Page:The Poems of John Dyer (1903).djvu/120

The kingdoms round, our drap'ries are dispers'd,
O'er Bukor, Cabul, and the Bactrian vales, 345
And Cassimere, and Atoc, on the stream
Of old Hydaspes, Porus' hardy realm ;
And late-discover'd Tibet, where the Fleece,
By art peculiar, is compress'd and wrought
To threadless drapery, which in conic forms 350
Of various hues their gaudy roofs adorns.
The keels which voyage thro' Molucca's Straits
Amid a cloud of spicy odours sail,
From Java and Sumatra breath'd, whose woods
Yield fiery pepper, that destroys the moth 355
In woolly vestures. Ternate and Tidore
Give to the festal board the fragrant clove
And nutmeg, to those narrow bounds confin'd,
While gracious Nature, with unsparing hand,
The needs of life o'er every region pours. 360
Near those delicious isles the beauteous coast
Of China rears its summits. Know ye not,
Ye sons of Trade ! that ever-flow'ry shore,
Those azure hills, those woods and nodding rocks ?
Compare them with the pictures of your chart ; 365
Alike the woods and nodding rocks o'erhang.
Now the tall glossy tow'rs of porcelain
And pillar'd pagod shine ; rejoic'd they see
The port of Canton opening to their prows,
And in the winding of the river moor v 370
Upon the strand they heap their glossy bales ;
And works of Birmingham, in brass or steel,
And flint, and pond'rous lead, from deep cells rais'd,
Fit ballast in the fury of the storm,
That tears the shrouds, and bends the stubborn mast : 375
These for the artists of the Fleece procure
Various materials ; and for affluent life