SONG FROM 'PARACELSUS'

by: Robert Browning (1812-1889)

EAP cassia, sandal-buds and stripes

Of labdanum, and aloe-balls,

Smear'd with dull nard an Indian wipes

From out her hair: such balsam falls

Down sea-side mountain pedestals,

From tree-tops where tired winds are fain,

Spent with the vast and howling main,

To treasure half their island-gain.

 

And strew faint sweetness from some old

Egyptian's fine worm-eaten shroud

Which breaks to dust when once unroll'd;

Or shredded perfume, like a cloud

From closet long to quiet vow'd

With moth'd and dropping arras hung,

Mouldering her lute and books among,

As when a queen, long dead, was young.

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