FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50  
51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   >>   >|  
speech by the way, but not touching his sorrow-- Rather his red Yesterday and his regal To-morrow, Wherein he statelily moved to the clink of his chains unregarded, Nowise abashed but contented to drink of the potion awarded. Saluting aloofly his Fate, he made swift with his story, And the words of his mouth were as slaves spreading carpets of glory Embroidered with names of the Djinns--a miraculous weaving-- But the cool and perspicuous eye overbore unbelieving. So I submitted myself to the limits of rapture-- Bound by this man we had bound, amid captives his capture-- Till he returned me to earth and the visions departed. But on him be the Peace and the Blessing; for he was great-hearted! THE PUZZLER The Celt in all his variants from Builth to Ballyhoo, His mental processes are plain--one knows what he will do, And can logically predicate his finish by his start; But the English--ah, the English--they are quite a race apart. Their psychology is bovine, their outlook crude and raw. They abandon vital matters to be tickled with a straw, But the straw that they were tickled with--the chaff that they were fed with-- They convert into a weaver's beam to break their foeman's head with. For undemocratic reasons and for motives not of State, They arrive at their conclusions--largely inarticulate. Being void of self-expression they confide their views to none; But sometimes in a smoking-room, one learns why things were done. Yes, sometimes in a smoking-room, through clouds of 'Ers' and 'Ums,' Obliquely and by inference illumination comes, On some step that they have taken, or some action they approve-- Embellished with the _argot_ of the Upper Fourth Remove. In telegraphic sentences, half nodded to their friends, They hint a matter's inwardness--and there the matter ends. And while the Celt is talking from Valencia to Kirkwall, The English--ah, the English!--don't say anything at all! HADRAMAUTI Who knows the heart of the Christian? How does he reason? What are his measures and balances? Which is his season For laughter, forbearance or bloodshed, and what devils move him When he arises to smite us? _I_ do not love him. He invites the derision of strangers--he enters all places. Booted, bareheaded he enters. With shouts and embraces He asks of us news of the household whom we reckon nameless. Certainly Allah created him forty-fold shameless. So it is not in the Desert. One came to m
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50  
51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

English

 

matter

 
smoking
 
tickled
 
enters
 

Certainly

 

nameless

 

reckon

 

illumination

 

inference


Obliquely

 

embraces

 

approve

 

action

 

household

 
clouds
 

Embellished

 
shouts
 

expression

 
confide

conclusions

 

largely

 
inarticulate
 

learns

 

things

 

created

 

Desert

 

shameless

 

Fourth

 

Christian


reason

 
invites
 

HADRAMAUTI

 

measures

 

devils

 

arises

 

bloodshed

 

forbearance

 

balances

 

season


laughter

 

telegraphic

 

places

 

sentences

 

nodded

 

Booted

 
bareheaded
 
Remove
 
friends
 

strangers