Classic Poem

To C.B.

Omar, dying, left his dust
To the rose and vine in trust.

" Through a thousand springs " — said he,
" Mix your memories with me.

" Fire the sap that fills each bud
With an essence from my blood.

" When the garden glows with June
Use me through the scented noon,

" Till the heat's alchemic art
Fashions me in every part.

" You, whose petals strew the grass
Round my lone, inverted glass,

" Each impassioned atom mould
To a red bloom with core of gold.

" You, whose tendrils, soft as tears,
Touch me with remembered years,

" When your globing clusters shine,
Slow distil my dreams to wine,

" Till by many a sweet rebirth
Love and joy transmute my earth,

" Changing me, on some far day,
To a more ecstatic clay,

" Whence the Potter's craft sublime
Shall mould a shape to outlast Time. "

Omar's body, Omar's soul,
Breathe in beauty from this bowl,

At whose thronged, mysterious rim
Wan desires, enchantments dim,

Tears and laughter, life and death,
Fleeing love and fainting breath,

Seem to waver like a flame,
Dissolve, — yet ever rest the same,

Fixed by your art, while art shall be[,]
In passionate immobility.