Vachel Lindsay (Вэчел Линдсей)
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.
Vachel Lindsay’s other poems:
- I Heard Immanuel Singing
- The Potatoes’ Dance
- Our Mother Pocahontas
- When Gassy Thompson Struck It Rich
- Incense
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