Mary Aldis

GOLDEN and green and blue

Is the screen of the Empress’ throne;

Golden and green and blue

And the black of ebony.

Green and blue are the peacocks’ plumes

Standing to right and left;

Golden and blue and green the silk

Of the high-swung canopy.

Wide and deep is the Empress’ throne

Of carven, ebony,

With its straight footstool

And its peacocks’ fans

And its shadowing mystery.

………

Brown is the slope of the dust-blown hill

And brown the dust-blown plain;

Grey are the guarding dogs of stone

And grey the sentinels.

Grey are the carven shapes that lead

To a carven sepulchre,

Grey is the broken balustrade

And grey the heavy walls.

Wide and deep is the Empress’ throne

On that hillside far away,

With its carven dogs

And its sentinels

And its mighty door of grey.