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Home  »  Parnassus  »  Thomas Moore (1779–1852)

Ralph Waldo Emerson, comp. (1803–1882). Parnassus: An Anthology of Poetry. 1880.

The Caliph’s Encampment

Thomas Moore (1779–1852)

WHOSE are the gilded tents that crowd the way,

Where all was waste and silent yesterday?

This City of War, which, in a few short hours,

Hath sprung up here, as if the magic powers

Of Him who, in the twinkling of a star,

Built the high-pillared walls of Chilminar,

Had conjured up, far as the eye can see,

This world of tents, and domes, and sun-bright armory:—

Princely pavilions, screened by many a fold

Of crimson cloth, and topped with balls of gold:—

Steeds, with their housings of rich silver spun,

Their chains and poitrels glittering in the sun;

And camels, tufted o’er with Temen’s shells

Shaking in every breeze their light-toned bells!