A PLEDGE TO HAFIZ. BRIM the bowls with Shiraz wine! Brim the bowls with Shiraz wine- With the summer warmth that glows We shall pledge his name aright. Hafiz, in whose measures move Youth and Beauty, Song and Love In his veins the nimble flood Was of wine, and not of blood. Youth is morning's transient ray; Time destroys what Beauty gives; But in Song the Poet lives. While we pledge him — thus — and thus He is present here in us; 'Tis his voice that cries, not mine : Brim the bowls with Shiraz wine! THE GARDEN OF IREM. HAVE you seen the Garden of Irem? Find me a path in the mists that gather And I will lead you thither. Give me a key to the halls of the sun Or a wand to open the vaults that run Who hath tasted its countless pleasures? Who hath breathed, in its winds of spice, Raptures deeper than Paradise? Who hath trodden its ivory floors, Where the fount drops pearl from a golden shell, And heard the hinges of diamond doors Swing to the music of Israfel? Its roses blossom, its palms arise, By the phantom stream that flows so fair Can you reach that flood, can you drink its tide, II. I have seen the Garden of Irem. I found it, but I sought it not: I found the enchanted spot : Without a key its golden gate stood wide. I was young, and strong, and bold, and free And the blood in my veins was like sap of the vine, Till the breathing blossoms that bring the wine Till deep in the Desert the spot I found, R Turning each on a newer glory: Mine were the roses whose bloom outran And the fabulous flowers of Persian story. Like one who lies on the marble lip Lest the beatific dream should slip, So did I lie in Irem's breast. Sweeter than Life and stronger than Death |