Had lingered, mid the Muslim worshippers;
To Itimad-ud-Dowlah's sepulchre—
By will of Nourmahal, "Light of the world,"
Upreared and carved—we had made pilgrimage;
And, at Sikandra, to great Akbar's tomb;
And once, and twice, and thrice, to Taj-Mahal.
Ah, the white wonder! Have there been who came
And gazed,—and laid staff and surveying chain
Along thy sacred sides, Fairest of fanes!
To turn away, saying, "The plan errs thus!
The plinth lacks this! the arch was ill-conceived!
'T is but a cube of stone with angles lopped!
Much seems yet needed to the architraves!
The lattice gives no light! the casing-stones
Are mere veneer?" Measurers parcel-blind
Who, with yard-rule would count the inches off
From Aphrodite's Parian majesty,
And stretch tape o'er Elysian asphodel!
Page:With Sa'di in the Garden, or The Book of Love (1888).djvu/16
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WITH SA'DI IN THE GARDEN;
