A Caravan from China comes (After Hafiz)

By Richard Le Gallienne

1866-1947

A caravan from China comes;
         For miles it sweetens all the air
With fragrant silks and dreaming gums,
         Attar and myrrh --
A caravan from China comes.

O merchant, tell me what you bring,
         With music sweet of camel bells;
How long have you been travelling
         With these sweet smells?
O merchant, tell me what you bring.

A lovely lady is my freight,
         A lock escaped of her long hair, --
That is this perfume delicate
         That fills the air --
A lovely lady is my freight.

Her face is from another land,
         I think she is no mortal maid, --
Her beauty, like some ghostly hand,
         Makes me afraid;
Her face is from another land.

The little moon my cargo is,
         About her neck the Pleiades
Clasp hands and sing; Hafiz, 't is this
         Perfumes the breeze --
The little moon my cargo is.

DayPoems Poem No. 1197
<a href="http://www.daypoems.net/poems/1197.html">A Caravan from China comes (After Hafiz) by Richard Le Gallienne</a>

The DayPoems Poetry Collection, www.daypoems.net
Timothy Bovee, editor

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