Page:Anthology of Magazine Verse (1921).djvu/90
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BORASAN
In the desert near Khotan
Lie the bones of Borasan.
Once its roofs were red and blue
Where the pear and poplar grew;
Once where river barges rode
Rainbow stuffs of barter glowed,—
Peacock plumes and scarlet wool,
Silver fish from Kara-Kul,
Apricots and carven jades,
Mills for prayer, beaten blades.
Mounded now are sands above
Buried barter, buried love,
Only winds that burrow deep
Tumble sunward from their sleep
Rings engreened upon the bone,
Buddhas smiling in blue stone,
Coins, combs, toys, the dust of vases,
Walls the restless sand effaces.
Lie the bones of Borasan.
Once its roofs were red and blue
Where the pear and poplar grew;
Once where river barges rode
Rainbow stuffs of barter glowed,—
Peacock plumes and scarlet wool,
Silver fish from Kara-Kul,
Apricots and carven jades,
Mills for prayer, beaten blades.
Mounded now are sands above
Buried barter, buried love,
Only winds that burrow deep
Tumble sunward from their sleep
Rings engreened upon the bone,
Buddhas smiling in blue stone,
Coins, combs, toys, the dust of vases,
Walls the restless sand effaces.
Men with sword and torch and shout
Did not blot that city out.
Men were sand to pass and pass,
Gleam and shadow, through her glass.
Did not blot that city out.
Men were sand to pass and pass,
Gleam and shadow, through her glass.
Buddha begging with a bowl
Spread the white peace of his soul.
Spread the white peace of his soul.
Eyes beneath a shading hand,
Gazing eastward over sand,
Alexander, desert-burned,
Dreamed, and looked his fill, and turned.
Gazing eastward over sand,
Alexander, desert-burned,
Dreamed, and looked his fill, and turned.
Westward riding Ghengis Khan
Stopped to ask of Borasan
Seven asses heaped with pearls,
Meat and millet, fifty girls.
These he got, and did not stay. . .
Stopped to ask of Borasan
Seven asses heaped with pearls,
Meat and millet, fifty girls.
These he got, and did not stay. . .
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