Poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson Part 29

Except the amber morning wind, Not one salutes me here; There is no lover in all Bagdat To offer the exile cheer.

I know that thou, O morning wind!

O'er Kernan's meadow blowest, And thou, heart-warming nightingale!

My father's orchard knowest.

The merchant hath stuffs of price, And gems from the sea-washed strand, And princes offer me grace To stay in the Syrian land;

But what is gold _for_, but for gifts?

And dark, without love, is the day; And all that I see in Bagdat Is the Tigris to float me away.

FROM HAFIZ

I said to heaven that glowed above, O hide yon sun-filled zone, Hide all the stars you boast; For, in the world of love And estimation true, The heaped-up harvest of the moon Is worth one barley-corn at most, The Pleiads' sheaf but two.

If my darling should depart, And search the skies for prouder friends, G.o.d forbid my angry heart In other love should seek amends.

When the blue horizon's hoop Me a little pinches here, Instant to my grave I stoop, And go find thee in the sphere.

EPITAPH

Bethink, poor heart, what bitter kind of jest Mad Destiny this tender stripling played; For a warm breast of maiden to his breast, She laid a slab of marble on his head.

They say, through patience, chalk Becomes a ruby stone; Ah, yes! but by the true heart's blood The chalk is crimson grown.

FRIENDSHIP

Thou foolish Hafiz! Say, do churls Know the worth of Oman's pearls?

Give the gem which dims the moon To the n.o.blest, or to none.

Dearest, where thy shadow falls, Beauty sits and Music calls; Where thy form and favor come, All good creatures have their home.

On prince or bride no diamond stone Half so gracious ever shone, As the light of enterprise Beaming from a young man's eyes.

FROM OMAR KHAYYAM

Each spot where tulips prank their state Has drunk the life-blood of the great; The violets yon field which stain Are moles of beauties Time hath slain.

Unbar the door, since thou the Opener art, Show me the forward way, since thou art guide, I put no faith in pilot or in chart, Since they are transient, and thou dost abide.

FROM ALI BEN ABU TALEB

He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, And he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.

On two days it steads not to run from thy grave, The appointed, and the unappointed day; On the first, neither balm nor physician can save, Nor thee, on the second, the Universe slay.

FROM IBN JEMIN

Two things thou shalt not long for, if thou love a mind serene;-- A woman to thy wife, though she were a crowned queen; And the second, borrowed money,--though the smiling lender say That he will not demand the debt until the Judgment Day.

THE FLUTE

FROM HILALI

Hark, what, now loud, now low, the pining flute complains, Without tongue, yellow-cheeked, full of winds that wail and sigh; Saying, Sweetheart! the old mystery remains,-- If I am I; thou, thou; or thou art I?

TO THE SHAH

FROM HAFIZ

Thy foes to hunt, thy enviers to strike down, Poises Arcturus aloft morning and evening his spear.

TO THE SHAH

FROM ENWERI

Not in their houses stand the stars, But o'er the pinnacles of thine!