Punch/Volume 147/Issue 3820/Kings from the East
Cities of wonderment,
Pink as the morn,
There, of the sunrise sent,
Reigned the Sun-Born;
From the high heaven's gate,
Sprung from the flame,
Ere Nineveh was great,
Ere Thebes a name!
Emeralds, milky pearls
Plucked from blue seas,
Footfall of silken girls—
Such for their ease;
Shimmer and silken sheen,
Jewel and maid—
These but the damascene
Chasing the blade!
For on a royal day
Lost in the years
Chose they the Happy Way—
The way of spears;
Ere Rome's first bastionings
Climbed from the sods
In the old East were kings
Warring with gods.
Lo, through the eastern sky
Crimson is drawn,
Kings in their panoply
Ride with the dawn;
Sprung from high heaven's gate,
Sprung from the flame,
Ere Nineveh was great,
Ere Thebes a name!