登陆注册
26288000000031

第31章 XXVIII(4)

Or those red-curtained panes, Whence a tame cornet tenored it throatily Of beer-pots and spittoons and new long pipes, Might turn a caravansery's, wherein You found Noureddin Ali, loftily drunk, And that fair Persian, bathed in tears, You'd not have given away For all the diamonds in the Vale Perilous You had that dark and disleaved afternoon Escaped on a roc's claw, Disguised like Sindbad--but in Christmas beef!

And all the blissful while The schoolboy satchel at your hip Was such a bulse of gems as should amaze Grey-whiskered chapmen drawn From over Caspian: yea, the Chief Jewellers Of Tartary and the bazaars, Seething with traffic, of enormous Ind. -

Thus cried, thus called aloud, to the child heart The magian East: thus the child eyes Spelled out the wizard message by the light Of the sober, workaday hours They saw, week in week out, pass, and still pass In the sleepy Minster City, folded kind In ancient Severn's arm, Amongst her water-meadows and her docks, Whose floating populace of ships -

Galliots and luggers, light-heeled brigantines, Bluff barques and rake-hell fore-and-afters--brought To her very doorsteps and geraniums The scents of the World's End; the calls That may not be gainsaid to rise and ride Like fire on some high errand of the race;

The irresistible appeals For comradeship that sound Steadily from the irresistible sea.

Thus the East laughed and whispered, and the tale, Telling itself anew In terms of living, labouring life, Took on the colours, busked it in the wear Of life that lived and laboured; and Romance, The Angel-Playmate, raining down His golden influences On all I saw, and all I dreamed and did, Walked with me arm in arm, Or left me, as one bediademed with straws And bits of glass, to gladden at my heart Who had the gift to seek and feel and find His fiery-hearted presence everywhere.

Even so dear Hesper, bringer of all good things, Sends the same silver dews Of happiness down her dim, delighted skies On some poor collier-hamlet--(mound on mound Of sifted squalor; here a soot-throated stalk Sullenly smoking over a row Of flat-faced hovels; black in the gritty air A web of rails and wheels and beams; with strings Of hurtling, tipping trams) -

As on the amorous nightingales And roses of Shiraz, or the walls and towers Of Samarcand--the Ineffable--whence you espy The splendour of Ginnistan's embattled spears, Like listed lightnings.

Samarcand!

That name of names! That star-vaned belvedere Builded against the Chambers of the South!

That outpost on the Infinite!

And behold!

Questing therefrom, you knew not what wild tide Might overtake you: for one fringe, One suburb, is stablished on firm earth; but one Floats founded vague In lubberlands delectable--isles of palm And lotus, fortunate mains, far-shimmering seas, The promise of wistful hills -

The shining, shifting Sovranties of Dream.

BRIC-A-BRAC

'The tune of the time.'--HAMLET, concerning OSRIC

BALLADE OF A TOYOKUNI COLOUR-PRINT--To W. A.

Was I a Samurai renowned, Two-sworded, fierce, immense of bow?

A histrion angular and profound?

A priest? a porter?--Child, although I have forgotten clean, I know That in the shade of Fujisan, What time the cherry-orchards blow, I loved you once in old Japan.

As here you loiter, flowing-gowned And hugely sashed, with pins a-row Your quaint head as with flamelets crowned, Demure, inviting--even so, When merry maids in Miyako To feel the sweet o' the year began, And green gardens to overflow, I loved you once in old Japan.

Clear shine the hills; the rice-fields round Two cranes are circling; sleepy and slow, A blue canal the lake's blue bound Breaks at the bamboo bridge; and lo!

Touched with the sundown's spirit and glow, I see you turn, with flirted fan, Against the plum-tree's bloomy snow . . .

I loved you once in old Japan!

Envoy Dear, 'twas a dozen lives ago;

But that I was a lucky man The Toyokuni here will show:

I loved you--once--in old Japan.

BALLADE (DOUBLE REFRAIN) OF YOUTH AND AGE--I. M. Thomas Edward Brown (1829-1896)

Spring at her height on a morn at prime, Sails that laugh from a flying squall, Pomp of harmony, rapture of rhyme -

Youth is the sign of them, one and all.

Winter sunsets and leaves that fall, An empty flagon, a folded page, A tumble-down wheel, a tattered ball -

These are a type of the world of Age.

Bells that clash in a gaudy chime, Swords that clatter in onsets tall, The words that ring and the fames that climb -

Youth is the sign of them, one and all.

Hymnals old in a dusty stall, A bald, blind bird in a crazy cage, The scene of a faded festival -

These are a type of the world of Age.

Hours that strut as the heirs of time, Deeds whose rumour's a clarion-call, Songs where the singers their souls sublime -

Youth is the sign of them, one and all.

A staff that rests in a nook of wall, A reeling battle, a rusted gage, The chant of a nearing funeral -

These are a type of the world of Age.

Envoy Struggle and turmoil, revel and brawl -

Youth is the sign of them, one and all.

A smouldering hearth and a silent stage -

These are a type of the world of Age.

BALLADE (DOUBLE REFRAIN) OF MIDSUMMER DAYS AND NIGHTS--To W. H.

With a ripple of leaves and a tinkle of streams The full world rolls in a rhythm of praise, And the winds are one with the clouds and beams -

Midsummer days! Midsummer days!

The dusk grows vast; in a purple haze, While the West from a rapture of sunset rights, Faint stars their exquisite lamps upraise -

Midsummer nights! O midsummer nights!

The wood's green heart is a nest of dreams, The lush grass thickens and springs and sways, The rathe wheat rustles, the landscape gleams -

Midsummer days! Midsummer days!

In the stilly fields, in the stilly ways, All secret shadows and mystic lights, Late lovers murmur and linger and gaze -

Midsummer nights! O midsummer nights!

There's a music of bells from the trampling teams, Wild skylarks hover, the gorses blaze, The rich, ripe rose as with incense steams -

Midsummer days! Midsummer days!

同类推荐
  • 东观汉记

    东观汉记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 广百论释论

    广百论释论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 匋雅

    匋雅

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 兼明书

    兼明书

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 现在贤劫千佛名经

    现在贤劫千佛名经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 三姑别跑我还未断奶

    三姑别跑我还未断奶

    【凌云阁.逃离版】有人说她是天生的阴谋家,有人说她是我国提倡礼义廉耻后老天最失败的作品,但更多的人说她根本就是一名彻彻底底的女流氓.这是一个逃离组织的雇佣兵,利用武力与智慧,不断成长,游走于黑白两道之间,撑起属于自己的商业帝国的传奇!黑道腥风血雨,从初时的强自镇定到而后的冷静从容,从身份低微的工人子女到黑道毒途神话般的存在!蜕变在每时每刻……乱世出枭雄,盛世出人才!当枭雄与人才汇聚于一个人身上,这世界将会有怎样的改变且看她如何一步步将这世界玩弄于鼓掌之中!本文涉及黑白两道,校园商战,玄幻修仙,政治金融。粒子已全副武装,坐等妹纸来扒!
  • 专宠N加1:神偷小姐戏美男

    专宠N加1:神偷小姐戏美男

    “师傅真是好心,哈哈,这可是上古神器呀”突然一阵晃动,蒋依依遍晕了过去。我去,这是神马情况??拍戏吗?自己不是应该在山洞里吗?“你哪里跑?站住。”哈哈这个钱袋这么鼓,看来最近不用愁了。碧云山庄的少庄主?当今三皇子殿下?锦城最大商人家的少爷?摊上大事了,蒋依依啊,你究竟惹了什么样的人物啊?
  • 慕先生的于小姐

    慕先生的于小姐

    一个明星和总统的故事!只需一眼,便能改变一生!她在大学里遇到他,之后便一系例的事,因此找到身世,进入演艺圈,让她成为全尊贵的女人。
  • 某凡的东方幻想乡

    某凡的东方幻想乡

    乃们不要小看黑历史啊,它不仅仅能够剧透,还能够凑上一卷的字数啊!(口胡)自杀未遂的少年穿越回了侏罗纪,神奇的遇到了对自己怀有莫大好感的神秘少女。凡哲:“我们这个时候只要慢慢刷这个少女的好感度,然后就可以触发啪啪啪剧情了。"原本对于这种遭遇想都不敢想的少年终于可以体会到这种轻小说设定般生活,可事实却没少年想的那么简单。神绮:“凡哲,我们一起创造出属于我们两个人的世界吧!"凡哲:“呐尼?!"
  • 异常者

    异常者

    标签和类型都超难选……一个有杀人坐牢前科的女主怎么追求一个外表精英实际上是隐藏的精神病患者男主的故事,除此之外还有各式各样的怪胎精神病心理障碍各类异常的登场。
  • 快穿系统:十世一生

    快穿系统:十世一生

    她出身富贵,却缺少亲情、友情、爱情系统中几世轮回,让她找回了失落的感情
  • 魔幻记忆100%

    魔幻记忆100%

    诺贝尔奖获得者都有着惊人的记忆力,这是他们成功的基石。一目十行,过目成诵,不是你所期望的吗?杰出诗人泰戈尔在幼年时记住了很多歌谣,4岁时便能读书,8岁时就能掌握4种语言;著名科学家卢瑟福,1岁半就能读书认字,5岁就能背出50多行的拉丁文诗歌;著名小说家罗曼·罗兰,对各式的花朵及食品,一嗅就能正确地分辨出它们的香味来。
  • 上海太昂贵

    上海太昂贵

    如果你爱TA,就送TA来上海,因为这里是天堂;如果你恨TA,就让TA来上海,因为这里是地狱。天堂和地狱之间,只隔着一件东西:钱。日本人说,上海是魔都。英国人说,金钱就是上海的未来。郭敬明说,上海可以满足你的一切物质需求。大上海说,请买单。我们说,请翻书。
  • 御凰天下

    御凰天下

    如画江山,金戈铁马。华宫似锦,却栖离殇燕……她是绝色千姿的风华才女,终也是万民爱戴的倾懿贵妃,只因那琉璃一瞬,那苍茫一眼,从此便是万劫不复,永世沉沦。他是骁勇善战,风流俊气的心机帝王,他不专情,不独情,情爱二字不过是他眼中渺小的烟尘,直到遇见她弯弯眉眼,立水而舞,烽烟战场,傲然决绝。而后,心如磐石,待她蒲苇来。他是才艳天下的枫兰公子,璧山游水,待其终生之付。她是婀娜多姿的绝色美人,却是心难满,终离恨。太多的错综复杂,交织成这盛世荣华背后的爱恨情仇。风华满却,君心仍在。“待你我老去之时,扁舟轻泛,共话斜阳。你说可好?”“到那时……愿到那时……”“会的。”
  • 夫君是疯子

    夫君是疯子

    当我在和夫君成亲的时候,我们俩天造地设般的默契。我逃婚,他也逃婚。虽然我走的是门,他爬的是窗。师父让我下山悟大道,我却是在先结婚后恋爱。--情节虚构,请勿模仿