Constantinople - Retour En Songe

After a dream-dim voyage         We came with sails all set         Towards the city of the sea,         And it was wonderful to me         To find her reigning yet.         Oh beauty that my eyes and heart         Had feasted on before!         The evening mosques were brushed with gold,         The water lapped a lazy fold         Upon that lovely shore;         The gardens of her terraced hills         Rose up above the port,         And little houses half concealed         The presence of a light revealed,         And here my journey's end was sealed,         And I reached the home I sought.         Those windows I had opened wide         To welcome in the sun!         Those stairs that only happy feet         Had measured with their running beat!         That well-remembered winding street!         Twelve months that were as one!         Should others with their sordid cares         And troubles enter here?         Love hung about the rooms like smoke,         And peace descended as a cloak,         Should I allow the vulgar folk         To desecrate that year?         I laid the fuse with steady hand;         We sailed into the night,         From deck I watched the flames arise         Remorseless as my tearless eyes         That, with the waves and reddened skies,         Flung back the angry light.