Page:Anthology of Magazine Verse (1921).djvu/91
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Marco Polo went this way . . .
Over tundras, God-enticed,
Friars crept to preach their Christ. . . .
Friars crept to preach their Christ. . . .
Still the camels through the gates
Coughed beneath their swaying freights;
Brown-legged boatmen from the stream
Made the palace parrots scream,
Till the peach and melon land
Shrank between the seas of sand,
Till the sand was drifted, drifted,
Slowly through the poplars sifted,
Reached at last the river's edge,
Slowly builded bar and ledge,
Till the crystal ribbon dried
To a crystal thread, and died,
And the green of melon plots
And the gold of apricots
Sank like sunlight into sand—
Till the wind upheaved the land,
And the earth, that mothered man,
Whelmed him there in Borasan.
Coughed beneath their swaying freights;
Brown-legged boatmen from the stream
Made the palace parrots scream,
Till the peach and melon land
Shrank between the seas of sand,
Till the sand was drifted, drifted,
Slowly through the poplars sifted,
Reached at last the river's edge,
Slowly builded bar and ledge,
Till the crystal ribbon dried
To a crystal thread, and died,
And the green of melon plots
And the gold of apricots
Sank like sunlight into sand—
Till the wind upheaved the land,
And the earth, that mothered man,
Whelmed him there in Borasan.
Northward still the river runs
Unsubdued by sand or suns,
Northward still the poplars press
On its living loveliness.
Here the reeds are tall in spring,
Wild geese mate and finches sing,
Here the shepherds drive their sheep,—
Build themselves for shade and sleep
Huts of woven reeds, and make
Out of maize a simple cake.
How to bake and herd and shear,—
That is all of knowledge here.
Once perhaps their fathers knew
Pointed roofs of red and blue,
Unsubdued by sand or suns,
Northward still the poplars press
On its living loveliness.
Here the reeds are tall in spring,
Wild geese mate and finches sing,
Here the shepherds drive their sheep,—
Build themselves for shade and sleep
Huts of woven reeds, and make
Out of maize a simple cake.
How to bake and herd and shear,—
That is all of knowledge here.
Once perhaps their fathers knew
Pointed roofs of red and blue,
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