Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Russia: Vol. XX. 1876–79. | | | | Nijni-Novgorod | | Asia at Nijni-Novgorod | | Edna Dean Proctor (1829–1923) |
| | | GIVE me a melon of Khiva, | |
| Luscious and round and yellow,— | |
| It ’s mate for the Lord of China | |
| Hardly so fair and mellow,— | |
| And place on the tray beside it, | 5 |
| Worthy of sheikh or khan, | |
| Peaches that grew in the gardens | |
| Of the golden Zerefshan. | |
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| And a cup of Flowery Pekoe,— | |
| Tea of the mandarins,— | 10 |
| Gathered in dewy morning, | |
| Just when the spring begins. | |
| Keep for the peasant and Tartar | |
| The bowls of the dark Bohea | |
| Plucked when the heats of summer | 15 |
| With rank leaves load the tree. | |
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| Ah, what ravishing flavors! | |
| Not the wine of the Rhine, | |
| Not of Tokay, nor the nectar | |
| Won from the Cyprian vine, | 20 |
| Nor Sicily’s oranges rarest, | |
| Nor sweetest figs of Dalmatia, | |
| Rival the flowery Pekoe | |
| And the spicy melons of Asia! | | | | |
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