We who with songs beguile your pilgrimage
And swear that Beauty lives though lilies die,
We poets of the proud old lineage
Who sing to find your hearts, we know not why, -
What shall we tell you? Tales, marvellous tales
Of ships and stars . . .
Source: The Golden Journey to Samarkand, Prologue.
-- James Elroy Flecker, (Nov 5 1884-1915), English poet, dramatist; Herman Elroy Flecker (ps. James) wrote The Bridge Of Fire, 1907 and The Golden Journey To Samarkand, 1913.