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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WANDERER: 2. IN FRANCE: SORCERY, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: You're a milk-white panther
Last Line: Night is coming forth. Arise!
Alternate Author Name(s): Meredith, Owen; Lytton, 1st Earl Of; Lytton, Robert
Subject(s): France; Travel; Journeys; Trips


YOU're a milk-white Panther:
I'm a Genius of the air.
You're a Princess once enchanted;
That is why you seem so fair.

For a crime untold, unwritten,
That was done an age ago,
I have lost my wings, and wander
In the wilderness below.

In a dream too long indulged,
In a Palace by the sea,
You were changed to what you are
By a muttered sorcery.

Your name came on my lips
When I first looked in your eyes:
At my feet you fawned, you knew me
In despite of all disguise.

The black elephants of Delhi
Are the wisest of their kind,
And the libbards of Soumatra
Are full of eyes behind:

But they guessed not, they divined not,
They believed me of the earth,
When I walked among them, mourning
For the region of my birth.

Till I found you in the moonlight.
Then at once I knew it all.
You were sleeping in the sand here,
But you wakened to my call.

I knew why, in your slumber,
You were moaning piteously:
You heard a sound of harping
From a Palace by the sea.

Through the wilderness together
We must wander everywhere,
Till we find the magic berry
That shall make us what we were.

'T is a berry sweet and bitter,
I have heard; there is but one;
On a tall tree, by a fountain,
In the desert all alone.

When at last 't is found and eaten,
We shall both be what we were;
You, a Princess of the water,
I, a Genius of the air.

See! the Occident is flaring
Far behind us in the skies,
And our shadows float before us.
Night is coming forth. Arise!





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