Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE CARAVAN From underneath the carob shade, A wavering line of gray and white, I watch it lose its form and fade Like dreams across the face of night. Whither it goes I can but guess; Haply where ruined Tadmor stands, The voiceless haunt of loneliness, Amid the desert's swirling sands; Or toward the Tigris' tawny tide Into that land of ancient thrift Where Bagdad's rich bazaars spread wide, And Haroun's minarets uplift; Or toward the swart Arabian skies, The home of sempiternal calms, Where pilgrims seek their paradise Through Mecca, girdled with its palms. Yet howsoe'er it fares, I fare; In buoyant spirit I am one With those that drink the untrammeled air, The nomad children of the sun. OUT OF THE ORIENT Sandaled with silence, on I press, Rousing before the flower of morn, Through spaces where forgetfulness Seems to have dwelt since Time was born. And when, with soothing touch, comes night After the round of jars and joys, Above the head, in Allah's sight, The hosts of heaven wheel and poise. Throughout the strangely tranquil days I join in prayer and fast and feast, Looking on life with long, slow gaze As does the fatalistic East. And then — and then — the goal! — Ah, me! At last, wherever rangeth man, How well we know that there must be One bourn for every caravan! THE RIDE We rose in the clear, cool dawning, and greeted the eastern star; "To saddle!" — our shout rang sharply out by the huts of Kerf Hawar. The dervish slept by the wayside, the dog still dozed by the door, The yashmaked maid, with her water-jar, bent low by the swift stream's shore. The poplar leaves, as we mounted, turned white in the veering wind, And the icy peak of Hermon shone pyramidal behind. We had loo...