A Caravan From China Comes (After Hafiz) Poem by Richard Le Gallienne

A caravan from China comes;
   For miles it sweetens all the air
With fragrant silks and dreaming gums,
   Attar and myrrh --
A caravan from China comes.

O merchant, tell me what you bring,
   With music sweet of camel bells;
How long have you been travelling
   With these sweet smells?
O merchant, tell me what you bring.

A lovely lady is my freight,
   A lock escaped of her long hair, --
That is this perfume delicate
   That fills the air --
A lovely lady is my freight.

Her face is from another land,
   I think she is no mortal maid, --
Her beauty, like some ghostly hand,
   Makes me afraid;
Her face is from another land.

The little moon my cargo is,
   About her neck the Pleiades
Clasp hands and sing; Hafiz, 't is this
   Perfumes the breeze --
The little moon my cargo is.