Poem by Vachel Lindsay

Aladdin and the Jinn

”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.

1. The Drunkards in the Street
2. With a Bouquet of Twelve Roses
3. The Leaden-Eyed
4. What the Gray-Winged Fairy Said
5. What the Sexton Said

Print

1207 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version