James Elroy Flecker

“ THE BLIND MAN Round the body of a child
A great dark flame runs wild.
What may this be?
THE STRANGER Look further, you shall see.
THE BLIND MAN Out on the sea of time and far away
The Empires sail like ships, and many years
Scatter before them in a mist of spray:
Beyond is mist—when the mist clears -
Enough—Away!—O friend, I would be there!
STRANGER It is most sure that God has heard his prayer.
(The stranger vanishes)
THE BEGGAR (Leading a troop of revellers from the house where they were singing)
Come, brothers, seek my friend and bring him in. ”

“ And you shall call me Emir of the Faithful, Redresser of Wrong, the Shadow of God on Earth, and Peacock of the World. But in this garden you are Hassan, and I am your friend Haroun, and you must address me as a friend a friend.
HASSAN (Kissing the CALIPH's hand) O master, you speak gently, but I must fear you all the more.
CALIPH But why? I am but a kindly man. I love single-heartedness in men as I love simplicity in my palace. There you have seen floors with but one carpet—but that carpet like a meadow. You have seen walls with but one curtain—but that curtain a sunset on the sea. ”

“ Those golden voices of the air:
"Friend, we will go to hell with thee,
Thy griefs, thy glories we will share,
And rule the earth, and bind the sea,
And set ten thousand devils free;—"
"What dost thou, stranger, at my side,
Thou gaunt old man accosting me?
Away, this is my night of pride!
On lunar seas my boat will glide
And I shall know the secret things."
The old man answered: "Woe betide!"
Said I "The world was made for kings:
To him who works and working sings
Come joy and majesty and power
And steadfast love with royal wings." ”

“ Singing in the silence of the meadow—footing rills,
Day of my dreams, O day!
I saw them march from Dover, long ago,
With a silver cross before them, singing low,
Monks of Rome from their home where the blue seas break in foam,
Augustine with his feet of snow.
Noon strikes on England, noon on Oxford town,
–Beauty she was statue cold–there’s blood upon her gown:
Noon of my dreams, O noon!
Proud and godly kings had built her, long ago,
With her towers and tombs and statues all arow,
With her fair and floral air and the love that lingers there,
And the streets where the great men go. ”

“ Beware, O Hassan, of jesting with the Jinn.
YASMIN
Buy, O Hassan, no more juice from Jews.
SELIM Much, I fear, O my friend, for thy character in the market. No more will men say: "Hassan is a safe man"; but they will nudge each other and say, "Beware of Hassan, Hassan is a great magician; he has talked with the spirit's of the air! Deal not with Hassan, O my son, Saadet, for he sells enchanted sweets that drive the consumer to madness. And at night Hassan becomes a cat, and walketh on the roofs after the female cats. ”

“ HASSAN (To himself) What if the Jews are an older race than we and know old forgotten secrets? Alas, I believe no more in these Israelitish sweets. Could those drops of purple liquid command the spirit of love? And yet, who can say? the young men of the market-place laugh at all enchantments—but do they know how to spin the sun? On a night like this, does not the very fountain sing in tune and enchant the dropping stones? Ah, Yasmin? (Taking a lute from beneath his cloak and a tuning it.) Yasmin...Yasmin...Yasmin...Yasmin. ”

“ O friend unseen, unborn, unknown,
Student of our sweet English tongue,
Read out my words at night, alone:
I was a poet, I was young.
Since I can never see your face,
And never shake you by the hand,
I send my soul through time and space
To greet you. You will understand.
RIOUPEROUX High and solemn mountains guard Riouperoux,
- Small untidy village where the river drives a mill:
Frail as wood anemones, white and frail were you,
And drooping a little, like the slender daffodil. ”

“ O shining servant of the evening star Whom no soft footfall of Lethean song Delighted, but a strong celestial war To batter down the gates of earthly wrong, To thee old Rhea yielded up her foison, Thou rash knight-errant of heroic love, That dreams and trances, being most vital poison To whoso looks but dares not live above, For thee, who wast more bold, Might lead to earth along light chains of gold, Lest some rebellious airs of spirit Should blow each image into windy space Nor leave it vocal, to inherit The toil and triumph of our mortal race. ”

“ ISHAK Hassan—where doth he lie? Hassan, O Hassan. Thou hast broken that gentle heart, Haroun, and I have broken my lute: I play no more for thee. Ah, why did they not tell me sooner— I fear his reason may have fled before I find him: he may be wandering in the streets to-night like Death, and tearing at his eyes. Hassan, oh, Hassan!
It is he: he lies just as I first saw him: beneath a fountain, face toward the moon. His life is rhyming like a song: it harks back to the old refrain. Is life a mirror wherein events show double? ”

“ No more on the long summer days shall we walk in the meadow-sweet ways
With the teachers of music and phrase, and the masters of dance and
design.
No more when the trumpeter calls shall we feast in the white-light halls;
For stayed are the soft footfalls of the moon-browed bearers of wine,
And lost are the statues of Kings and of Gods with great glorious wings,
And an empire of beautiful things, and the lips of the love who was mine.
We have vanished, but not into night, though our manhood we sold to
delight,
Neglecting the chances of fight, unfit for the spear and the bow. ”

“ Can frost the magic mirror of our loves.
Thence we shall see the sorrowful world of men,
Old castles fired, old mountains overturned,
Old majesties conculcate in the dust,
With short sad smiles for every thing destroyed.
Why do red eyes draw nearer? Husband, wake!
The palace is tired and falling! Not with love
Thy body’s life, that throbs within me, burns
Lucretius–those same eyes, grey Furies wear them,
They seethe in double dullness ’neath their own! ”

“ CALIPH
Sheathe thy sword, Masrur! Would you kill my friend?
MASRUR
I hear and obey.
CALIPH I must go swiftly to my palace. But to you, Ishak, I leave the care of this man you sent up to me in the basket, who proved the salvation of Bagdad. Teach him the ceremonies and regulations. Is my chair ready?
MASRUR
Ready, Lord and Master.
(Exit CALIPH in chair, and JAFAR and CROWD. ISHAK signs to those who would kiss HASSAN's feet to leave him.)
YASMIN
(On balcony opposite. Giving SELIM a great clout on the ear)
Go, leave my sight, you fool. I shall burst with fury. ”

“ RAFI By Allah, I am afraid of death, and the man who fears not death is a dullard and a fool! Are we still making speeches in full Divan to the admiration of the by-standers? Must we pose even now! If you hate me for fearing death, go your way and leave this coward. Ah, no, no, do not leave me, O Pervaneh! Forgive me that I am what I am. I have not unsaid my promise. I will die with you. I will die! I will endure the tortures that are thrice as terrible as death, the tortures that parch my mouth with fear.
PERVANEH
Shame on you, weak and shivering lover! What is pain for us? ”

“ CALIPH Therefore here and now, in the presence of all, I nominate Hassan to my court, to hold rank among my subjects second to none save to Jafar, my Grand Vizier.
YASMIN
(Who has been at her balcony with SELIM) O Allah!
CROWD
Honour to Hassan. Honour to Hassan.
HASSAN
Master, I sold confectionary in the market.
JAFAR
Thou shalt now confection the sweets of prosperity.
ISHAK
(To HASSAN) Why, Hassan. You are the man with the broken lute. ”

“ HASSAN
God, I shall fall!
SELIM (His face in YASMIN's bosom) Couldst thou but see, O my Uncle, the silver hills with their pomegranate groves; or the deep fountain in the swelling plain, or the Ethiopian who waters the roses in the garden, or the great lamp between the columns where the incense of love is burned. How can I thank thee, O my Uncle, for the name and address, and half the old Jew's dinars!
YASMIN How can I thank thee, O my Uncle, for sending me this strong and straight young friend of thine to console my loneliness and desolation? Ah, it is bitter to be a widow and so young! ”

“ Oh, cruel destiny, thou hast made me a common man with a common trade. My friends are fellows from the market, and all my worthless family is dead. Had I been rich, ah me! how deep had been my delight in matters of the soul, in poetry and music and pictures, and companions who do not jeer and grin, and above all, and in the colours of rich carpets and expensive silks. But be content, O artist: thou hast one carpet; be content, O confectioner: thou hast one love—one love, but unattained...yet hadst thou been rich, O confectioner, never hadst thou found her. ”

“ HASSAN
But you are his friend.
ISHAK As you are. It is elegant for a monarch to condescend: it is refreshing for a monarch to talk as man to man. It is artistic for a monarch to enjoy the pleasures of contrast and escape the formalities of Court.... But here comes the preceder of the Caliph, the penultimate splendour of the divan, a man noble without passion, sagacious without inspiration, and weak as a miser's coffee.
HERALD The Tulip of the Parterre of Government, the Shadow of the Cypress Tree, the Sun's Moon, Jafar the Barmecide. ”

“ HASSAN
The broken lute? The broken lute?
ISHAK
Here you were lying, at this fountain, like one dead.
HASSAN
Was it here? Is that the balcony? Who are you? What do you know?
ISHAK
Quietly, friend, quietly, your head is weak with joy.
HASSAN
With joy? Do I know what is true or false? Do I know if the Caliph
is the Caliph? And if the Caliph is the Caliph may he not mock me too?
What is joy? Let me look at that balcony for joy. I dare not look,
I fear she is there. Ah. it is she.
(YASMIN takes the rose from her hair and flings it at HASSAN, then retires within.) ”

“ CALIPH Also when one has a vengeance to wreak on the Caliph and a claim on a lady of his household.
MASRUR
Why do you want to nail him in his coffin alive? Tell us the tale.
JAFAR
Tell us, if would not have us think you a mad man or a buffoon.
CALIPH Tell us about the woman; what harm can do you since we are in your power?
RAFI (After hesitation) Yes, what harm can it do, if for my own sake, to relieve the heaviness of my heart, I tell you something of my story?
My name is Rafi. I come from the hills beyond Mosul, where the men walk free and the women go unveiled. ”