Page:When the Leaves Come Out (Chaplin 1917).pdf/29

 

Once a Eunuch by the palace
 * In the fading sunset glow,
 * Felt the warm soft breezes blow;

Watched the fair girls of the harem
 * Idly saunter to and fro.

Saw he beauty young and lavish
 * Fierce to lure man's every sense . . . ,
 * (Grim the Eunuch stood and tense.)

Laughingly the sparkling fountain
 * Mocked his bleak incompetence.

Came the Sultan from his hunting
 * Flaming with the zest of life;
 * (Laid aside were spear and knife;)

Came for wine and song and feasting,
 * Came to seek his fairest wife.

Opened then the marble portals;
 * Fragrant incense filled the air,
 * (Sandalwood and roses rare,)

While the girls with red-lipped languor
 * Scattered flowers everywhere.

Far away the fabled mountains
 * (Like some paradise of old)
 * Glowed with lavender and gold;

Tense the Eunuch stood and silent—
 * Tense and sullen, tense and cold.

