My eyes are filmed, my beard is grey , I am bowed with the weight of years; I would I were stretched in my bed of clay, With my long lost youth's compeers; For back to the Past, though the thought brings woe, My memory ever glides- To the old, old time, long, long ago, The time of the Barmecides. To the old, old time, long, long ago, The time of the Barmecides. Then Youth was mine, and a fierce wild will, And an iron arm in war, And a fleet foot high upon Ishkar's hill, When the watch-lights glimmered afar, And a barb as fiery as any I know, That Khoord or Beddaween rides, Ere my friends lay low-long, long ago, In the time of the Barmecides; Ere my friends lay low-long, long ago, In the time of the Barmecides. One golden goblet illumed my board, One silver dish was there; At hand my tried Karamanian sword, Lay always bright and bare; For those were the days when the angry blow Supplanted the word that chides- When hearts could glow-long, long ago, In the time of the Barmecides; When hearts could glow-long, long ago, In the time of the Barmecides. Through city and desert my mates and I Were free to rove and roam, Our diapered canopy the deep of the sky, Or the roof of the palace dome- O! ours was that vivid life to and fro Which only sloth derides- Men spent Life so, long, long ago, In the time of the Barmecides, Men spent Life so, long, long ago, In the time of the Barmecides. I see rich Bagdad once again, With its turrets of Moorish mould, And the Khalif's twice five hundred men, Whose binishes flamed with gold; I call up many a gorgeous show- Which the Pall of Oblivion hides- All passed like snow, long, long ago, With the time of the Barmecides; All passed like snow, long, long ago, With the time of the Barmecides! But mine eye is dim, and my beard is grey, And I bend with the weight of years- May I soon go down to the House of Clay Where slumber my Youth's compeers! For with them and the Past, though the thought wakes woe, My memory ever abides; And I mourn for the Times gone long ago, For the Times of the Barmecides! I mourn for the Times gone long ago, For the Times of the Barmecides! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TROY PARK: 5. THE CAT by EDITH SITWELL THE TAY BRIDGE DISEASTER by WILLIAM MCGONAGALL TWO POEMS TO HANS THOMA ON HIS SIXIETH BIRTHDAY: 2. THE KNIGHT by RAINER MARIA RILKE TO A CONTEMPORARY BUNKSHOOTER by CARL SANDBURG LITTLE JOHN AND THE RED FRIAR; A LAY OF SHERWOOD by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN |