Saga of the North: Asia Major and Minor -

Asia Major and Minor

To and fro, to and fro, drift the wheeled houses
Of the city-haters upon the northern tundras.
Prayer wheels whir in the dark gorges of Thibet.
Leaning low upon the necks of their horses,
Men with pagoda-shaped hats
Gallop through shoals of whistling arrows
Along the hill-tossed ribbon of the Chinese wall.
Only where the sun glitters upon the domes of the Bosphorus
And upon the red roofs of monasteries,
Islanded-minds contemplate the paradox
Of infinity in the womb of a woman,
Weaving a thin web of unity
To cover the glare of the bleak bones of chaos.

THIS BACTRIAN BUDDHA
SMILES WITH THE MOUTH OF APOLLO,
HEARING THE BRITISH BUGLES
SHOUT FROM THE HINDU HILLS.
MEMORIES OF ALEXANDER
BLEND WITH THE MOMENT ENGLAND.
" OM MANI PADME HUM. "