THE OASIS OF SIDI KHALED <br />How the earth burns! Each pebble underfoot <br />Is as a living thing with power to wound. <br />The white sand quivers, and the footfall mute <br />Of the slow camels strikes but gives no sound, <br />As though they walked on flame, not solid ground. <br />'Tis noon, and the beasts' shadows even have fled <br />Back to their feet, and there is fire around <br />And fire beneath, and overhead the sun. <br />Pitiful heaven! What is this we view? <br />Tall trees, a river, pools, where swallows fly, <br />Thickets of oleander where doves coo, <br />Shades, deep as midnight, greenness for tired eyes. <br />Hark, how the light winds in the palm--tops sigh. <br />Oh this is rest. Oh this is paradise.<br /><br />Wilfrid Scawen Blunt<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-love-sonnets-of-proteus-part-iv-vita-nova-cx/
