Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


CALIPH'S ENCAMPMENT by THOMAS MOORE

First Line: WHOSE ARE THE GILDED TENTS THAT

Whose are the gilded tents that crowd the way,
Where all was waste and silent yesterday?
This City of War which, in a few short hours,
Hath sprung up here, as if the magic powers
Of Him who, in the twinkling of a star,
Built the high pillared halls of CHILMINAR,
Had conjur'd up, far as the eye can see,
This world of tents and domes and sunbright armory:--
Princely pavilions screened by many a fold
Of crimson cloth and topt with balls of gold:--
Steeds with their housings of rich silver spun,
Their chains and poitrels glittering in the sun;
nd camels tufted o'er with Yemen's shells
Shaking in every breeze their light-toned bells!




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