Saturday, April 13, 2019

The Clouds

Here we have another poem from Clark Ashton Smith (CAS) that was not published in his lifetime, nor available on The Eldritch Dark, so here's the complete text:


          Their tow'rs are builded far;
          They have strange sorcery
          To draw from out the sea
Their palaces more swift than shadows are--

          Their lucent halls and domes
          That house the western sun,
          And when his stay is done,
Are yet the stars' more dim and hallowed homes.

          Their minarets uppiled 
          A rich enchantment be,
          Their pillars, mystery,
Their walls, a magic unexplained and wild.

          Their tow'rs are builded far;
          Upon the world's extremes,
          They stay fleet sunset dreams,
Ere those shall hasten to the twilight star.

          Remote upon blue noon,
          Their temples white and fair
          Lure fainter wings, that there
Find sanctuary sure--ah, not too soon!

          They have strange sorcery
          To build upon the wind
          Their tow'rs supreme-designed,
And less enduring than the shadows be.


This is one of several poems by CAS with a cloud theme that I have read so far (the others are "Cloudland" and "The Cloud-Islands").  As with those thematically-related works, this poem is interesting but not particularly memorable, a rather ordinary work from an occasionally extraordinary poet.

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