The House of Wisdom
By Noo
- 760 reads
By the fierce River Tigris
Through the souk
To the palace,
Bayt al-Hikma
Sullen rain beats
On copper rooves
Verdigris weathervanes
Marbled walls
Courtyard gardens
Perfumed roses
Riotous tobacco plants
The caliph yawns,
Taps his toes,
Dreams,
The scholars consider
Mathematicians
Physicists
Astronomers
Inhabit revelation and
Insight,
Demonstrate enlightenment
Out of the shadows
The scholars think,
Invent,
Are curious
The servant boy watches the beetle
Scuttle across the floor
The caliph burps
The scholars observe
Exactly,
Precisely,
But do they see?
Can they rationalise the fig tree,
Know the mystery of the peacock?
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Comments
Really like this. It's like
Really like this. It's like following a camera as it moves past all these people and things and then stops. Lovely descriptions.
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Pretty as an enamelled
Pretty as an enamelled Persian painting.
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can we rationalise a fig tree
can we rationalise a fig tree? let me see? Like that idea.
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