To Japanese Incense
From ImmortalPoetry
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The wind that rings the temple bell
Is far away,
And far the brazen incense urns
Of ashes grey.
And far the carven temple gates
Of red and gold—
The dreamy temples where the gods
Have long been old.
The dragonflies and irises
Beside the stream,
Are far away in lands of dawn
And lands of dream.
And here beneath an alien sky
Your breath ascends,
A column delicate and grey
That waves and bends,
And lifts a scent of sandal-wood,
Devoid of prayer,
To seek an ancient Eastern god
Thro' Western air.
| Sonnets to Duse and other Poems by Sara Teasdale (1907) | |
| A Song to Eleonora Duse in "Francesca da Rimini" | To Sappho, I 
|
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