Greet these poems as you would greet <br />at your tent-flap a wise man come from far; <br /> <br />drink with him a cup of wine <br />that tastes like the memory of roses; <br /> <br />then sit and eat with him as the evening falls <br />by the flickering flames, under a canopy of desert stars, <br /> <br />remembering great men and great deeds; <br />feeling your backbone tall with their memory; <br /> <br />recall lines of poetry which have crept into your heart <br />like your faithful hunting-hound, sprawled with a long sigh <br />beside the fire; <br /> <br />and look around at the glowing embers catching <br />with their light, the shining eyes of your companions <br />cross-legged in a circle, <br /> <br />rejoicing in their hearts at a fortune which is theirs <br />so great that they can only sit in silence and become <br />a stillness beyond time. <br /> <br />* <br /> <br />Freely adapted from Ibn Qutayba’s 9th-century book on literature.<br /><br />Michael Shepherd<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/these-poems-3/
