Heap Cassia, Sandal-Buds, And Stripes

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Title:     Heap Cassia, Sandal-Buds, And Stripes
Author: Robert Browning [More Titles by Browning]

Heap cassia, sandal-buds, and stripes
Of labdanum, and aloe-balls,
Smeared with dull nard an Indian wipes
From out her hair; such balsam falls
Down sea-side mountain pedestals,
From tree-tops where tired winds are fain,
Spent with the vast and howling main,
To treasure half their island-gain.

And strew faint sweetness from some old
Egyptian's fine worm-eaten shroud
Which breaks to dust when once unrolled;
Or shredded perfume, like a cloud
From closet long to quiet vowed,
With mothed and dropping arras hung,
Moldering her lute and books among,
As when a queen, long dead, was young.

[The end]
Robert Browning's poem: Heap Cassia, Sandal-Buds, And Stripes

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