Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE GOLDEN JOURNEY TO SAMARKAND: PROLOGUE, by JAMES ELROY FLECKER Poem Explanation Poet's Biography First Line: We who with songs beguile your pilgrimage Last Line: And earth is but a star, that once had shone. | ||||||||
We who with songs beguile your pilgrimage And swear that Beauty lives though lilies die, We Poets of the proud old lineage Who sing to find your hearts, we know not why, -- What shall we tell you? Tales, marvelous tales Of ships and stars and isles where good men rest, Where nevermore the rose of sunset pales, And winds and shadows fall toward the West: And there the world's first huge white-bearded kings In dim glades sleeping, murmur in their sleep, And closer round their breasts the ivy clings, Cutting its pathway slow and red and deep. II And how beguile you? Death has not repose Warmer and deeper than that Orient sand Which hides the beauty and bright faith of those Who made the Golden Jounrey to Samarkand. Amd now they wait and whiten peaceably, Those conquerors, those poets, those so fair: They know the time comes, not only you and I, But the whole world shall whiten, here or there; When those long caravans that cross the plain With dauntless feet and sound of silver bells Put forth no more for glory or for gain, Take no more solace from the palm-girt wells, When the great markets by the sea shut fast All that calm Sunday that goes on and on: When even lovers find their peace at last, And Earth is but a star, that once had shone. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE OLD SHIPS by JAMES ELROY FLECKER A FRAGMENT by JAMES ELROY FLECKER A MIRACLE OF BETHLEHEM by JAMES ELROY FLECKER A NEW YEAR'S CAROL by JAMES ELROY FLECKER A SACRED DIALOGUE (CHRISTMAS 1912) by JAMES ELROY FLECKER A WESTERN VOYAGE by JAMES ELROY FLECKER BALLAD OF CAMDEN TOWN by JAMES ELROY FLECKER BALLAD OF THE LONDONER by JAMES ELROY FLECKER BRUMANA by JAMES ELROY FLECKER |
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