Page:Anthology of Magazine Verse (1921).djvu/117
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Scheherazade!
Scheherazade!
Scheherazade!
The cosmos flowers, my Dove,
Are as thine enticing eyes, and the slender grace of their stems
Thy languid body that leans and sways and allures,
Weary of telling thy tales and glad of illicit love,
Scheherazade, soul of the cosmos flower!
Are as thine enticing eyes, and the slender grace of their stems
Thy languid body that leans and sways and allures,
Weary of telling thy tales and glad of illicit love,
Scheherazade, soul of the cosmos flower!
Behold, in thy chamber, above the fountain fall,
The hidden silver fingers of women sound on lutes,
Chanting from latticed recesses
Surâhs out of Al Koran, the Wisdom of God;
Thy companions, in blue trousers,
One by one steal away to hidden rooms
Where slaves or lovers await to embrace them all night long;
And at thy command the glistening negroes come,
Bare of breast, and turbanned in white, with trays
Of coloured sherbets, and dates, and lemons, and sweets,
And a eunuch walks at their head,
Grave and useless to thee, O Moon, for love, whose master
Is hunting to-day the lion, but I, O Delight,
Thy slave, the Gardener's Son, in blue and gold
Lie beside thee upon the tiger skins,
Eager for love and knowing to-morrow I die.
The hidden silver fingers of women sound on lutes,
Chanting from latticed recesses
Surâhs out of Al Koran, the Wisdom of God;
Thy companions, in blue trousers,
One by one steal away to hidden rooms
Where slaves or lovers await to embrace them all night long;
And at thy command the glistening negroes come,
Bare of breast, and turbanned in white, with trays
Of coloured sherbets, and dates, and lemons, and sweets,
And a eunuch walks at their head,
Grave and useless to thee, O Moon, for love, whose master
Is hunting to-day the lion, but I, O Delight,
Thy slave, the Gardener's Son, in blue and gold
Lie beside thee upon the tiger skins,
Eager for love and knowing to-morrow I die.
Scheherazade!
Scheherazade!
Scheherazade!
Fate is fate, O My Soul!
Thy moon-like eyes, thy thin, sweet eyebrows, the breasts
Hid and revealed by thy silken vests, the alluring
Mouth, the tapering nails, and the slippered feet—
Save only to-day are dust, but the cosmos flower
Thy moon-like eyes, thy thin, sweet eyebrows, the breasts
Hid and revealed by thy silken vests, the alluring
Mouth, the tapering nails, and the slippered feet—
Save only to-day are dust, but the cosmos flower
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