A gaunt and hoary slab of stone <br /> I found in desert place, <br />And wondered why it lay alone <br /> In that abandoned place. <br />Said I: 'Maybe a Palace stood <br /> Where now the lizards crawl, <br />With courts of musky quietude <br /> And turrets tall. <br /> <br />Maybe where low the vultures wing <br /> 'Mid mosque and minaret, <br />The proud pavilion of a King <br /> Was luminously set. <br />'Mid fairy fountains, alcoves dim, <br /> Upon a garnet throne <br />He ruled,--and now all trace of him <br /> Is just this stone. <br /> <br />Ah well, I've done with wandering, <br /> But from a blousy bar <br />I see with drunk imagining <br /> A Palace like a star. <br />I build it up from one grey stone <br /> With gardens hanging high, <br />And dream . . . Long, long ere Babylon <br /> It's King was I.<br /><br />Robert William Service<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/imagination-4/
