic sheen ,my heart's an isle1 ,from whose innumerable caves and coigns-- ,when dusk awakes the city of my mind-- ,exploring boats set forth1 ,bound for the harbour-lights of ,god knows where1 ,full1 full of ,god knows what2 ,it must be love of ,him1 or ,her1 or ,you1 ,blue ,persian night4 ,her signal answered2 for a slender wand ,of moonbeam touched the ,dreamer on the mouth4 ,the caravan looked upward with a shout ,and set its camels rolling to the south1 ,murmuring3 ,blue ,persian night1 none ever saw ,you through your own sheer purity before us4 ,rise up our songs as bubbles from the sand 444 ,somewhere among the camels rose this chorus3 ,dong6 ,dong6 ,lurching along ,out of the dusk ,into the night4 ,noiseless and lusty1 ,dreamy and dusty1 ,looms the long caravan-line into sight4 ,dong6 ,dong6 ,never a song1 ,never a footfall ,a breath or a sigh4 ,ghostly and stolid1 ,stately and squalid1 ,creeps the monotonous caravan by4 ,dong6 ,dong6 ,fugitive throng4 ,out of the dark ,into the night1 ,silent and lonely1 ,gone6444 the bells only ,tells us a caravan once was in sight4 ,,iv ,,the ,,inwardness ,,of ,,the ,,merchant ,moussa1 the son of the ,crypto-,jew1 ,had eaten his fill of yellow stew ,and a bit besides 7as a business man ,he was far too quick for the caravan1 ,who loved him not1 though it feared his guile74 ,moussa then3 ,i shall walk awhile ,to ease my soul of its heavy load4 ,his pious friends3 ,may you find a road1 ,and winked4 ,his soul has begun to feel ,there's nothing left but a march to steal4 ,but one from the village1 decoying quail ,for the governor's pot1 came back with a tale ,of a lean arm shaken against the sky ,like a stunted thorn1 and this piteous cry3 ,as sound within an ice-bound desert mewed ,drags out existence at the very core ,of isolation1 as breakers slip ashore ,in vainly eternal whispers to the nude ,reef-coral1 where no human feet intrude ,upon the purity of stillness2 or ,as1 far from life1 unmated eagles soar ,above the hilltops' breathless solitude1 ,so moves my love1 like these a thing apart1 ,fierce1 in the ruined temple of my heart1 ,shy as a shooting star that peers new-risen ,mid strangers4 ,even so4 ,pent in the prison ,of space my soul1 a lonely planet1 wheels 444 ,men call the sum of loneliness ',ideals4' ,this is the plaint that the cross-road heard ,where it strikes from ,kashan to ,burujird4 ,the townsmen1 met by the sun-dried stream1 ,caught a voice high up like an angel's scream ,or a teaspoon tapping the bowl of heaven1 ,and they cried3 ,ajab6 ,may we be forgiven1 ,but it sounds a soul of the rarer sort ,whose wings are set for no earthly port4 ,and the answer came1 as they cried3 ,who's that8 ,one that sells short weight in mutton fat4 ,v ,,the ,,lesson ,,of ,,the ,,camel ,light was not4 ,all was still4 ,the caravan ,had ceased its song and motion by the bed ,wherein the hill-stream tosses sleeplessly1 ,the only sound1 save one staccato note ,interminably piped by tiny owls4 ,the camp lay balmed in slumber1 as the dead ,are straitened in white trappings4 ,then a voice1 ,deeper than any dead black mountain pool ,or blacker well where devils cool by day1 ,seemed to commune with ,dreamer-of-the-,age1 ,who1 peering through the cloak about his head1 ,challenged3 ,who speaks8 ,the voice replied3 ,a friend ,unknown to you4 444 ,it was old ,peacock ,tous1 ,the great grey camel with the crimson tail ,on whom the queen was wont to ride4 ,he said3 ,sheikh1 ,i was born among the ,bakhtiari1 ,the shelter of their hawthorn vales was mine2 ,for me1 unbroken to the loads men carry1 ,the breeze that crowns their uplands glowed as wine ,to drink4 ,i1 ,tous1 the ,peacock1 whom men call so ,because ,i ever moved as one above ,the common herd1 was mad and merry4 ,also ,i knew not yet the prickled herb of ,love4 ,spring tricked the desert out with flowered patterns ,for me to tread like flowered carpets wrought ,in patience by my master's painted slatterns-- ,he said that only ,persian women fought4 ,ah1 youth is free and silken-haired and leggy6 ,no camel knows why ,allah makes it end1 ,but ,he is wiser4 ,me the tribe's ,il-,beggi ,spied out and sent as tribute to a friend1 ,a dweller in black tents1 a nomad chieftain ,of ,khamseh ,arabs or unruled ,kashgai1 ,whose cattle-raids and rapines past belief stain ,the furthest page of camel-history4 ,and shamefully the ragged sutlers thwacked us1 ,until ,i learned1 as to this manner born1 ,that pride must find a mother in the cactus ,and hope the milk of kindness in the thorn4 ,o ,sheikh1 ,i found4 ,a milk-white nakeh followed ,the drove of males1 and ,i would lag behind ,with her1 no matter how the drivers holloa'ed-- ,man never doubts that all but he are blind4 ,at nightfall1 when our champing echoed surly ,beyond the cheerful circle of the fire1 ,something within me whispered1 and thus early ,i bore the burden of the world's desire4 ,but ,i was saddled with the will of ,allah1 ,since one there was more fleet of foot than ,i1 ,the chosen of the chief of the ,mehallah1 ,whose nostrils quivered as he passed me by4 ,to her1 beside his paces and his frothing1 ,my steadfastness was common as the air1 ,my passion and my patience were as nothing1 ,because fate chose to make my rival fair4 ,i suffered and was silent--some said lazy-- ,until the seasons drove us to the plain4 ,the nomads sold me then to a ,shirazi4 ,i never met my happiness again1 ,but trod the same old measure back and forward1 ,and passed a friend as seldom as a tree4 ,oh1 heaviness of ever going shoreward1 ,of bringing all fruition to the sea6 ,for ,i have fared from sea to sea like you1 sirs1 ,and with your like1 not once but many times4 ,your path acclaims me eldest of its users1 ,it tells my step as ,i foresee your rhymes4 ,i know by heart a heartache's thousandth chapter ,as you have read the preface of delight4 ,the silence you shall enter1 ,i have mapped her4 ,o singing caravan1 ,i was ,to-night ,long ere you dreamed4 ,i dreaming of my lady ,became the cargo-bearer we call ,self4 ,two hundredweight of flesh that spouted ,sa'di1 ,a restless bag of bones intent on pelf1 ,have straddled me in turn4444 ,hashish and spices1 ,wheat1 poisons1 satins1 brass1 and graven stone1 ,i1 ,tous1 have borne all human needs and vices ,as solemnly as had they been my own4 ,moon-faced sultanas blue with kohl a-pillion1 ,grey ambergris1 pink damask-roses' oil1 ,deep murex purple1 beards or lips vermilion ,as ,abu ,musa's flaming scarlet soil ,i have borne--and dung and lacquer4 ,i have flooded ,bazaars with poppy-seed and filigree4 ,men little guess the stuff that ,i have studied1 ,or what their vaunted traffic seems to me4 ,i am hardened to all wonderments and stories-- ,my ears have borne the hardest of my task-- ,i have carried pearls from ,lingah up to ,tauris1 ,and ,russian ,jews from ,lenkoran to ,jask4 ,i have watched fat vessels crammed by sweating coolies ,with all the rubbish that the rich devise1 ,and often ,i have wondered who the fool is ,that takes it all1 and whom the fool supplies4 ,yet ran my thoughts on her1 though cedar rafters ,were laid on me1 or mottled silk and plush1 ,although the tinkling scales of varied laughters ,rode me from ,bandar ,abbas to ,barfrush1 ,or broken hearts from ,astara to ,gwetter4 ,all ironies have made their moving house ,of me4 ,i smile to think how many a letter ,has passed from loved to lover thanks to ,tous ,the loveless4 ,think you men alone are lonely1 ,my masters8 ,i have also worshipped one1 ,have built my days of faith and service only1 ,and while ,i worshipped all my life was gone4 ,i spent the funds of life in growing older1 ,in heaping fuel on a smothered fire4 ,see how my tale is rounded6 ,on my shoulder ,i bear the burden of your world's desire4 ,yet keep that inner smile2 and never show it ,though the ,account be nothing--shorn of her4 ,be wise1 ,o ,sheikh4 ,pray ,god to be a poet ,lest life should make you a philosopher1 ,or lest the dreams of which you had the making ,should prove to be such stuff as still ,i trail1 ,and bring your heart1 my withers1 nigh to breaking ,when at the last the ,bearer eyes the ,bale1 ,as you shall penetrate this day or morrow ,the miracle of willing servitude1 ,and yet believe therein4 ,it is the sorrow ,and not the love that asks to be subdued2 ,it is the mirage not the truth that trammels ,the travelling feet4 ,ah1 if men only knew ,how their brief frenzies move the mirth of camels1 ,our rests were longer and our journeys few4 ,old ,tous is up4 ,the camp is struck and ready ,for fresh emprise4 ,dawn sifts the clay-blue sky ,for gold4 ,now see how dominant and steady ,i prose along that have no mind to fly4 ,this is my lesson3 over sand or shingle1 ,blow hot1 blow cold1 by mountain1 plain and khor1 ,coming and going1 ,i must set a-jingle ,my own deep bell4444 ,and you must ask for more6 ,he ceased4 ,white on the mirror of the air ,his breath made patterns4 ,in a ruined farm ,red cocks blared out and shouted down the owls4 ,the drivers rubbed their eyes4 ,another day ,among the days was starting on its march4444 ,above the pilgrims fallen to their prayers ,old ,tous stood upright1 blinking at the sun4 ,,vi ,,the ,,boasting ,,of ,,youth ,the soldier-lad from ,kerman1 ,the sailor-lad from ,jask ,knew naught that should deter man ,from finishing the cask4 ,wine sets the ,faithful jibbing ,like mules before an inn1 ,but we sit bravely bibbing1 ,and hold our own with sin4 ,said the stout-hearted wonder ,of ,jask3 ,wine frights not me4 ,i fear no foe but thunder ,and winds that sting the sea4 ,and ,i1 said he of ,kerman1 ,fear nothing but the night1 ,or some imperious firman ,that bids the ,faithful fight4 ,they say some lads fear ladies ,and truckle to them4 ,who ,could be so weak8 ,the ,cadis ,rise up for me and you4 ,but doctors1 nay and princes1 ,have troubles of their own1 ,save those whom fire convinces4444 ,i leave the stuff alone4 ,and ,i4444 ,then both bethought them ,that1 howso strong and wise1 ,their principles had caught them ,on this mad enterprise4 ',tis time to act with daring1 ,and rest1 said he of ,jask1 ,and swore a mighty swearing1 7,and drained another flask74 ,if ,i go on1 attendant ,upon this woman's way1 ,may ,i become dependant ,on your arrears of pay6 ,if ,i1 said ,captain ,kerman1 ,should knuckle to my mate1 ,may ,i become a merman ,and live on maggot-bait6 ,then since we have discovered ,that women need our strength-- 7,the tavern-houris hovered7 ,to hold them at arm's length1 ,sit down in this rest-house1 and ,tell me a tale among ,the tales1 one in your thousand6 ,this was the story sung3 ,i threw my love about you like fine raiment2 ,i let you kill my pride4 ,you passed me by1 but smiled at me in payment1 ,and ,i was satisfied4 ,i made my mind a plaything for your leisure1 ,content to be ignored4 ,body and soul ,i waited on your pleasure1 ,waited--without reward4 ,i have no faint repinings that we met1 dear1 ,or that ,i left you cold4 ,i rub my hands4 ,you will be colder yet1 dear1 ,some day when you are old4 ,forbidden wine is mellow4 ,the sun has set4 ,of whom ,sing you this song1 ,brave ,fellow8 ,night is the ante-room ,breeze-sprinkled to keep cooler ,the feasting-halls behind4 ,she might have been my ruler ,but for my ,strength of ,mind4 ,that was the tune to whistle6 ,how have ,i longed to learn ,the deeds of men of gristle ,like mine6444 ,tell me in turn ,some of your lore of women1 ,whose wiles are deep as bhang4 ,your strength shall teach to swim men ,who fall in love4444 ,he sang3 ,you came to me1 and well you chose your quarry4 ,you told your tale1 and well you played your rle4 ,you spoke of suffering1 and ,i was sorry ,with all my heart1 with all my soul4 ',out of the deep1' you said4 ,i thought to save you1 ,and stunned myself upon the covered shoal4 ,yet1 poor deceptive shallows1 ,i forgave you ,with all my heart1 with all my soul4 ,you sought whatever evil had not sought you4 ,in vain ,i strove to make your nature whole4 ,i did not know the market that had bought you ,with all your heart1 with all your soul4 ,if man had one pure impulse you would smudge it4 ,you had one gift1 my pity1 which you stole4 ,now ,i will only tell you that ,i grudge it ,with all my heart1 with all my soul4 ,of whom this song1 ,brave ,fellow8 ,the stars in heaven's black soil ,fold up their petalled yellow ,that pays the angels' toil4 ,the lamp had burned its wick dim1 ,the pair had drunk their fill4444 ,i might have been her victim ,but for my ,strength of ,will4 ,then one said to the other3 ,such strength as yours and mine ,must put its foot down1 brother1 ,and stay here--pass the wine-- ,till1 for the world's salvation1 ,shall radiate from this den ,the ,great ,confederation ,of ,independent ,men4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the last sour mule was saddled1 ,on went the caravan4 ,these twain turned on the raddled ,handmaidens of the han1 ,blinked1 cast them forth with loathing ,because the queen was fair1 ,and lest their lack of clothing ,should lay man's weakness bare4 ,white as a cloud in summer1 ,slender as sun-shot rain-- ,earth knows what moods become her-- ,the queen passed4444 ,in her train ,the ,great ,confederation ,trod with such wealth of ,will ,that1 in its trepidation1 ,it never paid its bill4 ,,vii ,,the ,,heart ,,of ,,the ,,slave ,but as they fared slave ,obeidullah failed4 ,devouring fever shook him like a rat1 ,and ere they reached ,kashan his course was run4 ,then freedom came towards him1 and he spoke3 ,here is an eye of water1 mulberry-trees1 ,a rest-house1 and to me a stranger thing1 ,rest4 ,caravan be strong1 fare on with blessings ,whence you must forge your happiness--but ,i1 ,possessed of peace1 shall never see the end4 ,the heart within me has been fire so long ,that now my body is smoke4 ,i watch it drift ,life leaves me gently as a mistress goes ,before her time to meet the uncoloured days1 ,saying3 ',i have lived4 ,plead not4 ',twill be in vain4 ,you were the end of summer4 ,i have passed ,out of the garden with fresh scents and dews ,upon me1 out ere sunset with cool hands1 ,the supple tread of youth and glorying limbs ,firm as resolve1 unblemished as my pride2 ,passed ere a leaf be fallen1 or losing fights ,begin1 that smirch the memory of love4444' ,sweet is the shade1 and death's cool lips are welcome ,after the burning kisses of the sun1 ,the strained embraces of my owner1 ,toil4 ,i shall remember her with gratitude ,but no regret1 as ,i lie here4 ,the dawn ,biting the desert-edge shall not disturb me1 ,nor green oases zigzagged through the heat ,like stepping-stones4 ,the many-coloured hills1 ,heaven's mutable emotions1 these are past4 ,beyond them ,i shall find security ,of tenure in the outstretched hands of ,god4 ,thereat his fellows made lament1 and urged3 ,sleep on and take your rest1 but not for ever4 ,time adds to strength1 and you shall rise with us ,who wait4 ,already we foresee the coast4 ,a little while4444 ,slave ,obeidullah raised ,himself and looked ahead with shining eyes3 ,the moon is faint4 ,a dust-cloud swirls4 ,therein ,i see dim marching hosts3 ,strange embassies and dancing girls1 ,spice-caravans and pilgrims4 ,ghosts ,rise thick from this else fruitless plain1 ,a waste that every season chars4 ,yet teeming centuries lie slain ,and trodden in the road to ,fars4 ,the still1 white1 creeping road slips on1 ,marked by the bones of man and beast4 ,what comeliness and might have gone ,to pad the highway of the ,east6 ,long dynasties of fallen rose1 ,the glories of a thousand wars1 ,a million lovers' hearts compose ,the dust upon the road to ,fars4 ,no tears have ever served to hold ,this shifting velvet1 fathom-deep1 ,though vain and ceaseless winds have rolled ,its pile wherein the ages sleep4 ,between your fingers you may sift ,kings1 poets1 priests and charvadars4 ,heaven knows how many make a drift ,of dust upon the road to ,fars4 ,the wraiths subside4 ,and1 ,one with ,all1 ,soon1 in the brevity of length1 ,our lives shall hear the voiceless call ,that builds this earth of love and strength4 ,eternal1 breathless1 we shall wait1 ,till1 last of all the ,avatars1 ,god finds us in his first estate3 ,the dust upon the road to ,fars4 ,so still he lay1 so still the pilgrims deemed ,he was no longer there4 ,the deepening shade ,covered him softly4 ,with his latest breath ,slave ,obeidullah looked upon the ,queen3 ,you whom ,i loved so steadfastly1 ,if all the blest should ask to see ,the cause for which my spirit came ,among them with so little claim ,to peace1 this book should speak for me4 ,i strove and only asked in fee ,hope of your immortality ,not mine--,i had no other aim ,you whom ,i loved4 ,the ,judge will bend to hear my plea1 ,and take my songs upon his knee4 ,perhaps ,his hand will make the lame ,worthy to worship you1 the same ,as here they vainly tried to be1 ,you whom ,i loved4 ,then1 turned towards her1 ,obeidullah slept4 ,,viii ,,the ,,tale ,,of ,,the ,,cheapjack ,among the fruit-trees still he slumbers4 ,all ,mourned for their brother with one heavy heart4 ,even ,tous drooped1 swaying weakly in his stride2 ,until ,farid ,bahadur1 cheapjack1 spoke1 ,one bootlessly afoot whose years had brought ,for profit this1 to see existence clear ,and empty as a solid ball of glass4 ,erstwhile1 he said1 my peddling carried me ,clean through two empires like a paper hoop1 ,setting me down upon the olive slopes ,where ,smyrna nestles back to mother earth1 ,and so lures in the ocean4 ,i filled my pack ,with kerchiefs1 beads1 dross1 chaffering with a ,greek1 ,although he vowed a much-loved partner's death ,left him no heart for it4 ,he blew his nose1 ,asking strange prices as a man distraught4 ,i had no heart to bargain while he crooned3 ,our loves were woven of one splendid thread1 ,but not our lives1 though we had been1 we twain1 ,linked as in worship at the ,spartan fane ,of him who brought his brother from the dead4 ,ah1 would our ,god were like his gods that said3 ,such love as this shall not have flowered in vain1 ,and let the younger ,castor live again ,the space that ,pollux lay with ,death instead4 ,dear1 ,i had lain so gladly in the grave ,not for a part of time but for ,god's whole ,eternity1 had died1 yea oft1 to save ,not half your life1 but one short hour4 ,your soul ,was all too pure2 mine had no right to ask ,from heaven such mercy as a saviour's task4 ,they say the ,olympian grace was not content ,with housing ,death1 but giving ,love the key4 ,it set the troths that guided you and me ,among the jewels of the firmament2 ,and there they dwell for ever and assent ,to each propitious ploughing of the sea4 ,the coasting-pilots of ,infinity ,well know ,the ,brothers4 ,so your sails were bent1 ,young fathomer of the blue4 ,i linger here ,with following gaze that tugs my heart-strings taut ,all day2 but every night an ,argonaut ,slips through the streets and darkness1 seaward1 far ,beyond the limitations of his sphere ,into the vacant place beside a star4 ,so crooned he desolate in his dim shop1 ,till ,i became all ears and had no eyes4 ,the fellow cheated me of three dinars4 ,,ix ,,the ,,experience ,,of ,,the ,,door ,slow into ,kum the ,glaring trailed ,the caravan4 ,its courage failed ,a moment4 ,only dust-clouds veiled ,the sun1 that overhead ,from fields ,the ,plough had turned to grain1 ,star-honey laden on ,the ,wain ,and spices from the wind-domain1 ,was baking angel-bread4 7,astronomers in ,baghdad say ,that ,allah gave the ,milky ,way ,to feed his guests1 the dead47 ,even as the dead the pilgrims lay ,until the sun received his pay-- ,man counts in gold1 but he in grey-- ,then1 whining as one daft1 ,a voice crept to each sleeper's ear1 ,and one by one sat up to hear ,it soughing like a ,seistan mere ,where nothing ever laughed4 ,a blur at elbow on the floor ,cried3 ,sleep6 ',tis but the tavern door ,amoaning in the draught4 ,ay1 said the master of the inn1 ,a black-faced gaper that lets in ,the dark1 my creditors1 and kin6 ,last month it strained my wrist1 did ,the lout1 so hard it slams4 ,this week ,claims it for fuel4 ,see the leak ,of air it springs6 ,its hinges creak1 ,its wood is warped and twisted4 ',tis heavy-hearted as a man1 ,stark1 crazy thing6444 ,it feels uncann4444 ,the wheezing voice persisted4 ,earth bare me in ,mazanderan1 ,where1 breaking her dead level plan1 ,steep foliage opens like a fan ,to hide her virgin blush2 ,and singing1 caravan1 like you ,brooks dance towards the ,caspian blue ,past coolth wherein mauve turtles coo ,to panthers in the rush1 ,that turn hill-pools to amethyst4 ,here bucks drink deep and tigers tryst ,neck-deep in grasses lush4 ,and there the stainless peaks are kissed ,by heaven whose crowning mercy1 mist1 ,with cloud-lands white as ,allah's fist ,anoints their heads with rain4 ,we never dreamed1 where nature pours1 ,that life could run as thin as yours-- ,a waif thirst-stricken to all fours-- ,or verdure1 but a vein ,in sandscapes wincing from the sun ,that burns your flesh and visions dun1 ,crawl throbbing through the plain4 ,i grew4 ,my shadow weighed a ton2 ,i held a countless garrison2 ,my boughs were roads for apes to run ,around the white owl's niche4 ,the hum of bees1 the blue jay's scream4444 ,the forest came to love and teem ,in me beside the vivid stream ,shot through with speckled fish2 ,till1 weary of my sheltered glen1 ,i craved a human denizen ,fate granted me my wish4 ,yea1 ,i had longed 7if slope and fen ,can love like this1 the love of men ,must live above our nature's ken7 ,to see and shade the room1 ,to shield far-leaning the abode1 ,wherein the souls of lovers glowed ,to songs that dimmed the bulbul's ode 444 ,and man became my doom4 ,he dragged me through the dew-drenched brake1 ,and took the heart of me to make ,a tavern-door at ,kum4 ,the pilgrims sat erect1 engrossed1 ,or searched the crannies for a ghost4 ,ah1 heed it not1 implored the host2 ,this hell-burnt father's son ,moans ever like a soul oppressed1 ,and takes the fancy of a guest1 ,and makes my house no house of rest3 ,i would its voice were gone4 ,yet be indulgent1 sirs6 ',tis old4 ,next week it shall be burnt or sold4 ,a new-- ,the voice went on3 ,here have ,i stood while life unrolled ,but not the tale my breezes told4 ,moonlight alone conceals the cold ,drab city's lack of heart4 ,here have ,i watched an hundred years ,bespatter me with blood and tears1 ,yet leave man ever in arrears ,of where my monkeys start4 ,no more1 dog-rose and meadow-sweet6 ,the harlot's musk and rotten meat ,blow at me from the mart4 ,no more1 clear streams and fairy feet6 ,but through my mouth the striving street ,drains in brown spate the men who eat ,and drink and curse and die2 ,and out of me the whole night long ,reel revellers--,o ,god1 their song6444 ,are there no mortals clean and strong1 ,or do they pass me by8 ,i little thought that ,i should leave ,for this the groves where turtles grieve ,far closer to the sky4 ,instead of every song-bird's note ,i know the scales a merchant's throat ,can compass4 ,i have learned by rote ,the tricks of ,copt and ,jew2 ,can tell if ,lur or ,afghan brawls1 ,the ,armenian way of selling shawls ,softly1 and how an ,arab bawls ,to rouse the raider's crew1 ,lest ululating strings of slaves ,should take the kennel for their graves4444 ,raids6 ,i have seen a few1 ,or wars1 occasion dubs them--waves ,of ,mongol sultans1 ,kurdish braves4 ,they--,find me words6 the ,simn raves-- ,they worked 444 'tis called their will1 ,battered me in--behold the dint-- ,with all their hearts that felt like flint1 ,besmeared the city with the tint ,of sunset on my hill4 ,my leopards stalk my bucks at eve-- ,i shivered as ,i heard them heave-- ,at least they ate their kill4 ,i followed that4444 ,but men who weave ,such flowing robes of make-believe1 ,i think the flood was wept by ,eve-- ,some sportsman shot the dove-- ,these puzzled me1 for ,god is good ,and man ,his image--not of wood1 ,thank ,god6--,at last ,i understood ,all 444 all except their love4 ,i grew so hard that ,i could trace ,his hand's chief glory in their race4 ,perhaps ,he wore a glove4 ,then one without made haste to smite ,the malcontent4 ,it opened4 ,night ,stood on the threshold dressed in white1 ,and myriad-eyed and blind4 ,the ostler murmured3 ,some ,afrit ,or bitter worm has entered it2 ,nor jamb nor lintel seems to fit4 ,i know its frame of mind4 ,air stirs the dust upon the floor1 ,the landlord cried4 ,fool6 ,shut that door ,amoaning in the wind4 ,my glade was deep1 a lichened well ,of ether1 limpid as a bell ,buoyed on the manifold ground-swell ,whose distance changed attires ,as sun-stroked plush1 a roundelay ,of all red-blue and purple grey1 ,and1 at each rise and fall of day1 ,snows dyed like altar fires ,licked through those loud green sheaves of copse1 ,bent hyphens 'twixt the mountain-tops1 ,mosques of my motley choirs4 ,and ,i1 who gave them bed and bower ,for nights enduring but an hour ,mid blaring miles of trumpet-flower1 ,leagues of liana-wreath1 ,i saw the rocks through leaves and lings1 ,could blink the fangs and feel the wings1 ,thrill with the elemental things ,of life and love and death4 ,the purity of air and brook ,and song helped me to overlook ,the rapine underneath4 ,but you--no6 one dream more3 an elf1 ,askip on ochre mountain-shelf1 ,who once had seen a man himself4 ,i used his wand to gauge ,the sheen of moths and peacocks' whir1 ,to plumb the jungle-aisles1 to stir ,the drifts of frankincense and myrrh1 ,and amorous lithe shapes that purr4444 ',tis finished4 ,turn the page ,to where man cased his bones in fat4 ,his mate moved like a tiger-cat ,until he built her cage4 ,you1 ,i have watched you all who sat ,successive round the food-stained mat1 ,and reckoned many who lived for that ,alone2 have seen the mark ,of that last state the ,thinking ,beast ,peep through the foliage of the feast1 ,and crown its poet's flight with greased ,fingers that grope the dark2 ,have heard a cleanlier bosom catch ,her breath1 and fumble with my latch ,irresolute4 ,the lark ,my inmates never feared to match ,bespoke the end4 ,i belched the batch1 ,rolling them down the street1 a patch ,of dirt against the dawn4 ,then in its stead there came a saint1 ,inventor of a soul-complaint1 ,who gave men's faith a coat of paint ,like mine1 and made me yawn ,with furtive wenching4 ,here have sighed ,exultant groom and weeping bride ,led like a captive fawn4 ,this way passed those who marry lean ,girl-chattels ere their times of teen4 ,i knew a like but milder scene3 ,a hawk1 small birds that cower4 ,how soon the chosen was brought back dead-- ,poisoned1 the hakim always said-- ,the husband groaned beside the bed1 ,arose1 and kept the dower1 ,but swept his conscience out with prayer4 ,man took the angels unaware ,when he became a power4 ,and what of woman8 ,on my stair ,the merchants spread their gaudiest ware1 ,for which fools bought a love affair ,that ended in a jerk4 ,enough6 ,to round the tamasha ,a bloated thing came by1 the ,shah2 ,it grinned1 and viziers fawned ',ha6 ha6' ,curs1 brainless as a ,turk4 ,and all the women in his train ,beheld him once and ne'er again1 ,and called his love their work4 ,you see1 my friends1 ,i tired of this ,wild doubling in the chase of bliss4 ,pards miss their spring as men their kiss1 ,and yet the quarry dies4 ,i learned the world's least mortal god1 ,whose epitaph is ,ichabod1 ,may sport till noon1 but if he nod ,shall never more arise4 ,then1 caravan1 you passed1 and ,i ,have solved my riddle with a cry3 ,the sad are never wise4 ,your song was all that ,i had heard ,in dreams beyond the wildest bird1 ,that rose above my yellow-furred ,basses that bell and roar4 ,it took the heart of me in tow ,to heights that ,i had longed to know1 ,to the great deeps where lovers go ,and find--and want--no shore4 ,in these alone is man fulfilled2 ,and gleaming in the air ,i build ,my hope of him once more4 ,for all the few that see truth whole1 ,and take its endlessness for goal1 ,and steer by stars as if no shoal ,could mar their firmament1 ,for all the few that sing and sail ,knowing their quest of small avail1 ,thank ,god who gave them strength to fail ,in finding what ,he meant4444 ,poets6 the landlord groaned1 and poor6 ,this house is cursed4 ,he banged the door ,behind them as they went4 ,and distance placed soft hands upon their mouths4 ,x ,,the ,,song ,,of ,,the ,,selves ,,dreamer-,,of-,,the-,,age ',twas in old ,tehran ,city1 ,hard by the old bazaar1 ,i heard a restless ditty ,that pushed my door ajar2 ,a song nor great nor witty1 ,it spoke of my own mind4 ,i looked on ,tehran ,city1 ,and knew ,i had been blind1 ,or else the streets were altered ,as by a peri's wand4 ,who are you1 friends8 ,i faltered4 ,the ,pilgrims of ,beyond1 ,they said4 ,i kissed the tatters ,that wiser heads contemn4 ,i saw the ,thing-that-matters1 ,and took the road with them4 ,i seek4 ,bestow no pity ,on ,failure's courtier4 ,say3 ',twas well to find the city1 ,but that was yesterday4 ,,the ,,pilgrims ,athirst as the ,hadramut1 ,our spirits correspond ,with ,god by all the gamut ,of harmony1 too fond ,of ,him for prayer that rifles ,his treasury for trifles4 ,no load of blessing stifles ,the ,pilgrims of ,beyond4 ,,dreamer-,,of-,,the-,,age ,and yet the empty-handed ,hold richer merchandise ,than ever fable landed ,from ,dreamland's argosies1 ,since we1 the symbol-merchants1 ,are partners with ,bulbul4 ,the silversmith of her chants ,knows how our chests are full4 ,in marts1 where echoes answer ,and only they1 we trade4 ,but join our caravan1 sir1 ,and count your fortune made4 ,dawn brings us dazzling offers ,with fingers gemmed and pearled1 ,and evening fills our coffers ,as we explain the world1 ,green fields and seas that curtsey ,to us and mock ,despair2 ,for blossoms in the dirt see ,their spirit in the air4 ,and ,ecstasy our servant ,demands no other wage ,but that we be observant ,to joy in pilgrimage4 ,,the ,,merchants ,we do not bid our master ,declare ,his word ,his bond1 ,or make ,his payments faster-- ,as though ,he would abscond6 ,we ask ,him for too little ,to strain at jot or tittle4 ,we know our lives are brittle1 ,we ,pilgrims of ,beyond4 ,,dreamer-,,of-,,the-,,age ,we come from everlasting ,towards eternity1 ,ho6 not in dirge and fasting ,but lapped in jollity4 ,though sackcloth be our clothing ,we bear no ash but fire4 ,we have no sickly loathing ,of youth and youth's desire4 ,we prize no consummation ,of one peculiar creed4 ,we travel for a nation1 ,the one that feels our need4 ,our tongue conceals no message1 ,but leaves you free to find1 ,and vaunts itself the presage ,of those that come behind4 ,,the ,,camelmen ,here is no patch of shade4 ,a ,fierce wilderness and blonde ,links ,delhi to ,hodeidah1 ,tashkent to ,trebizond4 ,the cargo is our brother's1 ,we march and moil for others1 ,until the desert smothers ,the ,pilgrims of ,beyond4 ,,dreamer-,,of-,,the-,,age ,hark how our camels grumble ,at morn6 ,would you permit ,the stone on which you stumble ,to make you carry it8 ,and if at last your burden ,be cheapened in a shop1 ,seraglio or ,lur den1 ,should lack of humour stop ,the game at its beginning8 ,we lug the stuff of dreams4 ,earth does her best by spinning1 ,she cannot help the seams2 ,but you can help to monger ,the broidery4 ,she may ,have made you richer1 stronger1 ,to give her best away4 ,i own no musk or camphor1 ,i have no truck with care1 ,nor change the thing ,i am for ,the things men only wear4 ,,the ,,soldiers ,first cousin of a sieve is ,the uniform we donned4 ,we slop along on ghivehs1 ,in rags caparisonned4 ,no ,shah has ever paid us4 ,all brigands mock and raid us1 ,and misery has made us ,the ,pilgrims of ,beyond4 ,,dreamer-,,of-,,the-,,age ,what then6 ,would you be willing ,to quit the caravan1 ,and fall again to drilling1 ,pent in the walled meidan1 ,when history flings open ,blank scrolls for you to write ,such victories as no pen ,has ever brought to light8 ,you shall not burn as ,jengiz1 ,nor rage like ,timur ,lang4 ,your foemen are ferengis ,of whom no epic sang4 ,the housed that blame the tented1 ,or comfort those that think1 ,the flocks that die contented ,with settling down to blink ,the sun we keep our eyes on1 ,that bow their heads too far ,to face their own horizon1 ,on these be war on war4 ,cursed by the bonds you sever1 ,the bondsmen you release1 ,go1 seek the ,land of ,fever ,and find the ,land of ,ease4 ,,the ,,caravan ,lift up your hearts1 ye singers6 ,we lift them up in song4 ,behold1 the sunset lingers4 ,no less shall night be long4 ,we meet her unaffrighted1 ,though never bourne be sighted4 ,we meant to be benighted ,still moving fleet and strong4 ,we smooth the stony places ,for those that else despond4 ,we pass1 and leave no traces ,save this1 a broken frond1 ,and this1 that hands once craven ,take hardship for the haven ,upon whose rocks is graven3 ,the ,pilgrims of ,beyond4 ,,xi ,,the ,,story ,,of ,,the ,,sutler ,and so the song was finished4 ,then they called ,to ,kizzil ,bash1 the ,sutler of ,dilman1 ,take up the tale1 for you have wandered far ,behind strange masters4444 ,once1 he said1 ,i served ,one of the ,roumi lordlings1 silver-faced1 ,who to forget some sorrow or lost love-- ,such is their way--came with an embassage ,to cringe before the ,caliph in ,stamboul ,for something sordid1 trade4444 ,he mouthed our verse ,to please his guests1 and ,i corrected him4 ,the man was cypress-sad and lone1 but he ,could not be silent as the great should be1 ,because he neither knew his place nor me4 ,the boatman marvelled at his lack of dignity4 ,they knew the currents4 ,he was bent on steering1 ,and spoke of ,god in terms wellnigh endearing4 ,i see him still1 sharp beard1 black velvet mantle1 ear-ring4 ,he dug with slaves for ,greekling manuscript1 ,danced like a slave-girl when he found1 and shipped ,westward cracked heads and friezes we had chipped4 ,i saw him kiss a statue1 murmuring eager-lipped3 ,fear was born when the woods were young4 ,chance had gathered an heap of sods1 ,where the slip of a tree-man's tongue ,throned the dam of the elder gods4 ,twilight1 a rustled leaf1 ,started the first belief ,in some unearthly ,chief ,latent behind ,cover of aspen shade4 ,skirting the haunted glade ,some one found speech1 and prayed4 ,was it the wind ,sniffing his cavern or the demon's laughter8 ,here from the night he conjured up ,hereafter1 ,quarried the river-mists to house the unseen4 ,only the woodpecker had found life hollow1 ,and gods went whither none was fain to follow1 ,because the earth was green ,and ,afterwards was black4 ,man1 the child of a tale of rape1 ,drew the seas with his hunting ships1 ,cut their prows to a giant's shape1 ,fitted names to their snarling lips3 ,gods in his image born1 ,singing1 fierce-eyed1 unshorn1 ,lords of a drinking-horn ,five fathoms deep2 ,holding the one reward ,carved by a dripping sword1 ,feasts1 and above them stored ,ceiling-high sleep4 ,save to the conqueror ,life was put-off ,dying1 ,and ,death brought nothing but the irk of lying-- ,how long--with over-restful hosts abed4 ,the rough immortals1 whom he met unshrinking1 ,spared him from nothing but the pain of thinking4 ,and so the earth was red ,while ,afterwards was grey4 ,jungles thinned1 and the clearings merged ,where the wandering clans drew breath4 ,druids rose and the people surged4 ,then the blessing of ,nazareth ,fell on them mad and mild1 ,boasting itself a child4 ,smite it6 ,and yet it smiled4 ,there1 as it kneeled1 ,lowliness rose to might1 ,deeming our days a night1 ,bodily joy a plight ,soon to be healed2 ,gave to one god all credit for creation1 ,but1 lest the ,path should seem the ,destination1 ,strove to attune man's heartstrings to a rack1 ,until the soul was fortified to change hells1 ,while saints and poets chanted songs of angels1 ,confessing earth was black ,but ,afterwards was gold4 ,faith was raised to the power of millions1 ,went as wine to a single head1 ,took its chiefs for the sun's postillions1 ,claimed to speak in its founder's stead2 ,till in the western skies ,reason's epiphanies ,beckoned the other-wise ,men to rebirth4 ,doubt1 that makes spirits lithe1 ,woke and began to writhe1 ,burst through the osier withe1 ,freed the old earth4 ,nature cried out again for recognition1 ,claiming that flesh is more than mere transition1 ,that mouths were made for sweeter things than prayer4 ,yea1 she1 that first revealed the superhuman1 ,out of the depths in us shall bring the new man ,who knows that earth is fair1 ,and ,afterwards--who knows6 ,we knew his childish searching meant no harm1 ,but his own people somehow took alarm2 ,for when his heart was healed1 and he returned ,with songs1 'tis said that he and they were burned4 ,only this one survived4 ,i put it by ,lest one who lived so much should wholly die4 ,he tried to spend far more than every day1 ,and never asked what he would have to pay4 ,to him a pint of music was a potion ,that set him dabbling in some small emotion4 ,wherever he could drown he marked an ocean ,he got no pleasure but the pains he took ,to bring himself to death by one small book ,filled with what he had heard1 the babble of a brook4 ,,xii ,,the ,,legend ,,of ,,the ,,peasant ,they passed a field of purple badinjan4 ,a peasant raised his head to hear the tune1 ,and1 seeking some excuse for holiday1 ,he followed humming ballads1 this the first3 ,it happened say a century ago1 ,somewhere between ,mazanderan and ,fars1 ,a ,frank was in the picture--that ,i know-- ,mud-walls and roses1 cypresses and stars1 ,white dust and shadows black4 ,it happened ,she was loved by more than ,one1 ,though no one now recalls the name and rank ,of even ,one1 whose heart was like the stone ,that framed the water of the garden tank ,long gone to utter wrack4 ,it happened that one night ,she had a mind ,to roam her garden4 ,youth was hidden there1 ,it happened ,one was watching from behind ,a ,judas-tree1 though neither of the pair ,heard the twigs sigh and crack4 ,it happened that next night ,she wandered out ,once more1 and ,youth was hiding there again4 ,and ,one sprang forth upon them with a shout1 ,and fanatics and seyids in his train ,streamed in a wolfish pack4 ,it happened that the sun found something red ,among the ,judas-blossoms where ,youth lay ,upon his face2 a crow was on his head1 ,and desert dogs began to sniff and bay ,at something in his back4 ,it happened that none ever knew ,her fate-- ,except that ,she was never heard of more-- ,save ,one1 and two that through a secret gate-- ,perhaps they knew--a struggling burden bore4 ,i think it was a sack4 ,some one applauded2 then the humming drone ,was stung to louder efforts1 and went on3 ,they staggered down the stiff black avenue1 ,hiding the sack's convulsions from the moon1 ,to drown its cries they feigned the shrill iouiou ,of owls1 then dropped it in the swift ,karn1 ,paused1 and admired the view4 ,the ripples took her1 trying not to leap1 ,but1 copying the uneventful sky1 ,serenely burnished where the stream grows deep ,they smoothened their staccato lullaby4 ,and so she fell asleep ,where no sharp rock disturbs the river bed1 ,a moving peace1 whose eddies turn half-fain ,towards their youth's tumultuous watershed1 ,and slow blank scutcheons widen like a stain ,portending ,sound is dead4 ,no herd or village fouls the shining tide1 ,till ocean lays a suzerain's armistice ,on brawling tributaries4 ,like a bride ,greeting her lord it laved her with a kiss1 ,and left her purified4 ,but the sea-,jinn1 who dwell and dress in mauve1 ,and hunt blind monsters down the corridors ,between sunk vessels--fishers know the drove1 ,their horns and conches and the quarry's roars ,in autumn--hold that love ,should meet with more than pardon4 ,so the pack ,spliced up a wand of all the spillikin spars ,flagged with the purple fantasies of wrack1 ,composed a spell not one of them could parse1 ,and tried it on the sack4 ',twas filled with pearls6 ,each ,jinni dipped his hand1 ,and scattered trails through labyrinths of ooze1 ,or sowed gems thick upon the golden sand1 ,festooned a bed from ,bahrein to ,ormuz1 ,muscat to ,ras ,naband4444 ,hajji1 a deeper meaning than appears ,beneath the surface of my song may lurk ,like ,jinn4 ,how oft the crown of gathered years1 ,the dazzling things for which men thank their work1 ,are made by ,woman's tears4 ,tous shook his head and grunted1 ceaselessly ,the caravan limped onward to the ,gulf4 ,,xiii ,,the ,,promotion ,,of ,,the ,,soldier ,serdar-i-,jang1 the ,wazir of the west1 ,of all mankind had served his country best ,by weeding it4 ,the terror of his name ,lapped up the barren ,pusht-i-kuh like flame1 ,till the ,shah smiled3 ,my other lords of war lose ,battles1 but he wrings love from my ,baharlus4 ,he smote them hip and thigh4 ,the man was brave4 ,having four wives1 he needs must take for slave ,whatever captive baggage crossed his path1 ,and never feared love for its aftermath4 ,thus fared the ,wazir while his locks were blue4 ,the silver in them found him captive too4 ,the singing caravan in chorus flowed ,past the clay porticoes of his abode4 ,she came1 he saw1 was conquered--like a puppet ,drawn to the window1 to the street and up it1 ,forth to the desert1 leaving in the lurch ,his pleasant wars and policies to search ,for what8 ,he knew not4 ,haply for the truth ,whose home is open eyes1 not dreams or youth4 ,but this he dimly knew1 that something strange1 ,beauty1 had come within his vision's range2 ,and a new splendour1 running through the world1 ,drummed at the postern of his senses1 hurled ,him forth1 this warrior proud and taciturn1 ,footsore upon a pilgrimage to learn ,humility4444 ,these beggars1 in whose wake ,he toiled1 ne'er paused for him to overtake ,their echoes4 ,when at dusk he joined their ring ,none rose or bowed4 ,all watched him4 ,could he sing8 ,and he could not1 for never had he thrown ,his days away on verse6 ,he sat alone1 ,so that his silence stamped him with the badge ,of hanger-on or menial of this haj4 ,thrust as he would with much unseemly din1 ,he found no place beside the palanquin1 ,till ,seyid ,rida1 scholar of ,nejaf1 ,took pity on him1 saying3 ,you shall laugh ,at these black days when1 having served your time1 ,you share the sovereignty of ,persian rhyme4 ,be patient1 pray to ,allah1 ,o my son1 ,for power of worship4 ,it shall come anon4444 ,seyid ,rida spoke in vain4 ,the ,wazir's place ,so far behind the ,queen1 her perfect face ,but half-divined1 as ,sight denied to ,faith1 ,a doubt lest love itself should be a wraith ,dazzling but mocking him1 these stirred his passion ,to sworn defiance1 to his last ,circassian ,and thoughts of many a woman taken by force1 ,restive and then submissive as a horse4 ,and now4444 ,he followed in the wake of vision ,lofty and pure as ,elburz snows4 ,derision ,would follow him in turn6444 ,he shook his fist ,toward the feet his soul would fain have kissed3 ,oh1 ,i was born for women1 women1 women4 ,through my still boyhood rang the first alarm2 ,and since that terror ever fresh invaders ,have occupied and sacked me to their harm4 ,i am the cockpit where endemic fever ,holds the low country in a broken lease ,from waves that ruined dykes appear to welcome4 ,only one great emotion spares me--,peace6 ,i have grown up for women1 women1 women2 ,and suffering has had her fill of me4 ,my ears still echo with receding laughter1 ,as shells retain the voices of the sea4 ,i am the gateway only1 not the garden1 ,that opens from a crowded thoroughfare4 ,i stand ajar to every passing fancy1 ,and all have knocked1 but none have rested there4 ,and ,i shall die for women1 women1 women1 ,but not for love of them4 ,adventure calls ,or waits with old romance to disappoint me ,behind the promise of surrendered walls4 ,i am the vessel of some mad explorer1 ,that sails to seek for treasure in strange lands ,without a steersman in a crew of gallants1 ,and1 finding fortune1 ends with empty hands4 ,a deathly silence fell4 ,green-turbaned men ,fell noiselessly to sharpening their knives ,on their bare hardened feet4 ,seyid ,rida sighed3 ,alas1 your heart is set upon reward ,for gifts of self4 ,you cannot understand ,love loves for nothing1 brother4 ,those who serve ,god the most purely cannot count that ,he ,will love them in return4444 ,the ,wazir scowled4 ,but ,dreamer-of-the-,age took him aside1 ,i would unfold a story like a carpet4 ,the camel ,tous told it to me last night3 ,king ,suleiman's wives were as jewels1 his jewels as stones of the desert ,in number4 ,his concubines herded as desert-gazelles in their grace1 ,that answered his bidding as meekly as all his wild animal kingdom1 ,the beasts and the birds and the fishes4 ,yet the world was as pitch on his face4 ,now it chanced that the ruler of ,saba had news by a merchant of peacocks ,from this king like a hawk-god of ,egypt1 whose beak was set deep in the gloom ,of his grape-purple beard1 and she said3 ',we shall see how his vanities stead him ,when from under the arch of his eyebrows he sees my feet enter his room4' ,for her feet were far whiter than manna4 ,her body was white as the cry ,of a child when the chords of hosanna draw the beauty of holiness nigh4 ,the droop of her eyelids would fan a revolt from ,baghdad to ,lake ,tsana1 ,her fingers were veined alabaster4 ,the sprites of her escort would sigh1 ,as they bathed her with sun set in amber and cooled in the snow of a cloudlet1 ,and taught her chief eunuch to clamber up moonbeams as fleet as a ghost3 ,these1 lavish of reed-pipe and tamburine1 slaves of the ,son of ,daoud1 let ,her palanquin down into ,zeila--gambouge and magenta1 the coast6 ,and the ,wazir cried1 ,ha6 to the rhymes4 ,round the harbour a hoopoe was strutting1 for ,suleiman's ,seal had appointed ,him messenger-bird1 and he thought3 ',if ,i bring the good news of this beauty1 ,this ,sovereign of ,silkiness1 ,i shall harvest great thanks and promotion4' ,so he flew to the ,presence and twittered a text on the pleasure of ,duty4 ',fulfiller of faint ,superstition1 whose hand rolls the eyeballs of ,thunder1 ,and lightens forked tongues on a mission of menace to bat or to eagle6 ,there comes to your portal a vision whose light shall make ,israel wonder4 ,immortal her beauty and mortal her glance that is soft as a seagull4' ,and the ,wazir cried1 ,hey6 to the rhymes4 ,but ,suleiman1 sated with women and governance1 lifted his beak ,from his beard4 ,naught escaped the magician1 not a thought1 not a tone4 ,ah1 he knew ,all6 ,he said3 ',i have measured your mind as my pity has measured my people4 ,we shall speak of reward when she comes2 ,i may live to regret it--and you6 ',lo1 ,i am the servant of ,god1 whom ,i serve as you serve me1 not asking ,for pay by each day or each act1 but just for the general sum4 ,the work of the world must be done without wage to be done to our credit4 ,we shall profit in claiming our guerdon not by what we are but become4' ,so the ,queen came to ,kuddus4 ,mashallah6 ,shall a picture be limned of her coming6 ,flushed dancers and lutists athrumming light-limbed as ,daoud round the ,ark6 ,crushed roadway and crowd-applause rumbled1 loud music1 hushed barbarous mumming6 ,to the cry1 ',on to ,sion' above her1 this lover rode straight at her mark6 ,and the ,wazir cried1 ,ho6 to the rhymes4 ,she had but to flatter the wizard to win him4 ,he said to the hoopoe3 ',i will haggle no more4 ,you shall learn to your cost what the bargainer buys1 ,whose faith levies toll upon duty1 whose trust will not serve me on trust1 ,or love for ,love4 ,on your head be it4' ,the hoopoe said3 ',cheshm--on my eyes6' ,all other birds fainted with envy1 as ,suleiman lifted a digit4 ,thereon was the ,ring-of-most-,magic4 ,then he spat on the dust from his bed1 ,and the miracle came6 for the hoopoe went swaggering out of the presence 7,so he struts in his walking to-day7 with a crown of pure gold on his head4 ,but the ,jews thus learnt avarice4 ,some one spread news of the bird-coronation ,to the ends of the kingdom4 ,the tribes ran out as one man armed with lime1 ,bows1 nets1 slings--and slew the hoopoes for the sake of their crowns4 ,there was profit ,in sport then2 none other has liked them so well since ,king ,suleiman's time4 ,they divided the spoil till in ,israel only our messenger-bird ,survived with two fellows4444 ,he fled to ,suleiman's closet for bast1 ,sobbing1 ',spare us1 ,o king6 ,make a sign with the ring that men sing of6 ,we fare as ,amalekites4 ,if ,i have sinned1 ,i am punished4 ,we three are the last ',of our race4 ,in your grace turn your face to our case4 ,we place hope in your favour6 ,my brood is a ,yahudi's food4 ,israel--who disputes it--insane ,for gain4 ,we are slain all day long by the strong sons of ,cain4 ,let us waive our ,gold bane for plain down1 lest we drown in our own blood6 ,discrown us again6' ,and the ,wazir cried1 ,hi6 to the rhymes4 ,the ,king made reply4 ,he was sadder than rain in the willows of ,jordan4 ',we are ,god's passing thoughts4 ,they alone that await their fulfilment are wise4 ,you shall be for a warning1 ,o hoopoe4 ,i had given you more than gold-wages ,if you had believed we not only had ears1 ,i and ,allah1 but eyes6 ',yet giving is fraught with forgiveness4 ,now therefore the crown you did covet ,is gone4 ,you are healed of your pride2 you shall live till the ,angel of ,death errs ,from ,allah's command4 ,by my ,ring-of-most-,magic the gold is transmuted4 ,go forth6 ,he has set for a sign on your brow a tiara of feathers4' ,so the hoopoe went forth in the glory of plumes that he won in this wise ,and wears4 ,then the hunters1 assembled from the uttermost quarters of ,sham1 should ,have shot1 but did not1 for they said3 ',what a head6 ,we will not waste an arrow ,on sport of this sort4 ,we are sold6 ,we were told it was gold and4444' ,tamam ,shud ,and the ,wazir shrieked ,halt6 at the rhymes4 ,but as he slept that night the ,dreamer prayed ,that understanding might bedew his head4 ,and so it was4 ,the fountain of the ,dawn ,rose in the whiteness of the month ,rajab1 ,washing the desert stones1 and made each body ,shine as the sun-swift chariot of a soul4 ,while the last swimmer in the sea of slumber1 ,out of the deep1 its jungled bottom1 its ghosts1 ,its weight and wonders1 rises to the surface ,in final breaths of sleep1 the ,wazir stirred ,and flung out joyful arms4 ,not otherwise ,the groping diver in the ,gulf of ,pearls1 ,having achieved adventure1 comes to light ,and grasps the painted gunwale--with his prize4 ,for every hour and day ,of youth that spelled delay ,in finding you1 ,i pray ,to life for pardon1 ,i that long since have faced ,my task in patient haste3 ,out of my former waste ,to make your garden4 ,with these soiled hands ,i made ,my ,self 7man's hardest trade74 ,the sun was you3 the shade ,my toil1 my seed did4 ,i drove my strong soul through ,years in the thought of you1 ,for whom my garden grew1 ,and grew unheeded2 ,for you1 an episode ,that lay beside your road1 ,for me1 my long abode1 ,my will's whole centre4 ,lo now my task fulfilled1 ,yet not the hope that thrilled ,the stubborn realm ,i tilled ,for you to enter4 ,ah1 must all sacrifice ,be weighed with balance nice6 ,to ask the gods our price ,makes all creeds shoddy4 ,then should ,i bargain now-- ,troubling my worship--how ,you will reward my vow ,of soul and body8 ,i have not striven in vain1 ,though all my poor domain ,cries daily for your reign4 ,i hold its treasure1 ,a source of splendour1 known ,haply to me alone1 ,a boundless love--my own4 ,had you but leisure ,to pause beside this spring ,a moment1 harkening ,how through my silence sing ,the dreams that here rest1 ,i yet might make you see ,some of the ,you in ,me4 ,this song not ,i but we ,have written1 dearest4 ,long ropes of stillness joined the caravan ,closer together2 no man spoke a word1 ,till ,dreamer-of-the-,age3 ,friend1 go up higher ,at the ,queen's right hand4 ,seyid ,rida smiled3 ,i knew you would outrun us4 ,the ,wazir ,heard neither fame nor blame1 and so was blest ,because he sought praise only of the ,queen4 ,,xiv ,,the ,,moral ,,of ,,the ,,scholar ,at ,ispahan the notables were met ,in conclave4 ,seyid ,rida1 scholar scamp-- ,as ,dawlatshah records--perched in the porch3 ,round the table sit the sages-- ,different views and different ages-- ,secretaries scribble pages1 ,taking down each 'er' and 'hem1' ,taking down each word they utter ,like the solemn measured sputter ,of fat raindrops from a gutter4 ,i speak last of them4 ,outside in the summer weather ,birds are talking all together1 ,while a tiny pecked-out feather ,flutters past the pane4 ,dare you own3 ,the work before us ,seems at moments like their chorus1 ,just a little more sonorous1 ,similar in strain8 ,have a care6 ,the bird that chatters ,is the only bird that matters1 ,heedless of the hand that scatters ,grains of sense or chaff ,mid your ,barmecides and ,cleons4 ,i have listened here for ons ,to these rooster-flights and pans4 ,no one heard me laugh4 ,parrot1 jackdaw1 jay1 and pigeon1 ,prose would be the whole religion ,of the ,nephelococcygian ,state to which you steer4 ,if the earth remains a youngster ,with some waywardness amongst her ,virtues1 ,i should thank the songster ,whom you cannot hear4 ,tits that swing upon a thistle1 ,wrens and chats that pipe and whistle1 ,join their notes to our epistle1 ,where the bee-fraught lime ,orchestrates the lark's espousal ,not of causes but carousal3 ,owl1 we hear you charge the ouzel ,with a waste of time6 ,princeling1 a fantastic prophet ,tweaks your robe and bids you doff it1 ,offers you escape from ,tophet ,on the wings of words4 ,spread them bravely1 fly the town1 sell ,all you have for this one counsel3 ,sing and never mind the groundsel6 ,come1 we too are birds4 ,thereat the conclave fluttered and flew out1 ,and ,i have heard them on the ,persian roads1 ,in half-dead cities4 ,history repeats ,nothing except the rose4 ,but ,persians say ,this was the last they heard of government4 ,,xv ,,the ,,conclusions ,,of ,,the ,,sheikh ,alas6 ',twas time to go--,conceal the wine1 ,the purple and the yellow infidel6-- ,rice cooked in saffron1 honey-cakes1 and mast ,with many-coloured shirini were all ,packed up in paunches capon-lined4444 ,the ,queen ,sailed through the city1 mounted high on ,tous1 ,full in the moonlight1 purer than the moon1 ,whose beauty1 being weighed with hers1 the scale ,sent up to heaven and left the ,queen on earth4444 ,followed quick tumbles to the lambent street1 ,graspings of shoes1 and search for garments lost1 ,with tunes that mounted all awry as flame ,draught-blown1 short breaths and straggling feet4 ,the ,dreamer ,reddened and drooped his head2 for at the ,gate ,sat a portentous ,sheikh1 thrice great in girth1 ,ali-el-,kerbela1 ,known-of-,men1 ,to whom--he slept all day--his nightly school ,resorted in the porch4 ,he saw1 and shrugged ,his shoulders1 rounded in glory like the hills ,that drift and clash about the ,gulf of ,pearls-- ,bahreinis tell the tale lest rival dhows ,should venture into trade--and thus held forth3 ,gossips1 ,i have watched fools wander through this gate ,in generations4 ,never have ,i seen ,men so bewitched by one closed palanquin1 ,so little fain to chatter with the great1 ,so blind1 or single-eyed1 they did not see ,ali-el-,kerbela1 even me4 ,poor souls6 ,dusk swamps our wriggling thoroughfares ,like trenches2 and ,i rub my hands to think ,how ,i to-night in coolth shall sleep and drink1 ,while sunrise takes these vagrants unawares4 ,madmen set out each day to beard the sun1 ,and seventy years ago ,your ,slave was one4 ,when all the world was young1 that is when ,i ,was young1 ,i promised ,allah to be wise1 ,and started on the road of enterprise ,that leads towards the snow-capped hills of ,why1 ,passing my hand across my shaven brow ,heavy with all the lower lore of ,how4 ,ali-el-,kerbela sighed his soul ,out of his nostrils pious and serene1 ,for the swift curtain of the night had slid ,along the rings of stillness1 as he peered ,into the plain4 ,the singing caravan ,had dwindled slowly to a speck of white4 ,then said the sage3 ,behold they go to nothing1 ,these lovers1 these far-eyed4 ,to think they passed ,within a foot of wisdom and my robe6 ,alas1 they passed and knew not4 ',tis the risk ,of all such noisy dreamers4 ,ah1 my head ,pities4444 ,well1 ,god is great4 ,and ,god made me4 ,thus first ,i reached ,mohammerah1 whose sheikh ,in speechless gratitude besought a boon-- ,to make me eunuch in his andern-- ,for ,i had talked away his stomach-ache4 ,and of this epoch ,i need only say ,i had fresh dates for dinner every day4 ,but ,i was young4 ,i spurned the unmanly job1 ,for ,i loved conquest1 and the world lay flat ,before me like a purple praying-mat1 ,and all young women made my heart kebob1 ,until the sheikh conceived himself disgraced4 ,then ,i took ship from ,basra--in some haste4 ,we put to sea1 fair sirs1 a foul-faced sea ,puckered with viciousness and green with hate ,of all the sons of ,adam2 and black fate ,conspired with her to take account of me1 ,for all the ,jinn who lurk among the gales ,came down to fecundate our bellied sails4 ,they blew4 ,they thrust my skull against the sky1 ,the jade-backed ,jinn disguised as ocean-swell1 ,but ,i saw through them4444 ,down we went to hell1 ,where ,iblis tried to teach me blasphemy ,in vain4 ,no devil's wile could make me speak4 ,thus ,i learned self-control4 7,i was so weak47 ,we drifted past bare cliff and jungle sedge1 ,past spouting loose volcanoes known as whales1 ,and sirens that blew kisses with their tails1 ,till we fell over the horizon's edge1 ,fell sheer three thousand parasangs4 ,and there ,i first discovered that the world is square4 ,we were in ,china1 sir4 ,the ,home of ,yellows1 ,soil1 porcelain1 manuscripts1 men4444 ,here ,i spent ,six weeks in stuffing to my heart's content ,the thought-scraps given to these whoreson fellows ,by heaven4 ,my zeal picked all tradition's locks1 ,and knowledge opened like a lacquered box ,wrought with strange figures4444 ,now ,i learned by heart ,eleven score ways of dodging every sin4 ,so1 having sucked the marrow from ,pekin1 ,i planned with ,allah that ,i should depart1 ,and having thus obtained a ruly wind ,i shone like lightning through the schools of ,hind4 ,i shall say little of ,hind4 ,its mouth is wide ,with sacred texts and precepts packed in lyrics ,for carriage1 verse unversed in our empirics4 ,i grasped all ,indian knowledge like a bride ,without a dower1 enjoyed and let her go1 ,giving ,god thanks that only ,persians know4 ,the singing caravan shrank in a clear ,green sideless tunnel of the firmament4 ,ali-el-,kerbela paused and watched ,intent1 even as by torchlight men spear fish1 ,while searching flame-reflections brushed and lit ,the deep brown-watered caverns of his eyes1 ,where dim shapes moved profoundly in the pool4 ,his listeners watched the sage in ecstasy ,poise1 concentrate his massive thought on ,nothing1 ,heard his narghil bubble like a brain4444 ,from ,hind to ,misr4 ,at ,cairo's ,el-,azhar1 ,the flower of ,moslem scholarship1 ,i sat ,among the ,sunni bastards4 ,as a cat ,watches the sun through eyelids scarce ajar1 ,from dawn till evening prayer ,i laboured hard1 ,lolling in ambush round the great courtyard ,to pounce on wingd words4 ,athwart the arcade ,midday in golden bars came clanging down ,upon the anvil of each turbaned crown1 ,and many minds took refuge in my shade4 ,i was divinely hard to understand1 ,talking until my throat was dry as sand4 ,so to the mosque well--into it they pushed ,a dog who disagreed with me--and drew ,relief what time the pigeons ceased to coo ,or rustle round its rainbow-juice4 ,we hushed ,our flights of eloquence when my roghan ,sizzled complacent in the frying-pan4 ,mashallah1 what a life6 ,yet in this scene ,i found a fleck of rust upon my tongue4 ,propelled by ,fate and my own force of lung1 ,i flitted with two reverend ,maghrebn ,whom ,i had favoured1 having learned the trick ,of speaking their foul breed of ,arabic4 ,immortal spirits led us1 yea the chief ,afrit1 the crown of all the ,afarit4 ,we crossed the great ,sahara like a street4 ,my fame allows me licence to be brief4 ,enough4 ,whatever any sceptic says1 ,i still maintain ,i spent a year at ,fez4 ,here was a sect that said one ,god was three4 ,i plied ,moriscos who had tasted two ,beliefs perforce1 ,i even asked a ,jew ,to make this strange ,tariqah clear2 but he-- ,by this judge ,christians--he could not explain1 ,although his father had been burnt in ,spain4 ,ah1 how ,i studied in that narrow city1 ,whose walls are changeless as a ,persian law1 ,and full of loopholes4 ,to the seers ,i saw ,is due the gamut of my human pity4 ,we stirred the puddles of the human mind ,till none could see the bottom but the blind4 ,now ,shaitan tempted me4 ,i fell for once1 ,a venial sin4444 ,i journeyed to ,stamboul ,to plumb the errors of the ,greegi school4 ',twas there ,i read the ,stagyrite1 a dunce1 ,the ,frankish ruler of theology1 ,and father of a dunce1 ,alfarabi4 ,i laid him low and hurried home to indite ,a book1 the fruit of all my ,thought and ,travel1 ,entitled ',contemplation of the ,navel1' ,a mystic book4 7,but first ,i learned to write47 ,such of our doctors as can read have read it4 ,but ,i was bent on even higher credit4 ,i sought a cave whence madmen hunt wild sheep1 ,and there for thirteen years ,i held my head1 ,until the dupes decided ,i was dead4 ,indeed ,i spent the better part in sleep1 ,lest ,i should be beguiled from abstract chatter ,by lust for this world's striped and dazzling matter4 ,night brought me counsel1 and a pock-marked ,kurd ,or angels brought me food4 ,day spared my dreams ,that tilled the solitude like slow white teams ,of oxen1 till it blossomed1 and ,i heard ,the ,roc's huge pinions scour the starry cobbles2 ,and so ,i rose above all human squabbles4 ,for me the burning haze made sandhills dance1 ,till blushing shadows covered their nude breasts4 ,the eternal heirs of leisure were my guests1 ,and feasted on my glory in advance4 ,then on an eve among the eves4444 ,the ,end6 ,my soul sat by me talking as a friend4 ,i bleached my beard1 and came to ,ispahan4 ,you know the rest4 ,to ,allah's will ,i bowed ,in suffering the plaudits of the crowd1 ,for all must listen2 those must preach who can4 ,i stirred the town with fingers raised to bless4444 ,and gauged the people by my emptiness4 ,the caravan was gone4 ,its song survived ,a little1 faint1 an echo1 not at all4 ,then like a magic carpet warmth was drawn ,back into heaven1 and left behind a void ,where thin-faced breezes1 huddling from the hills1 ,sat down to breathe hard tales upon their hands4 ,and suddenly earth looked her age4 ,like her ,the shapes round ,ali-el-,kerbela shivered1 ,pulling their coloured abbas to their ears ,and drawing in their feet4 ,at last one spoke3 ,o master1 you to whom the world is known1 ,what is your thought's conclusion1 what the sum ,of added knowledge in the tome of ,,you8 ,and ,ali answered weighing out his words3 ,sir1 ,i have seen the ,east and ,west1 great peace1 ,great wars1 indifferent fates that blessed or cursed ,their builders4 ,i have touched the best and worst ,in flesh and thought1 have watched flames rise and cease1 ,consoled high hopes1 deep passions1 men that die ,for things beneath the earth1 behind the sky1 ,for god or woman4 ,i have counted change ,for the ,sarraf of ,changelessness1 have marked ,kings1 ,wazirs1 coursed by sons of dogs that barked ,and bit1 the uninhabitable range ,of power1 where all that climb in others' shoes ,are honoured and unperched like cockatoos4 ,now having known mankind in hell and bliss ,through thrice a generation1 ,i have formed ,from all the problems ,i besieged or stormed ,one firm conviction1 only one6 ',tis this3 ,the ,faith1 the ,pomp1 the ,loves1 the ,lives of men ,outshine the firefly and outcrest the wren4 ,he added as he rose3 ,but ,god is great4 ,and bent1 repassing through the city gate1 ,lest he should bump his venerable pate4 ,,xvi ,,the ,,argument ,,of ,,the ,,sceptic ,beside the ,sufis ran a whited wall4 ,two cypress-trees peeped over from the waist1 ,stiff1 motionless as toys4 ,among their spires ,a lithe voice mounted and leaned down again3 ,come1 for to-night the hills are all white marble ,under a sapphire dome1 ,where bats scrawl riddles which the bulbuls garble ,for owls to answer4 ,come4 ,the air is sick of moon-discoloured roses1 ,the plain stagnates like some ,weird archipelago of garden-closes ,and dead1 bleached waters4 ,come4 ,o night of miracles6 ,come1 let us wander ,over this ghostly sea ,to that dark cypress-circled island yonder1 ,in whose clear centre we ,will lie and float in phosphorescent ether4 ,thank heaven that night is cool ,as day was scorching4 ,let us watch together ,the lovers in the pool4 ,look in6 ,lie still6 ,a jewelled ripple spangles ,the hand upon her hair2 ,while1 lying listless on her back1 she dangles ,a finger in the air4 ,how still he is4 ,your motionless perfection ,absorbs him utterly4 ,doubtless you seem to him his love's reflection ,face downwards in the sky1 ,whence ,i am hanging1 seeing only her face1 ,as he sees only yours4 ,lean down6 ,and they shall meet us at the surface4 ,o silent paramours ,we bring to you1 by stealth1 while men are sleeping1 ,a gift4 ,let your domain ,have it for ever in its steadfast keeping2 ,we shall not come again4 ,we bring our shadows3 just the fleeting semblance ,of human love4 ,o might ,your waters hold them for us in remembrance ,of one short summer night6 ,a wondrous night1 when two reflections hovered1 ,dreaming of love aloud ,here by the pool1 until the moon was covered ,by an impending cloud2 ,and then they lost each other4 ,where but lately ,the magic mirror shone1 ,a wider shadow1 cruelly1 sedately1 ,passes 444 and we are gone4 ,the ,dreamer stayed3 ,who speaks of passing here8 ,the river passes1 passes to the sea1 ,drawing in rills the voices of the earth ,to make its voice that merges in the swell4 ,the river passes and the boatman's chant ,is swallowed up in distance and the night4 ,or is it1 friend1 the boats alone that pass8 ,the river1 as ,i sometimes think1 remains4 ,even so it is with lovers and with love4 ,then sing us something wise where laughter lurks1 ,as underneath the desert1 from the hills ,whence cometh help1 the hidden water-course ,chuckles4 ,upon this thread your garden hangs4 ,nay1 never shake that cypress head6 ,we need ,not only sun but cloud and tears to build ,laughter1 the rainbow of the inner man4 ,but the voice answered1 or the cypress sighed3 ,i am the brain of ,hitherto4 ,in darkness ,i revolve and flash4 ,books are the fortune ,i ran through4 ,my painted pen-case1 yellow hue ,and yellow sash ,were famed from ,yezd to ,yezdikhast4 ,i taught what space and learned what mud is4 ,my metaphysics were my past4 ,alas1 ,i left my lust till last ,of all my studies4 ,i kept my mind so clear and keen ,by grinding guesswork into saws1 ,you scarce could fit a meal between ,the triumphs of my thought-machine1 ,its puissant jaws4 ,the process of my intellect1 ,mazed by the clapping hands that fed it1 ,rolled on4 ,they1 founding a new sect ,on premises that ,i had wrecked1 ,gave me the credit4 ,and so ,i used my fame to part ,man from his planks to sink or swim2 ,i plumbed his shallows1 drew the chart4444 ,illusions broke the blacksmith's heart4 ,i envied him ,suddenly1 and set out to moon ,about this garden scholarwise4 ,one silver laugh1 two silken shoon1 ,to fill my empty andern ,with splendid lies ,i ask of shadows1 battering ,my bars1 and wonder why ,i ache4 ,o ,you who made both cage and wing1 ,let me redeem my toilsome spring ,by one mistake4 ,in the parched road the ,dreamer took his lute ,and tossed these chords across the battlement3 ,the myrtles of ,damascus1 ,the willows of ,gilan1 ,have sent the breeze to ask us ,if aught but sceptics can ,deny the spirit calling ,to flesh--we are the call-- ,and save themselves from falling ,behind a whited wall4 ,most pure was ,abu ,bakr1 ,and ,allah speeds the plough ,that furrows young wiseacre ,across an open brow4 ,most fair is self-possession-- ,give me the open road-- ,but ,solomon in session ,went mad and wrote an ode4 ,all fields of thought are arid1 ,no earthly soil is rich1 ,by thirst of knowledge harried ,and those ambitions which ,the heart like ,pharaoh's harden ,to let no impulse go4 ,but every yard's a garden ,through which we mystics flow4 ,i conjure hawthorn blossom ,from ,bakhtiari vales-- ,as when one looks across some ,choked channel where the sails ,of anchored vessels jostle-- ,i tune their rhythmic sway ,in hollows where the throstle ,is only dumb by day4 ,red routs of rhododendron1 ,that slope to ,trebizond1 ,rapt round the garden's end run ,to mask the waste beyond4 ,there facts are free to wonder ,down pathways like the streak ,of silver pavement under ,the palms of ,basra creek4 ,in charity of jasmin ,my poor designs are clad1 ,as nature cloaked the chasm in ,the ramparts of ,baghdad1 ,where passed the fabled ,caliph ,with ,giafar by night ,to mystify the bailiff ,at ,garden-of-,delight4 ,the orchard-grave of ,omar1 ,neglected ,nishapur1 ,where sprays of petaled foam are1 ,sighs through my garden-door ,with boughs round whose gnarled stem men ,had never thought to twine ,green tendrils from rich ,yemen1 ,the sunburnt ,smyrniot vine4 ,wild lilies1 whose rich red owes ,its undertone to brown1 ,from ,kurd-betented meadows ,break out in every town4 ,blind alleys' bursts of lilac1 ,where russet warblers woo1 ,are set to cover my lack ,of vocal retinue4 ,the myrtles of ,damascus1 ,the poppies of ,shiraz1 ,have sent the breeze to ask us ,if they are dumb1 because ,wisdom and one that had her ,to wife still hug the fence1 ,where we have left a ladder ,to rescue men from sense4 ,the cypress swayed4 ,hard by another voice ,climbed the twin tree1 and thus its theme began3 ,young man1 ,shirn is out of date4 ,we have to thank the ,west ,that ,attar's latest is too late ,to waken ,interest1 ,and one of ,love's great names1 ,majnn1 ,is now generic for a loon4 ,our crust is cooling1 and the bent ,for culture bears its fruit1 ,as we that weed out sentiment ,likewise outgrow the brute2 ,while ,providence matures a blend ,that pure philosophers commend ,in logic4 ,constancy declined ,because we pruned our morals4 ,love practises the change of mind ,that ethics preach in quarrels4444 ,there cried the ,dreamer3 ,who are you that mock ,exiles in search of that from which they came1 ,intent to know themselves and so the ,lord ,whose ways are as the number of men's souls8 ,by these we compass our escape from ,self1 ,the mirage in the waste through which we pass ,across the bridge ,phantasmal to the ,real2 ,until1 forgetting ,self1 we see in ,all ,the ,loved that leads us to the eternal beauty ,shown in a thousand mirrors yet but one4 ,these are the ,sufi tenets4 ,what of you8 ,from the first tree the quavering voice replied3 ,it is my double1 ,peder ,sag1 ,the summit of the civilized ,above such heats as woman or flag4 ,it is my double1 ,peder ,sag1 ,who bows the poet to the wag1 ,the hero to the undersized4 ,it is my double1 ,peder ,sag1 ,the summit of the civilized4 ,his mission is to educate ,by atrophy1 the cure for spasm1 ,and so to serve the future state4 ,his mission is to educate ,a world of fellowships that hate ,one living thing--enthusiasm4 ,his mission is to educate ,by atrophy1 the cure for spasm4 ,he dresses us in faultless drab4 ,his colour-scheme for you is tan1 ,and1 level as a marble slab1 ,he dresses us in faultless drab4 ,him urchins call ,abu ,kilab3 ,the ,father-of-the-,modern-,man4 ,he dresses us in faultless drab4 ,his colour-scheme for you is tan4 ,my double did a deal for truth4 ,he teaches balance to the ,young1 ,and knows a better thing than youth4 ,my double did a deal for truth1 ,his emblem is the wisdom tooth1 ,a flowery and fruitless tongue4 ,my double did a deal for truth4 ,he teaches balance to the ,young4 ,serdar-i-,jang impatient pulled his beard ,and growling ,tous his bridle3 ,let him be ,the fool ,i was1 and so mine enemy ,from whom ,i part in peace4 ,farid ,bahadur ,shrugged that3 ,our wares are not for such as these4 ,once more the ,brain3 ,i might have come with you1 ,leaving my gloomy castle in the air1 ,for1 overgrown with tangles1 in its flank ,lies hid the thrice-veiled door of happiness2 ,only--my double has mislaid the key4 ,seyid ,rida laughed and answered3 ,we have found it4 ,the ,lover knocked3 ',tis ,i6 ,the ,loved ,one made reply3 ,there is no room for two ,beyond the ,gateway4 ,in solitude he learned ,the ,secret2 so returned ,saying3 ,o ,love1 'tis you4 ,and entered straightway4 ,a wicket opened gently of itself1 ,and so a sceptic joined the caravan4 ,,xvii ,,the ,,pride ,,of ,,the ,,tailor ,oh1 sliding down the desert from ,shiraz ,the tailor-man from ,meshed tore his hose3 ,a crowning test1 a broken man6 ,ah1 was ,i born that fate might practise fancy-blows8 ,the road is rougher than a magnate's mirth ,toward the humble1 long as a bad debt4 ,i cannot dream of any woman worth ,this cloth4 ,to me 'twas dearer than a pet4 ,then ,dreamer-of-the-,age cried3 ,bring me thread ,strong as the bridge as they call ,pul-i-,katn6 ,for ,meshed's champion tailor-man is dead ,unless his wounded pride be succoured soon4 ,launched on the seaward slope the pilgrims went ,on to the gulf1 and heard1 athwart the dim ,night echoing1 a sufferer's lament ,and ,dreamer-of-the-,age consoling him3 ,the night fits down on the desert1 brother2 ,we are drawn there-through like a piece of thread4 ,the steepened sky and the vastness smother ,uneasy sleep in her league-wide bed4 ,rocked to and fro with a camel's burden ,on broken tracks1 that are thin as scars1 ,we near the ,gulf4 ,have we seen our guerdon8 ,yea1 every night we have seen the stars4 ,the dust is thick1 and our own feet raise it4 ,our eyes were clear did our feet but rest4 ,we give our heart and no sign repays it4 ,what need we ever a further test6 ,we drift along with the old dumb neighbour ,in the old blind alley we call our goal1 ,hope3 all that comes of a soul's life-labour4 ,it was the labour that made the soul4 ,we stride ahead1 but in every village ,a brother faints and a weakness falls4 ,the tribes that till and the tribes that pillage ,are reconciled with the life that palls4 ,oh1 townsmen tread to a fixed thanksgiving1 ,but what of us1 if these pitying throngs ,should ask the end of our harder living8 ,god knows the answer4 ,they know our songs1 ,the coloured patch on the background1 ,silence1 ,the gleaming thought that is ,love's to wear ,undimmed through space to a myriad-while hence4 ,could the hands be worthy that knew not care ,to weave ,love's garb8 ,though we needs must suffer1 ,shall we sing the worse that we sing in vain8 ,our songs shall rise as the road grows rougher4 ,in the breathless hills1 in the fevered plain1 ,they mount as sparks from the night's oases1 ,and fall far short of the idol's feet4 ,they are stored by ,god in his secret places1 ,the least-lit stars of his darkest street4 ,yet ten worlds hence they shall dance1 my brother1 ,to travelling winds4444 ,if our songs were worth ,one gleam of light to the ,way of ,another1 ,we bless the sorrow that gave them birth4 ,,xviii ,,the ,,history ,,of ,,the ,,adventurer ,so to the journey's end4 ,the ,gulf was there ,steaming and soundless1 and the weary feet ,were stayed at last from following the ,queen4 ,the great dhow nosed the creek2 slow water lapped ,about her burnished2 burnished in her sat ,unmoving bronze1 her oarsmen4 ,then they rose3 ,hail1 ,bringers of the ,queen6 ,hail1 ship6 you bear ,what cargo hence8 ,we carry on your charge4 ,but leave us nothing--nothing in exchange8 ,only the ancient story of a slave4 ,there lies a secret buried none too deep4 ,thus the chief rower4 ,this the far-off tale4 ,i dwelled beside the impulsive ,rhone1 a child that loved to be alone4 ,the forest was my nursery4 ,my happiness was all my own4 ,i knew by name each cloud that lowers the sunshine through in liquid showers4 ,deep in the tangled undergrowth ,i caught the singing of the flowers4 ,our minstrels sang of rape and arson1 all the joys of private wars4 ,the forest wall was calm and tall4 ,my tutor laughed1 and drank to ,mars4 ,bald1 vulture-like upon its perch1 our crag-born castle seemed to search ,the gorge for prey1 its shade to still the bells a-twitter in the church ,where1 cheek by jowl with fearsome fowl and gargoyle1 ghostly men1 in foul ,incense that tried to stifle me1 recited magic formul4 ,at home clanked metal psalm and spur2 but1 oh the woods 4446 ,i tried to tame ,a wolf-cub that the gardener called ,life4 ,he knew4 ,the preacher came4 ,i see him yet1 his visage wet with hot emotion1 tears1 and sweat4 ,contorted in the market-place he shrieked that all must pay a debt ,to one ,jehovah and ,his ,son1 by bursting eastward as the ,hun ,had scourged the ,west4 ,in unison we all replied 'twere nobly done1 ,for he explained that heaven was gained more featly--wrenching ,saint ,jerome-- ,from ,palestine than ,christendom4 ,that night no peasant durst go home4 ,his words were like a wind that fanned a grass-fire3 ,god would lend ,his hand ,to purge away the infidel whose breath profaned the ,holy ,land4 ,he showered indulgences1 and kissed the brows of those who would enlist ,to take a chance of martyrdom or give the devil's tail a twist4 ,he promised we should see the light1 that cursd ,arabs could not fight1 ,counted them dead since we were led by ,general ,jesus1 said the pope4 ,moreover we must win and use ,christ1 ,his true ,cross1 the ,widow's cruse1 ,all talismans that found no scope for miracles among the ,jews4 ,upon the walls the veriest dolt and clown1 arow like birds that moult1 ,chattered with one accord--or some small priestly prompting3-- ,diex el volt4 ,no wonder that our heartstrings glowed within us like a smelted lode ,whence ,kobolds welded ,durandal2 and like one man we ran or rode ,forth4 ,were we not enchanted8 ,this was first among ,god's certainties4 ,even our steeds were like ,shabdz1 the pride of ,king ,khusraw ,parvz4 ,we saw our path made plain1 the hills removed by faith1 whose foaming course ,flooded the continents like flats4 ,we saw the world made one--by force4 ,in ecstasy our spirits soared4 ,with beatific face toward ,my cloudland all the crowd shed tears1 and vowed to serve and save the ,lord4 ,but cloudland1 seeming to disdain such warmth1 replied with slapping rain4 ,conjuring such black augury the monks recited formul4 ,besides1 lest women1 priests and traders should tempt the appetite of raiders1 ,the ,church proclaimed the ,truce of ,god4 ,not all our barons were crusaders4 ,those who were frightened not to go sold all they had to make a show1 ,land1 tool and ware to pay a fare4 ,the panic made sly kings its heir4 ,so much was sold by young and old1 by fond1 ambitious1 hot and cold1 ,that steel took sudden silver wings1 then flew beyond the reach of gold4 ,in such a gust my tender age availed not with the preaching sage1 ,for ,i was born of fighting men2 and one of them took me for page1 ,though ,i was loth to go1 and prayed for mercy and a little maid ,whose hair was shining sunflower brown4 ,i thought of all the games we played ,all day with hay and idle mowers4 ,she dubbed me knight in pixy bowers1 ,where in the hindering undergrowth ,i caught the singing of the flowers1 ,ah me1 how distant6444 ,i was blest in my young lord who shared the test1 ,being sent upon this pilgrimage1 his snow-white love still unpossessed4 ,he1 too1 was paler than a ghost1 as though already all were lost4 ,she dreamed of empery for him4 ,he taught me this to show the cost3 ,my heart was mine4 ,ambition kept it whole4 ,i gained the world1 ,and so ,i lost my soul4 ,then you were mine1 ,but only mine in part4 ,you loved the world1 ,and so ,i lost my heart4 ,only my tutor lay abed1 calling us savages1 and read ,his pagan books4 ,the fever would abate1 he sneered1 when we were bled4 ,he chilled me4 ,his head was like a block of ice1 so clear4 ,he tried to shock ,me with his whispered flings that saints and monarchs came of laughing-stock1 ,or boasted some loud organ1 ,reason1 which doctors had confused with treason1 ,looked round lest walls should hear1 then wept that he was one born out of season4 ,our preaching-man pronounced a ban upon him1 cried good riddance3 he ,was like to lead young men astray because he knew geography1 7,and sciences1 as medicine1 reduce the value of a shrine74 ,my tutor passed for riding gnomes through space upon a pack of tomes4 ,but at the water-parting ,i waved to the castle green and dun1 ,a tapestry where liquid sun--or tears--had made the colours run4 ,i looked my last on every stone and tree to whom my face was known4 ,the warriors smiled and called me child4 ,they had not understood the ,rhone1 ,nor that ,i loved the birchwood's skin1 the pansy's face1 the sheep-dog's grin1 ,that sleep with ,nature in a field was sweet to me as mortal sin4 ,for love so fierce ,i stole3 ,i gave my summer holidays to save ,lambs from the butcher1 built for them sanctuary at my wolf-cub's grave4 ,i stroked the landscape like a lute4 ,no scentless words1 no colours mute1 ,could paint its music4 ,henceforth ,i had only heaven for substitute4 ,sling1 crossbow1 bludgeon1 axe and spud1 cilice and vials of sacred blood1 ,on such equipment we relied4 ,our foes were misery and mud4 ,each ,norman keep1 each ,frankish hold1 each corner of the ,christian fold ,sent forth its sheep to sound of bells4 ,our prophets might have had them tolled4 ,prince1 abbot1 squire1 felt the desire of bliss that swept stews1 taverns1 farms4 ,soft damosels ploughed through the mire with babe at breast and men-at-arms2 ,and1 since this journey was the price of entrance into ,paradise1 ,the gaols belched out their criminals and beggars all alive with lice4 ,we took no food1 for ,god is good2 besides we heard that convents strewed ,converted ,hungary for us4 ,we never dared mistrust ,his mood4 ,heading the mass far up the pass1 that led us straight to ,calvary1 ,the preaching-man upon an ass recited magic formul4 ,soon we were joined by northern lords2 no few among their folk had swords4 7,walter the ,pennyless his rout had gone before and died in hordes1 ,while ,gotschalk's dupes1 with geese and goats upon their flags1 had found the boats ,to pass beyond the ,bosphorus1 where ,kilidj ,arslan cut their throats47 ,our force could not await the ,turk1 but in its ardour got to work ,that was not mentioned in the breves4 ,it murdered all the ,jews in ,treves4 ,and ,i was sad a ,christian lad should march with myrmidons so mad4 ,they made our ,holy ,war appear too near a ,musulman ,jehad4 ,we plodded on for many weeks through mazes where the ,austrian ekes ,a bare existence on the slips of alp below the granite peaks1 ,and all those weeks did naught betide us palmers save that many died4 ,our gaol-birds eyed the preaching-man1 and scholars spoke of vaticide2 ,but ,i was happy when our stout commander sent me on to scout4 ,i cried for little ,sunflower-tress1 and made strange faces at the trout4 ,because ,i was a fighting-man ,i trained myself to nettle-stings1 ,and copied oaths and made up things my tutor would have tried to scan3 ,briar and bramble1 ,don't be so dense4 ,you scratch and you scramble ,like things without sense4 ,why grudge me a ramble8 ,you can't want my hose1 ,white-coated bramble1 ,pink briar-rose4 ,bramble and briar1 ,leave me alone4 ,cling to the friar1 ,make him your own4 ,kiss him1 the liar ,who brought us all here1 ,gentle sweet-briar1 ,bramble my dear4 ,thus through the months of slapping rain we plunged into the ,hungarian plain1 ,and paid its mounted bowmen dear for wretched stocks of fruit and grain1 ,or shelter in a reed-built town4 ,they asked for hostages4 ,we gave ,our leaders to these dirty-brown mongrels1 who brought us to the ,save ,with loss4 ,my tutor's ,damocles perhaps had lived in times like these2 ,for whoso straggled from the main body was never seen again4 ,ere this my rhyme had spread1 and swelled into a marching-song4 ,i blushed ,to witness how the spearmen held their sides with laughter1 as they yelled ,bramble and briar4 ',twas the first faint mutiny4 ,these men of ,gaul ,bantered the sterner pilgrims so ,i wondered why they came at all4 ,yea1 often now that ,i am old and hear how zealous scribes have told ,the zeal that made the first crusade1 well--history is eaten cold4 ,my lord could think of nothing but the lady who had bidden him cut ,his way to her by such detours4 ,aye1 this was true romance--the slut4 ,we called her secretly ,the ,burr--whereof was plenty in our beds-- ,for night by night he crooned of her1 nor even named the ,sepulchre3 ,i waited1 and the hours were loth to close4 ,they scarcely stirred till evening leapt to sight ,between the shadows that all substance throws ,as bridges for its passage to the night4 ,you never came4 ,life dozes at the touch ,of those not wholly resolute to live1 ,who let themselves mistrust her overmuch ,to take the only thing she has to give4 ,amid the rags there caracoled fop-penitents whose panders lolled ,with human baggage in the rear1 and hound and hawk4 ,so chaos rolled ,adown the ,danube rolling east4 ,beyond ,semlin the pinewoods filled ,with ,celt and ,saxon1 man and beast inspired to leave the west untilled4 ,the locust-swarms were better drilled than we1 the owls were not so blind4 ,at every stage we left behind poor simpletons that moaned and shrilled1 ,thinking each swamp ,gethsemane4 ,it seemed that at their agony ,the doctors scoffed with cross aloft1 reciting magic formul4 ,alone the princes lightly pranced1 as if the pilgrimage enhanced ,their right to weigh upon the world thereafter4 ,so the doom advanced ,to dervish cries and jester's japes4 ,hermit and boor and jackanapes1 ,i and my ghost-pale master threw a trail of shadows1 motley shapes1 ,where ,rhodop's wine-purples mix snow with the moonlight4 ,oh1 'twas gall ,amid the horror of it all that ,bulgars thought us lunatics1 ,or worse2 for ever at our flank a stream1 that in my nostrils stank1 ,seethed2 and amid the best of her the scum of ,europe wenched and drank4 ,at last we halted where ,constantinople's grandeur puts to scorn ,the villaged west1 and challenges the ,orient on her ,golden ,horn4 ,ah1 brazen1 were your heart as strong as looked your square-chinned ramparts4444 ,long ,we waited at the gates in dust knee-deep4 ,the ,emperor did not trust ,the help that he had craved4 ,he swore he had not asked so many 444 more ,would ruin him4444 ,he let the heat suck out our strength at every pore4 ,but we were told great noblemen1 ,godfrey of ,bouillon in ,ardennes1 ,robert of ,flanders1 ,sword and ,lance of ,christians1 all the flower of ,france ,were on our side1 ,hugh ,vermandois1 ,stephen of ,chartres and ,troyes and ,blois1 ,baldwin and ,raymond of ,toulouse4 ,the preacher said we could not lose4 ,moreover he had spoken with angel-reserves behind us1 sith ,they sent assurance 7,saracens we mocked1 but had our own ,hadith7 ,that we should root the heathen out1 and blight as with a ten years' drought ,their fields4 ,jehovah willed that we should leave no seed of theirs to sprout4 ,our mates streamed in from lands beyond the ,adriatic1 ,bohemond ,with ,tancred2 strait ,dalmatian bays1 ,epirus1 ,scodra1 devious ways ,bore them with boastful tales of sport and plunder1 and a vague report ,that this was nothing to the spoil that beckoned from the ,moslem court4 ,henceforth impatient ups and downs possessed us4 ,asiatic towns ,flamed to the general vision4 ,we heard less perhaps of heavenly crowns ,than flowers and peacocks made of gems1 the ,caliph's crusted diadems ,that crushed the head like ,guthlac's bell1 and trees with solid emerald stems4 ,and ,i confess ,christ counted less to us than tales of leash and gess1 ,or ,hrn-el-,rashd's largesse that sent the clock to ,charlemagne4 ,we practised sums1 and tried to train our cavalry in loss and gain4 ,upon the misty wizard-world rose like a star the money-brain4 ,even monks planned theft of saintly scalps2 stray hairs and chips of nail and chine1 ,divinely shielded through the ,alps1 would make the fortune of the ,rhine4 ,i often tried to hide myself from this besetting spook of pelf4 ,in olive-groves ,i called in vain to simple faun and acorn-elf4 ,i pictured kine that kissed their own reflections on the impulsive ,rhone1 ,a little maid with sunflower hair1 a nest we found 444 the birds had flown4 ,i think ,alexius was wise to keep us out4 ,our hungry eyes ,fixed on his capital4 ,why go farther when here were rich supplies8 ,the ,pope that cursed our tastes had laid the hand of blessing on this raid4 ,blest chance indeed--as though a man should drink his fill and then be paid6 ,each set to whet his falchion-pet that only friends had tasted yet4 ,we dressed our hopes in purple silk1 wallowed in dreamland's wine and milk4 ,yet more than any ,sultan's spoil fair women should repay our toil4 ,already some were filled with thoughts that our red cross was meant to foil4 ,the notion twinged us4 ,we compared our prospects with the way we fared ,on these lean suburbs and the flats about ,barbyses4 ,we were snared6 ,the very ,greeks1 whose prayers had lured us into this adventure1 lodged ,their saviours in a baited trap4 ,lord1 how these foxes turned and dodged4 ,there lay our army like a log2 our camp1 our tenets1 turned to bog4 ,we sank4 ,disorder brought disease that stalked us spectral through the fog4 ,the ,greeks we came to bolster up against their weakness filled our cup ,with turpitude2 the ,byzantine put ,circe's poison in our wine4 ,our aspirations all became mean as our hosts2 the inner flame ,went out4 ,from many a starting-point we found a common ground in shame2 ,for here no soul can keep its health1 but cat-like honour creeps by stealth ,down side streets where the children breathe an atmosphere of rotting wealth4 ,between our fellow-churches rose the hate that heaven had meant for foes4444 ,the infidel might well have laughed4 ,perhaps he did4 ,we came to blows4 ,and ,i was sad that ,christians had nothing in common1 saving bad ,blood1 that our highest dizziest heads could all divide but none could add4 ,but when spring lit the ,judas-trees our chieftains kissed the ,emperor's knees4 ,we crossed to ,asia sick at heart4 ,alexius kept us well apart1 ,shuffling us o'er the ,bosphorus4 ,the number and the rank of us ,exceeded those who went to ,troy for ,helen the ,adulterous4 ,on the ,bithynian plain our force drew up3 an hundred thousand horse ,with foot and monks and womankind in crowds that none can call to mind4 ,fear stuffed the empty space ahead with devils and the shapes of dread ,that decked our church4 ,a ghastly rush of loneliness made every head ,feel like a pinpoint4 ,discontent ran through the score of nations blent ,in cries4 ,their ribald spokesman forced a drunkard's way to ,godfrey's tent3 ,you that have led us through the many tests ,of ,hungary1 ,king ,caloman1 and ,thrace1 ,who think of kingdoms as of palimpsests ,and human nature as a carapace1 ,go up and prosper in your lofty chase6 ,we cannot live on barren mountain-crests4 ,our wildest dreams are prisoners that pace ,the little space between a woman's breasts4 ,here lies the stronghold that our zeal invests1 ,this infidel alone we long to face4 ,this hollow1 where our constant fancy nests1 ,is more to us than pedestal and dais4 ,nay1 we will go no farther in the race ,for gain1 respond no more to mean behests4 ,we know our cause1 and reverently embrace ,the little space between a woman's breasts4 ,it is our holy land1 and we1 the guests ,of passion1 brand all other hosts as base4 ,the bees have led us to their treasure-chests1 ,a foxglove-sceptre and an hyacinth-mace1 ,the meadow's fleeting broidery and lace4 ,their heaven like ours is nigh to vulgar jests4 ,a blossom's goal and glory is to grace ,the little space between a woman's breasts4 ,prince1 be content and choose your resting-place1 ,ere we be all forgotten with our quests1 ,and this thin earth go crumbling into space1 ,the little space between a woman's breasts4 ,thereat was scandal1 and a priest exclaimed that man was half a beast4 ,i could have told him that before4 ,man was the half ,i like the least4 ,to obviate a sinful fate the monks laid on us many weeks ,of penance1 wasting us the more with these inventions of the ,greeks4 ,some paid in cash1 some chose the lash--their backs were pitiful to see-- ,while ,bishop ,adhmar of ,puy recited magic formul ,that lurched us forward to our doom4 ,we cleft the sultanate of ,roum1 ,calling for bread4 ,the peasants fled4 ,we swept the country like a broom4 ,our armed migration choked the road4 ,it ran ahead1 a stream that flowed ,uphill to glory1 so it seemed2 and so imagination strode-- ,o ,jack o' lantern6--into the unknown4 ,the ,virgin on a silver throne1 ,our leaders swore1 went on before us4 ,i saw nothing but the ,rhone1 ,the impulsive ,rhone that tumbles down1 and breaks clean through the grey-walled town4 ,i heard it rustle in its bed where others heard the ,virgin's gown4 ,i blamed the foeman for my thirst1 for sandstorm1 flies1 heat1 scurvy--cursed ,them4 ,piles of grievance fumed until the red fire kindled4 ,madness burst ,all bounds1 and capered in the glare that wrapped us round like ,nessus' shirt4 ,each day 'twas there with yards to spare1 and would not tear4 ,how blue can hurt6 ,in my delirium ,i smelt a mirage1 heard the swallows skim ,above the reeds where angels knelt with envious eyes to watch me swim4 ,the preacher said ,jehovah's cloud and pillar would go with us4 ,yea1 ,the sky was on our heads alway4 ,the sun rose up and cried aloud1 ,and stood immobilized at noon4 ,we wondered if at ,ajalon ,the ,jews thanked ,joshua for the boon of this divine phenomenon4 ,we came to ,nice and formed a siege with tortoise1 belfry1 catapult1 ,and curse that brought even less result4 ,each lordling quarrelled with his liege1 ,layman with priest1 until the place surrendered1 and again we lurched ,forward4 ,i heard our name was made4 ,i only saw how it was smirched4 ,my master clasped a small1 soiled glove1 and promised deeds for love's sweet sake ,that took my breath1 as though his death would please ,the ,burr4 ,i lay awake ,all night afraid to cry for fright4 ,i tried my best to be full-grown1 ,a child now loth to be alone4 ,my misery was all my own4 ,i well recall our knights' first charge4 ,it was as though a loaded barge ,should seek to crush a dancing skiff4 ,the foe was small1 the plain was large4 ,our men returned with horses spent4 ,it seemed the ,turkish cowards meant ,to harry1 not oppose4 ,sometimes we caught them full1 and down they went4 ,strange that within so short a space ,i felt the strong effects of grace6 ,the preaching man upon his ass called it a miracle4 ,it was4 ,i1 polishing my master's helmet1 also longed to overwhelm ,the miscreants1 to hew in bits the devil and his earthly realm4 ,a boy's high spirits1 weariness1 a heart impulsive as the ,rhone1 ,the wish to get this business done1 the thought of little ,sunflower-tress-- ,a flower beside ,the ,burr1 and ,why1 if knights sing rubbish1 should not ,i8-- ,the preaching man's persistence1 these stirred me to action by degrees4 ,we had our fill at ,dorylum4 ,our rogues were ,paladins4 ,we won1 ,and weighed our booty by the ton4 ,that night we chanted a ,te ,deum1 ,a myriad voices in the dark2 they rose like one colossal lark ,ere dawn4 ,my soul flew up with them to see the new ,jerusalem ,and spite my tutor4 ,i was mad to be a fighting-man1 would pad ,my arms like muscles4 ,so my lord took me to foray4 ,i was glad4 ,i had one thought3 my hands were wet4 ,that angered me3 my mouth was dry4 ,i had one fear3 ,i might forget my master's silly battle-cry4 ,belike 'twas well no foe would stand--our cavaliers were out of hand-- ,so ,i was baulked4 ,with scarce a blow we filed across the wasted land ,for leagues1 till ,baldwin turned aside1 and out of ,peradventure carved ,his slice1 ,edessa4 ,we were plied to march on ,antioch half-starved4 ,for seven months sheer courage toiled to take the town4 ,its ramparts foiled ,our engines4 ,sulkiness sat down within us1 and temptation coiled ,tight round our bodies2 every vice was lurking like a cockatrice4 ,ah1 flesh can never quite repel the sinuous things which thoughts entice4 ,you honey-coloured ,syrian girls1 whose voices turned our knights to thirls1 ,i looked away and stopped my ears by thinking of the glossier merles ,at home4 ,the arm upheld by ,hur had not sufficed him to deter ,the dissipation of our force1 alas4 ,my lord deceived ,the ,burr4 ',twas worse when treachery let us in4 ,blood1 lechery1 pillage1 fire and din ,burned an impression on my mind3 the sexual ugliness of sin4 ,cool ,bohemond called ,antioch his4 ,ere we had killed our mutineers1 ,we the besiegers were besieged by ,kurbugha and his ,amrs4 ,alternate famine and carouse brought plague2 but doubtless ,god allows ,expensive trials of faith that we might learn the magic formul4 ,we melted1 melted2 kites were fed upon us1 dogs ran dripping red ,from piles of nameless carrion1 the race that ,europe might have bred4 ,throughout our ranks desertion raged by daily sermons unassuaged4 ,the preaching man was first in this rope-dancing4 ,disillusion aged ,my youth by years4 ,my master stayed4 ,if he had erred he promptly paid4 ,the pestilence ran after him4 ,despite the fervour ,i displayed ,he died of sores1 this prince of tilt1 though guarded by ten hallowed charms1 ,this subject of all trouvre-lilt1 lord in an hundred ladies' arms4 ,oh1 how ,i struggled to be brave when the ,pope's legate1 grey and grim1 ,said simply this beside the grave3 ,christ died for you4 ,you died for ,him4 ,only his jester seemed to care1 and ceased awhile to swear and daff4 ,who1 he repeated in despair1 will pay me for his epitaph8 ,poor friend1 this alien hungry land ,has closed her lips upon her prey4 ,the tree is spoiled into her hand2 ,she sucks the brook's thin veins away4 ,a sterner voice than bade you come ,to reap the tears that exiles sow ,has called you to her longer home1 ,that neither bids nor lets you go4 ,seven times you baulked her lawless laws1 ,and foiled the customs of the year2 ,but ,death defends the tyrant's cause1 ,and makes the silent court his lair4 ,the lease of life1 that none can own1 ,is written on her agent's roll2 ,and from the desert and the sown ,he takes a harsh and equal toll1 ,high-handed1 scorning code or text4 ,no hope the debtor's gaol unlocks4 ,a friend appeals8 ,he is the next ,to occupy the narrow box4 ,the witness cowers1 pale with fear1 ,when ,death the stalker passes by2 ,and only prays he may not hear ,that ugly sound--a victim's cry4 ,one weeps2 his eyes are wet as long ,as on ,death's hand the blood is wet4 ,he says3 ,the ,king can do no wrong6 ,and craves permission to forget4 ,how briefly to an echo clings ,the memory of these solemn days1 ,the thought of those tremendous things ,that ,death implies but never says4 ,an hour ago we laid you down4 ,the tender1 tardy autumn rain ,is dried within the dusty town1 ,and we are at our rounds again4 ,with every round our spirits sank in bodies lean and members lank4 ,i saw the soul of man1 a cave1 a wick that smouldered and smelled rank4 ,men's fluid facts may wash the grime from pictures of a distant time1 ,but ,i can paint the truth in one small touch3 our poets ceased to rhyme4 ,such was the army's hopelessness4 ,i understood1 who once had seen ,our fading gardener rouse himself to kick and curse the wolf-cub1 ,life4 ,i would not let my feet desert1 but oh the woods--the woods of home ,that bent and beckoned in the damp zephyr in vain6 ,i could not stoop ,to play false in an enterprise however mad1 if once begun4 ,besides another miracle was wrought in me4 ,i was in love4 ,i was enamoured of dear ,christ2 ,his utter beauty struck me dumb1 ,his face alone could compensate for scenes that almost made me long ,for blindness4 ,yea1 to ,him ,i turned from all this heartache1 nightly kissed ,his hand with passion4 ,i at least would not betray the children's ,friend4 ,haply ,his strength has always lain in contrast4 ,i found strength to press ,toward the mark4 ,not so the host3 we could not kick it to its feet4 ,then heaven inspired us to devise a pious fraud--,the ,holy ,lance4 ,we hid it in ,saint ,peter's crypt1 and dug it up4 ,the people wept ,with rapture at this talisman1 and sang the ,psalm ,let ,god arise4 ,also our chiefs--they knew my zeal--bade me complete the heartening sign4 ,white-plumed1 white-horsed1 with golden shield and halo1 ,i contrived to appear ,on the horizon1 waved my sword while ,adhmar proclaimed ,saint ,george4 ,our men responded with a shout4 ,through the five gates they tumbled out1 ,an headlong torrent4 ,in a trice the infidel was put to rout1 ,and ,i joined in to hack and prod4 ,pure ,tancred praised me with a nod4 ,ascetic ,godfrey even spoke to me3 ,lad1 you belong to ,god4 ,i won my spurs4 ,they made me proud4 ,before my sword the wizards bowed1 ,though me they washed4 ,in vigil and fast ,i joined the perfect order1 vowed ,to hold my manhood chaste1 to gird on might with right and courtesy1 ,to speak the truth1 and so to be at variance with the common herd4 ,such loftiness a man can feel once in a flash3 strong arms1 clean hands ,that forged us into iron bands to unify the world with steel4 ,but as ,i left the altar daft with the ambition ,i had quaffed-- ,a word can kill a century--one of my perfect brothers laughed3 ,i took the vow of virtue ,as others take to vice4 ,i could not break my heart of you4 ,men call that sacrifice4 ,the priests applauded nature4 ,poor devil1 she was loth ,enough4 ,the love of ,god and you ,has made me hate you both4 ,and ,i was sad that ,christians1 clad in robes so dazzling1 were not glad ,to keep them spotless from the world1 and give the ,virgin all they had4 ,yet ,i was racked by continence of all we rightly rank as sense4 ,i hungered for the ,sunflower-tress that now my lips would never press4 ,i wrenched and wrestled to believe that ,god had sent us here to grieve ,our bodies with this fruitlessness1 that only fakirs could achieve ,his purpose4 ,then in blind revolt my soul like an unbroken colt ,ran round and round an empty field4 ,the hedge was thick4 ,i could not bolt1 ,though one poor knight on stiffened knee revealed beneath his breath to me ,his thoughts on women while the monks recited magic formul4 ,i sought for solace in renown4 ,men watched me swagger through the town ,the youngest knight in ,christendom4 ,when women passed ,i tried to frown4 ,a year ,i suffered in this way before the wreck of our array ,would undertake the final march4 ,my soul was saved by movement4 ,may ,was with us1 when my tutor closed his wintry ,juvenal and posed ,mid nightingales to quote and kiss the ,pervigilium ,veneris4 ,i drove his authors from my head1 and read ,augustin hard instead2 ,but sap was mounting in my veins and western groves where finches wed4 ,to these no sound of sapphire seas1 no stunted firs of ,lebanon1 ,not ,tyrian dyes nor ,tripoli's loud yellows deafened4 ,we ran on ,through landmarks famed in ,holy ,writ1 ,emmaus1 ,bethlehem 444 at last ,we saw the walls of ,zion lit blood-red by sunset and the past4 ,the conquest of another world unfurled beneath our feet1 the land ,of miracle and mystery lay as a bauble in our hand4 ,men flung their caps up1 feigned a swoon4 ,with prostrate lines of us the moon ,drew silver circles round the site4 ,a cock crowed--many hours too soon4 ,we thought to prise the gates ajar4 ,my tutor wrote their private ,lar ,or else--with ,tacitus--their folk designed them for eternal war4 ,the moat was wide2 we feebly tried to stop its gape with pebbles1 cried ,fall1 ,jericho6 ,the blessd wall stood firm2 but ,christ was on our side4 ,the ,church had saved ,him from ,his wan repute and thrust ,him in our van1 ,bronzed1 scarred4 ,alas1 the first crusade had made ,him out a fighting man6 ,he taught the ,turks to mock ,giaours6444 sent timely ,genoese to build ,wheeled wooden turrets4 ,these we filled brimful4 ,jerusalem was ours4 ,we entered reverent1 barefoot2 slew three livelong nights and mornings through1 ,then paused to sing a thanksgiving4 ,we massacred the morrow too4 ,and ,i was glad a ,christian lad could boast of some small suffering ad ,majorem ,dei gloriam4 ,i only longed to burn ,baghdad4 ,nay1 ,i can say ,i never hid to chamber as my fellows did4 ,i felt my conscience clear as frost1 and touched no woman--,god forbid4 ,i set my contrite soul apart with mass1 procession1 penance1 rites ,that took me out to see the sights1 brushing ecstatic lanes athwart ,the quiddering mob with tears of joy--my tutor's phrase was hoi polloi-- ,though few were left4 ,some ,greeks of ours confused ,jerusalem with ,troy4 ,but most the bestial ,german louts made even their hardest allies sick2 ,they ran to mutilate the quick and sniff the dead with joyous snouts4 ,shriven1 forgiven1 we embraced each stone that ,christ had touched1 and placed ,such relics under treble guard4 ,one note in our rejoicings jarred4 ,it seemed some types of ,jewish dog escaped the flaming synagogue1 ,and their ingratitude was base4 ,they joined to form a wailing-place4 ,i heard them as ,i roamed among blind alleys dark and overhung ,by one-eyed dens4 ,with whining nose against the wall the pack gave tongue3 ,behold ,thy people1 ,lord1 a race of mourners4 ,through this ,thy sacred dwelling-place they creep ,like strangers4 ,hearken1 ,lord1 in holes and corners ,we sit alone and weep4 ,for ,thy decree1 most terrible and holy1 ,that as the fathers sow the sons shall reap1 ,for all ,thy just affliction of the lowly1 ,we sit alone and weep4 ,for all the glory that is now departed1 ,for all the stones that ,thou hast made an heap1 ,yea1 for the city of the broken-hearted1 ,we sit alone and weep4 ,for all the wealth wherewith ,thou hadst endowed her1 ,for all our shepherds gone astray like sheep1 ,for all ,thy temple's jewels ground to powder1 ,we sit alone and weep4 ,because our soul is chastened as with lashes1 ,because ,thine anger like a stormy deep ,goes over us1 in sackcloth and in ashes ,we sit alone and weep4 ,nobody gave them heed2 indeed each man was thinking how to speed ,his interests1 and if the prey would satisfy ambition or need4 ,to honest minds with zeal imbued the ,pope's indulgence1 their own merit ,bestowed some licence to be lewd1 and take--their preachers said inherit4 ,even ,i who was in love with ,christ1 ,i with the conscience clean and cold ,that hankered not for lands or gold1 was wondering how to clinch my hold ,on reputation1 while our chiefs1 before we could consolidate1 ,rode a great wallop round the ,state and split it into petty fiefs4 ,their overlords revolted me4 ,alas1 for our brief unity6 ,edessa snarled at ,antioch1 ,jerusalem at ,tripoli4 ,poor ,godfrey1 who would not accept a crown where his ,redeemer wore ,thorns1 nor be strong where ,jesus wept6 ,from the beginning weakness crept ,into our councils4 ,worse1 we watched the bulk of our brave lads disperse ,well-pleased4 ,at most we raised the ghost of needful power to hold their post4 ,franks and ,provincials1 ,german brutes that bullied babes and prostitutes1 ,lombards and ,flemings1 made for home with clapping and the sound of flutes4 ,it flowed away1 the unstable stuff1 to whom a cause was but a noun4 ,they stood to sea4 ,thank heaven 'twas rough6 ,my place was here with my renown4 ,they vanished 444 home 444 to ,sunflower-tress 444 home1 where a man may die obscure6 ,far off a carle of ,albemarle trolled chanties like a ,siren's lure4 ,east1 are you calling still1 ,who tried your strength of will ,for naught on brown ,ulysses long ago8 ,we have an island too1 ,and haul away from you ,to cleaner kin that bend a stronger bow4 ,your caravans string out ,on many a golden route ,the turbaned ,magi's offerings2 but we ,steer forth on loner trails ,through rough wind-scented vales ,to ,england1 the oasis of the sea4 ,child ,jesus chose you1 ,east1 ,not that ,he loved us least1 ,but just because ,his ,father had foreseen ,the dear and only ,son ,might dwell too long upon ,our swinging greys and many-coloured green4 ,so we were left alone4 ,the spring broke out in buds of bickering4 ,each summer brought contentious fruit4 ,strife waxed with every waning king4 ,and ,i waxed also1 better known1 resolved to reap what ,i had sown4 ,my childless manhood fixed my heart4 ,the ,holy ,land was all my own4 ,i grew in grace with man--,i hoped with ,god2 from ,beersheba to ,dan ,i went about my ,father's work4 ,faith could not shirk what ,faith began4 ,sometimes qualms came4 ,i looked askance on ,bishop ,daimbert's schemes to enhance ,his seat4 ,the native ,christians sighed they missed the ,caliph's tolerance4 ,not that had hurt me1 but the void which love will make if unemployed4 ,i spent my strength to keep him quiet1 and free the thoughts that he decoyed1 ,till woods and ,rhone were out of range4 ,i often wondered at the change ,in nature's child1 in me4 ,the formul were there4 ,god's ways are strange4 ,yet in my struggle with the powers of darkness ,i recalled the showers ,of light that fought the undergrowth to catch the singing of the flowers4 ,time passed1 and no one seemed to reck of ,zenghi1 the first ,atabek1 ,though every year we failed to act the ,saracens grew more compact4 ,in vain ,i urged that we might fall1 so slender was our human wall1 ,so numberless the foe beside the ,templars and the ,hospital4 ,the answer was that dyke and fosse were useless when we had the ,cross1 ,with other relics by the score1 to guard against defeat or loss4 ,my prophecies of coming ills fell on deaf ears and weakly wills4 ,i did my best4 ,you know ,i did1 who saw me peer beyond the hills ,where ,karak like a lighthouse loomed at waves of sand that never spumed1 ,the tideless main1 an ocean-plain bare1 petrified4 ,its silence boomed4 ,i saw in all that vastitude1 the one1 the drab1 the many-hued1 ,no sign of life1 no moving speck2 and yet ,i knew that trouble brewed4 ,i tortured every hour to find material things to prop behind-- ,forgive me1 ,god6--,your earthly realm4 ,the need was great1 for it was blind4 ,the mathematics of ,abul ,hassan1 three hundred years at school ,in ,arabic philosophy1 showed that the ,west was still a fool4 ,nay1 gently1 call her still a babe4 ,how should she know that ,i1 the ,great1 ,had learned from savages to prate of compass and of astrolabe4 ,our miracles were not so sure to heal as ,rhazes' simplest cure4 ,his friends the moon and stars obeyed the rules that ,abul ,wafa made4 ,my stolen lore raised me above my fellows4 ,everything but love ,was mine1 respect1 authority4 ,the jealous ,churchmen dared not move4 ,our infant realm could not dispense with me1 its shield and main defence4 ,i knew the ,damascene recipe for making steel1 and made it cheap4 ,my mind was fertile in resorts4 ,i spent the pilgrims' fees on forts1 ,and settled1 for their skill in trade1 ,venetian slavers at our ports4 ,howbeit ,i trembled lest our main enthusiasm should be for gain4 ,i stripped myself to work against the working of the money-brain4 ,and ,i was glad ,i passed for mad and single-eyed as ,galahad4 ,i sacrificed in saving ,christ the profit that ,i might have had4 ,nothing that ,i could do availed4 ,my tongue grew bitter1 girded1 railed4 ,my labour only builded ,me1 but not the kingdom4 ,so ,i failed4 ,our ,viscounts could but show their gums1 while from ,aleppo1 ,hama1 ,homs1 ,the foe crept onward like the months1 culling our conquests like ripe plums4 ,for all response in ,chastel ,blanc and towering ,markab-of-the-,sea ,some clerkly knight in red-crossed white recited magic formul2 ,then darkly hinted science1 hell and ,i were leagued1 because their spell ,would not or could not stave the blow that ,i foresaw4 ,edessa fell4 ,curse our degenerate ,poullains6 ,the breed had need of spurs not reins4 ,to stand an empty sack upright was easier than to warm their veins ,save with amours4 ,one night ,i knelt to pray2 but on the battlement ,hard by a lordling twanged a harp4 ,i smelt the bastard's eastern scent4 ,he thought his leman lay behind my casement1 where the jasmin twined ,and almost jingled4444 ,oh the woods at home and whitethroats calling blind6 ,suppose you left that window and came down ,to meet me4 ,do not turn away4 ,also you need not frown4 ,i only say3 ,suppose4 ,suppose--you are a woman of resource-- ,the fastenings of your door undone4 ,no6 ,they are not4444 ,of course6 ,but1 just for fun1 ,suppose4 ,suppose that--safe among the trees below ,the terraces--you chanced to find 444 ,impossible6444 ,i know1 ,but never mind4 ,suppose4 ,suppose that--being there--an eager arm ,drew you towards the little dell4444 ,why redden8 ,where's the harm8 ,you might as well ,suppose4444 ,suppose that1 bending over you1 a man ,breathed words of which you knew the gist4 ,suppose it6444 ,yes1 you can4444 ,no1 ,i insist4444 ,suppose6 ,suppose you shut the window8 ,now8 ,pray do1 ,and take a lonely night to learn ,this tune shut in with you4 ,till ,i return1 ,suppose4444 ,then ,i peeped out4 ,some breath divine had made his face1 compared with mine1 ,an angel's4 ,love with all its faults had set there our ,creator's sign4 ,that shook me4 ,one of us was wrong4 ,which8 ,he or ,i8 ,his soul was vexed ,neither by this world nor the next1 but floated in a bubble of song4 ,it haunted me1 as he had said2 it chimed and rhymed about my bed4 ,it filled my head with ,sunflower-tress2 but she--,i writhed--was old or dead4 ,was all my suffering a waste8 ,had superstition wed me chaste ,to ,its effect8 ,was this my ,cause8 ,my tutor in the dark grimaced4 ,i saw him snug at home1 and how he would have chuckled at my vow6 ,well1 who laughs last4444 ,i pictured him a dotard or in hell by now4 ,i prayed for help all night2 and1 warned by lost ,edessa1 ,baldwin made ,great efforts to placate our ,god4 ,the answer was a fresh crusade4 ,this was an answer none could doubt4 ,we heard a preacher more devout ,than ours was quartering the west1 and pulling true believers out4 ,he hight ,saint ,bernard of ,clairvaux1 the home of light and miracles4 ,the wives and mothers trembled so before his spirit's tentacles1 ,they hid their males--in vain4 ,he swept the ,emperor ,conrad with him1 kept ,the collar of his pale adept1 emasculated ,louis ,sept4 ,he cured ,king's ,evils1 raised the dead1 he cast out devils by the gross4 ',twas said he promised us twelve legions of angels4444 ,from the darkest regions ,men flocked to ,metz and ,ratisbon4 ,news came of more than half a million1 ,not counting those that rode apillion4 ,our battle was as good as won4 ,such glorious news might well inflame our hopes4 ,we waited4 ,nothing came1 ,not even light ,turcopuli nor ,conrad's ,golden-footed ,dame4 ,our ,poullains first began to whine2 the fainthearts said the fault was mine4 ,saint ,bernard was the oracle of ,europe1 ,i of ,palestine4 ,and nothing came 444 no troops4444 ,the ,greek misled1 starved1 poisoned1 murdered them1 ,betrayed them to the ,turk1 whose bleak deserts went over them4 ,week by week ,we waited4 ,nothing4 ,cadmus saw them cut to bits1 ,attalia's maw ,could not be sated with their ruck4 ,king ,louis' mind had just one flaw3 ,he would not hear of strategy1 staked all on supernatural help4 ,and nothing came1 and nothing came4 ,our half-bred curs began to yelp ,good ,god1 if truly ,god is good6 ,they kissed the ,cross4 ,gems hid the wood4 ,had ,he forgotten8 ,was ,he deaf8 ,could such things be8 ,who understood8 ,not ,i1 though ,i had kept my word to save the ,lamb by fire and sword4 ,and after twelve long lustra spent in service this was my reward4 ,louis and ,conrad struggled through one day with some small retinue4 ,i watched4 ,almost ,i could foretell what they and ,providence would do4 ,and ,i remember1 as we fared1 a ,sufi--so the sect is named-- ,sat by the road as though he cared no jot for us1 while he declaimed3 ,her home is in the heart of spaciousness1 ,in the mid-city of ideals4 ,the site ,is harmony1 the walls are made of light4 ,there with the mother-thoughts she stands to bless ,the godlike sons sent forth with her caress ,to make new worlds4 ,i see them all unite ,into the whole that our most starry flight ,of worship knew far off1 and strove to express4 ,what can we do for her8 ,we run to ask ,as restless children for a grown-up task1 ,while wisdom in the porch1 their kind old host1 ,smiles at nurse nature1 and replies3 ,the most1 ,the least that we can do for ,beauty is ,to love for love's sake and serve ,god for ,his4 ,but ,conrad drove his lance in jest right through the ragamuffin's chest1 ,because his creed was not as ours2 and on we rode4 ,i lost my zest4 ,to take ,damascus was our plan1 relying on a talisman4 ,i knew that this would not suffice1 for ,i was still a fighting man4 ,it ended in repulse and shame4 ,saint ,bernard proved we were to blame ,for want of faith4 ,ah1 some of us had had too much4 ,we said the same ,of him4 ,at our return thick mobs of women filled the church with bobs ,and bows1 poor puppets1 trying hard to sing between their stifled sobs3 ,god1 whose ,son has fathomed sorrow1 ,give a mother strength to say3 ,mine has faced and found ,to-morrow4 ,i will try to face ,to-day4 ,they turned to me4 ,they thought me wise because ,i had been led by lies ,to blind myself to them2 and now ,i saw things through a woman's eyes1 ,and ,i went out4 ,not yet the end4 ,since innocence alone could save1 ,saints hit on infant infantry1 and fifty thousand found the grave4 ,my gorge rose1 yet ,i stopped my ears4 ,i had no hope1 but ,i was tarred ,with fame too much to show my fears4 ,my duty lay in dying hard4 ,oh irony6 ,that fame increased the more its robes were patched and pieced4 ,my whole ambition was fulfilled when power and confidence had ceased4 ,the women kissed my feet1 my horse2 they clung to me like my remorse4 ,i that set out to make the world had made myself believe by force4 ,nay1 ,i that knew we were reprieved at best1 had ,i in truth believed8 ,my youth came back4 ,i seemed to meet my tutor's sneer in every street4 ,fate cursed us with three minor kings1 a leper then4 ,against these ,things ,salah-ad-,din combined the entire orient4 ,i wished our fate had wings ,instead of feet to end our dumb1 keen1 futile questionings1 to numb ,the brain that binds us with the chain of kingdom go and kingdom come4 ,one of our knights for plunder's sake undid us1 roused the foe who brake ,in through the pass of ,banias1 cutting our lands in two like cake4 ,the hour was here1 but not the man4 ,that murderer ,guy de ,lusignan ,was sent to head our fight for life4 ,the craven took for talisman ,,me and my hundred years1 alas1 a relic of the man ,i was4 ,i toiled to still our private feuds4 ,we marched upon ,tiberias1 ,for none would listen when ,i urged our leaders to await attack4 ,we marched across the waterless inferno4 ,summer burnt us black4 ,the ,moslems scorched us with ,greek fire4 ,as rain upon a funeral pyre ,their arrows hissed in sheets upon the smoking scrub4 ,go on6 ,retire6 ,our rabble cried1 starting aside like broken bows2 they tried to hide1 ,split1 fled for refuge to a hill1 did nothing while the ,templars died4 ,when all was lost ,i cut my way out through the thicket of the fray1 ,and galloped for ,jerusalem to adjure ,guy's ,queen to stand at bay4 ,in this last desperate passage each proud noble still opposed his friend4 ,a little while and we were penned1 and yet a little while a breach ,was made4 ,jehovah's chosen seat was tottering1 but no ,paraclete ,came down to comfort us4 ,i made some sallies4 ,then the ,queen would treat4 ,perhaps in our appeal for ruth my wording stumbled on the truth1 ,one ,god that went by many names1 or else ,i knew ,him in my youth1 ,or else that ,sufi haunted me with something that ,i could not see1 ,something that only had not been because we would not let it be4 ,and when the foe marched in1 ,i own that ,i was thinking of the ,rhone ,long1 long ago1 and wondering--a child once more--if it had grown4 ,yet there remained the sharpest cup to drain3 the moan of us went up1 ,when from the topmost dome was hurled the ,sign that should have ruled the world4 ,down1 down it rumbled with our grand designs4 ,all we had built or planned1 ,toiled1 bled for1 crumbled at a touch1 was ruined like a house of sand4 ,so soon we pass4 ,the wind knows why4 ,the efforts of a century1 ,three generations' handiwork failed in the twinkling of an eye4 ,and ,i was sad to think that shadows occupy us all4 ,i had ,no hope of earth4 ,what boots a toy that thinks its maker raving mad8 ,my soul had passed through every phase and1 counting forty thousand days1 ,was farther off than at the start from comprehending heaven's ways ,or bowing to them4 ,i came nearest when ,i pressed my childish ear ,earthward through briar and bramble bowers to catch the singing of the flowers4 ,the last remains of faith were shaken when ,i1 the oracle1 was taken4 ,my pride was made to sleep in chains4 ,i prayed that ,i might never waken1 ,but woke4 ,they gave me to a rais who wanted cattle1 not advice4 ,he flogged me down to ,damietta4 ,i was old and fetched no price4 ,nathless my battling heart was brave enough to work me till ,i dropped4 ,i passed for twopence to a ,copt who sold me as a galley-slave ,to ,muscat4 ,in the rhythmic stroke1 old1 undefeated1 gnarled as oak ,i creaked and strained against my fate1 until that ,sufi-something broke4 ',twas not my heart4 ,an inner morn put the dark age in me to scorn1 ,and in the light ,i found myself1 a child at play with worlds unborn1 ,for all that ,i had thought and read1 and fought and watched the world be led ,by any who contrived to cut a knot with that blunt tool1 the head4 ,i laughed to think how sparrows might look down upon our highest flight1 ,while each succeeding age would have its oracle or stagyrite1 ,would trace the good we never did1 the evil that we never saw1 ,and out of our blind pyramid extract a stepping-stone to ,law4 ,here1 where ambition had to cease in servitude1 ,i tasted peace1 ,free of illusion stretched and yawned4 ,a fool would clamour for release4 ,i make the rowers' bench a throne to think1 and thought implies ,alone1 ,of changing woods and endless streams4 ,my happiness is all my own4 ,and often1 when my mates deplore a brother who shall row no more1 ,i talk about my wolf-cub1 ,life4 ,they think ,i speak in metaphor4 ,they gather round me all agog1 they think a chronicle and log ,of ,progress lies in withered hands4 ,their cry is for an epilogue4 ,has aught been drafted yet8 ,a blot1 an echo void and polyglot4 ,each century is written off as preface4 ,yes1 most true4444 ,of what8 ,my gathered weight had held me bound to find for every fog a ground1 ,for every riddle a reply1 an end to ,being that goes round4 ,now ,i can say1 ,i do not know if there will be a book at all1 ,or if the deepest chapters go beyond some writing on the wall1 ,though wiser worlds will yet embark1 sworn to eclipse our sorry trades1 ,succeed1 and leave their little mark3 a dynasty of thought that fades1 ,fresh undergrowths of formul4 ,through these no human eye can see ,the open glade--the last crusade1 in which ,jerusalem might be ,the symbol of all peopled space1 and ,time an emblem of the day ,on which the nations march as one to liberate and not to slay4 ,a story has no finish when it leads to nowhere out of ken8 ,o friend1 the lack of knowledge brings wisdom within the reach of men2 ,for whether hope can ever fit the future matters not a whit4 ,my duty is to tug my oar--so long as ,i am chained to it4 ,,xix ,,fusion ,it was fulfilled4 ,the giant dhow bestirred ,herself1 burst from her slender moorings1 ran ,exulting on her course beyond the green ,thin shallows to the deeper violet ,of that great gem wherein the continents ,are flaws4 ,with creaking oars and fluttering sails ,the wingd ghost swept outward4 ,on the prow ,unveiled the ,queen stood whiter than the sails1 ,and save the revelation made no sign2 ,and all the sound of singing was brought low4 ,then1 as the vision vanished in the hushed ,twilight that painted out the caravan1 ,leaving the pilgrims but a burns-blur ,on the drab canvas of the shore1 a wail ,rose1 and to them the ,dreamer's last reply3 ,the aimless spindrift mingles with the scats ,where suddenly the desert is the beach4 ,a low wind whimpers up and down the flats ,seeking some obstacle to lend it speech4 ,the sky bleeds pale as from a mortal wound1 ,darkening the waters4 ,to a treble ,e ,gulls stiffly wheel their nomad escort round ,a white sail dwindling in the impassive sea4 ,a last beam smites it with a benison4 ,the lantern twinkles fainter at its mast4 ,it bears the purpose in me that is gone1 ,the only thing that cannot be1 the past4 ,let there be night4 ,shall evensong complain8 ,my love was utter4 ,now ,i seek no sign4 ,mine eyes have seen1 and shall not see again4 ,out of the deep shall call no voice of mine4 ,yet ,i1 whose happiness is hidden from view1 ,have climbed the hill and touched eternity1 ,and ,pisgah is a memory--of you1 ,a white sail sinking in the summer sea4 ,the ship drove spaceward to the skyline's crater1 ,the last of day flared vibrant as a cry1 ,and in the ,dreamer ,emptiness loomed greater ,than the unrifted pumice of the sky4 ,he turned to see the friends whose hope had ended ,like his beside the gulf4 ,he was alone4 ,the singers and the glory that had blended ,with meaner notes and lowly1 all were gone ,into thin air4 ,but1 patient of his tether1 ,enduring as the dream he would not break1 ,only old ,tous remained4 ,as back together ,they fared1 once more it seemed the camel spake3 ,lo1 these the fleeting and the true1 ,the keen to sacrifice and slow1 ,the plumed1 the crawling1 all were ,you ,that started hither long ago4 ,for man is many when begun1 ,but ,love can weave his ends to one4 ,the new1 the ancient1 song and prose1 ,the lower road1 the higher aim1 ,the clean1 the draggled1 dust and snows ,were you the striving1 you the same4 ,pride and endeavour1 love and loss1 ,the pattern is the threads that cross4 ,tilth1 waste and water1 sand and sap1 ,tare1 thorn and thistle1 wine and oil1 ,run through your ,nature like a map1 ,are ,,you4 ,the ores that vein the soil ,of time and substance manifold ,await the hour that makes them gold1 ,that found the force of you dispersed ,on all adventure save a quest1 ,and part perhaps was on the worst4 ,it sent you all upon the best1 ,wherein the journey is the goal4 ,now leaving you they leave you whole4 ,the rabble melts1 but more remains3 ,the golden opportunity ,by which the choir in us attains ,not unison but unity4 ,we feel the sunbeam1 not the motes4 ,the ,voice is made of many notes4 ,slave1 merchant1 scholar1 fighting-man1 ,the gambling1 stumbling1 praying kith ,we called the ,singing ,caravan1 ,have made their song at least no myth ,not dawn to which yon skylark soared ,but earth is his and your reward4 ,the story ends1 but not the book4 ,sufi1 the ,queen that you ensued ,led and shall lead you still to look ,on peace--it is not solitude4 ,through her your warring kingdoms met1 ,and here is room for no regret4 ,so ,dreamer-of-the-,age returned ,with comfort1 all his being fused ,at last1 and thus at night he mused ,beside the fire that in him burned3 ,heirs of the beauty yet to be1 ,hail1 from however far ahead ,or out of sight ,i hear you tread ,the dust that made this tale and me4 ,each day shall raise me to rejoice ,that lovers such as we must bear ,the unbroken chain of life and share ,its thanksgiving4 ,perhaps my voice ,shall be the servant of your mind1 ,your linkman waiting in the arch ,of phantom city-gates to march ,with you by secret ways4 ,the wind ,shall tell me of you1 he and ,i ,be keenly with you1 when you go ,forth in my footsteps and the glow ,of movement1 steadfast to deny ,only the frailer self4 ,my grief ,shall answer your unspoken word ,through blithe interpreters1 a bird ,waking1 the sounds of rill and leaf4 ,by many a caravanserai ,i shall not fail to watch you come1 ,you of some far millennium1 ,who1 listening to the bird1 will say3 ',i seem to know that tune of his2 ,he sings what all can understand4' ,in the clear water dip your hand3 ',his deepest note was only this4' ,you shall be glad of me1 the shade1 ,sighing ',o friend4' ,and ,i shall keep ,the benediction of your sleep2 ,and1 when the woods of darkness fade1 ,shall waken with you1 ,i that had ,love to the full1 and praised my lot1 ,trusting in truth to be forgot ,for worthier verse4 ,ah1 make me glad1 ,you that come after me1 and call ,from summits that outstrip my hopes4 ,yet ,i shall linger on the slopes ,and dwell with those who gave their all4 ,,xx ,,long ,,leave ,i bow my head1 ,o brother1 brother1 brother1 ,but may not grudge you that were ,all to me4 ,should any one lament when this our ,mother ,mourns for so many sons on land and sea4 ,god of the love that makes two lives as one ,give also strength to see that ,england's will be done4 ,let it be done1 yea1 down to the last tittle1 ,up to the fullness of all sacrifice4 ,our dead feared this alone--to give too little4 ,then shall the living murmur at the price8 ,the hands withdrawn from ours to grasp the plough ,would suffer only if the furrow faltered now4 ,know1 fellow-mourners--be our cross too grievous-- ,that ,one who sealed our symbol with ,his blood ,vouchsafed the vision that shall never leave us1 ,those humble crosses in the ,flanders mud2 ,and think there rests all-hallowed in each grave ,a life given freely for the world ,he died to save4 ,and1 ages hence1 dim tramping generations ,who never knew and cannot guess our pain-- ,though history count nothing less than nations1 ,and fame forget where grass has grown again-- ,shall yet remember that the world is free4 ,it is enough4 ,for this is immortality4 ,i raise my head1 ,o brother1 brother1 brother4 ,the organ sobs for triumph to my heart4 ,what6 ,who will think that ransomed earth can smother ,her own great soul1 of which you are a part6 ,the requiem music dies as if it knew ,the inviolate peace where 'tis already well with you4 ,,epilogue ,it's not as easy as you think1 ,the nettled poet sighed4 ,it's not as good as ,i could wish1 ,the publisher replied4 ,it might1 the kindly critic wrote1 ,have easily been worse4 ,we will not read it anyhow1 ,the public said1 it's verse4 ,,printed ,,at ,,the ,,complete ,,press ,,west ,,norwood1 ,,london ,,transcriber',s ,,note ,all unusual1 archaic and inconsistent spellings and usage have been maintained as in the original text4 ,the only changes made were3 ,in the original text1 the words polymtis and hoi polloi were written in ,greek4 ,i added the entries for ,in ,memoriam and ,acknowledgements to the ,table of ,contents4