1.—An Ancient Chess King Dug From Some Ruins.
Haply some Rajah first in the ages gone1
Amid his languid ladies fingered thee,2
While a black nightingale, sun-swart as he,3
Sang his one wife, love’s passionate oraison ;4
Haply thou may’st have pleased Old Prester John5
Among his pastures, when full royally6
He sat in tent, grave shepherds at his knee,7
While lamps of balsam winked and glimmer’d on.8
What doest thou here ? Thy masters are all dead ;9
My heart is full of ruth and yearning pain10
At sight of thee, O king that hast a crown11
Outlasting theirs, and tell’st of greatness fled12
Through cloud-hung nights of unabated rain13
And murmurs of the dark majestic town.14