Sit in the jasmine-scented garden, <br />In the night heavy with insect voices <br />And mellow-sounding flutes. <br />Sit still in the walled oasis, <br />In the cool tent of darkness— <br />Shut from the chaos of clamouring thought <br />And the sacrilege of eyes. <br /> <br />Here the weary winds sleep, <br />Like children, in the cherry trees <br />And the stars swim like gleaming goldfish <br />In the black lake of sky. <br />Here the fountain falls softly, <br />Like the sobbing of a lost child, <br />Like the weeping of a lonely heart, <br /> <br />Like the crying of the Emperor’s beautiful girls. <br /> <br />Girls, who like you, <br />Were too beautiful, too graceful— <br />Too young. <br />Plucked from the finest boughs, <br />They blossomed for a day, a day— <br />And vanished with the morning. <br /> <br />Such is the fate of those who find favour with the Emperor. <br /> <br />But you, you cannot die. <br />Life has had its birth <br />And the Sun is yet a joy to your eye. <br />You were made for a good man’s love, <br />And the cradling of tiny bodies. <br /> <br />But beauty must have its glory <br />And a man must have his desire— <br />Accept the comfort of your father’s lies; <br />The mirage is sweeter than the reality. <br /> <br />Forget the walls, the royal mask <br />The peril of thought, of movement. <br />Forget Love’s desperate lies <br />And Freedom’s false illusions— <br />This opulent prison is happiness, <br />And honour a substitute for love. <br /> <br />Drown the troubling musings— <br />Life is short and the heart is treacherous…. <br /> <br />Listen to the night'gales singing.<br /><br />Ashley Akari<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/after-the-marriage/
