ONCE we three in Nara walked Where pomp and fame look through the leaves; With sabred shades we walked and talked By lacquered gates and bow-like eaves, By pools where carp doze through their green Eternities, to lonelier shrines Where mossy courtyards lie serene Beneath some peasant-planted pines. Less of that giant, surly bell Whose black voice warned us at all hours My late remembrance likes to tell, Less of the Buddha as he lours With thick curled skull and dead man's eye, Of old wives' faithful groan of prayer, Of fire-robed ritual trooping by, Than the plain joy, three friends walked there. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LONGING FOR HEAVEN by ANNE BRADSTREET THE BROKEN HEART by JOHN DONNE MARRIAGE A LA MODE: SONG by JOHN DRYDEN SNEEZING by JAMES HENRY LEIGH HUNT ELEGIAC STANZAS SUGGESTED BY A PICTURE OF PEELE CASTLE, IN A STORM by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH ELEGY FOR A DEAD KING by AL-KUTANDI |