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(From Kéramos)
O’ER desert sands, o’er gulf and bay, | |
| O’er Ganges and o’er Himalay, | |
| Bird-like I fly, and flying sing, | |
| To flowery kingdoms of Cathay, | |
| And bird-like poise on balanced wing | 5 |
| Above the town of King-te-tching, | |
| A burning town, or seeming so,— | |
| Three thousand furnaces that glow | |
| Incessantly, and fill the air | |
| With smoke uprising, gyre on gyre, | 10 |
| And painted by the lurid glare, | |
| Of jets and flashes of red fire. | |
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| As leaves that in the autumn fall, | |
| Spotted and veined with various hues, | |
| Are swept along the avenues, | 15 |
| And lie in heaps by hedge and wall | |
| So from this grove of chimneys whirled | |
| To all the markets of the world, | |
| These porcelain leaves are wafted on,— | |
| Light yellow leaves with spots and stains | 20 |
| Of violet and of crimson dye, | |
| Or tender azure of a sky | |
| Just washed by gentle April rains, | |
| And beautiful with celadon. | |
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| Nor less the coarser household wares,— | 25 |
| The willow pattern, that we knew | |
| In childhood, with its bridge of blue | |
| Leading to unknown thoroughfares; | |
| The solitary man who stares | |
| At the white river flowing through | 30 |
| Its arches, the fantastic trees | |
| And wild perspective of the view; | |
| And intermingled among these | |
| The tiles that in our nurseries | |
| Filled us with wonder and delight, | 35 |
| Or haunted us in dreams at night. | |
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