Vachel Lindsay
"Bring me soft song," said
Aladdin.
"This tailor-shop sings not at all.
Chant me a word of the
twilight,
Of roses that mourn in the fall.
Bring me a song like
hashish
That will comfort the stale and the sad,
For I would be mending my
spirit,
Forgetting these days that are bad,
Forgetting companions too
shallow,
Their quarrels and arguments thin,
Forgetting the shouting
Muezzin:"--
"I AM YOUR SLAVE," said the Jinn.
"Bring me old wines,"
said Aladdin.
"I have been a starved pauper too long.
Serve them in
vessels of jade and of shell,
Serve them with fruit and with song:--
Wines
of pre-Adamite Sultans
Digged from beneath the black seas:--
New-gathered
dew from the heavens
Dripped down from Heaven's sweet trees,
Cups from the
angels' pale tables
That will make me both handsome and wise,
For I have
beheld her, the princess,
Firelight and starlight her eyes.
Pauper I am, I
would woo her.
And--let me drink wine, to begin,
Though the Koran
expressly forbids it."
"I AM YOUR SLAVE," said the Jinn.
"Plan me a
dome," said Aladdin,
"That is drawn like the dawn of the MOON,
When the
sphere seems to rest on the mountains,
Half-hidden, yet full-risen soon."
Build me a dome," said Aladdin,"
That shall cause all young lovers to
sigh,
The fullness of life and of beauty,
Peace beyond peace to the
eye--
A palace of foam and of opal,
Pure moonlight without and
within,
Where I may enthrone my sweet lady."
"I AM YOUR SLAVE," said the
Jinn.