The Thousand Nights and a Night (poem)

TO RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON. The Thousand Nights and a Night. Athwart the welkin slant the snows and pile On sill and balcony, their feathery feet Trip o'er the landscape, and pursuing sleet Earth's brow beglooming, robs the skies of smile: Lies in her mourning-shroud our Northern Isle And bitter winds in battle o'er her meet. Her world is death-like, when behold! we greet Light-gleams from morning-land in welcome while.

A light of golden mine and orient pearl-- Vistas of fairy-land, where Beauty reigns And Valiance revels; cloudless moon, fierce sun, The wold, the palm-tree; cities; hosts; a whirl Of life in tents and palaces and fanes: The light that streams from THOUSAND NIGHTS AND ONE. Isabel Burton, Tangier, Marocco: Feb. 19, 1886.