When Frigates from Long Voyages ...
Reading edition
WHEN frigates from long voyages Drift into harbour, then I see Whirled momentary mirages Of inspissated greenery— Mazed mangroves casting their aerial roots, And diamond water-shoots Embroidering the air. And in the drowsy hanging-gardens there Roam slowly-swaying elephants; The fulgurant phœnix with her sycophants, Those trailing-plumèd birds of paradise, Sits on a cactus thorn. And gleaming in the ruby-veinèd morn Lie pools of liquid amber for the indolent crocodile To flounder in and dolorously smile. Spick diving gannets, speckled pelicans, Flutter with feather-footed ptarmigans. Orange-liveried marmosets Climb slender cypress minarets. Strange garrisons Of emerald-mailed chameleons, And peacocks, fans outspread as gonfalons, Shrill-voiced as amazons; Coiled dinosaurs that lap the hydromel From many a mauve-lipped shell.... The unicorns are neighing from afar, Where hills of cinnabar Loom high Like venomous Borgia-philtres on the sky.