The mournful rumour of an iron wing,

The sough and sigh of desolating years,

Whereof the wind is as the winds that blow

Out of a lonesome land of night and snow,

Where ancient winter weeps with frozen tears;

And in thy bodeful ears,

The brief and tiny lisp

Of petals curled and crisp,

Fallen at Eve in Persia’s mellow clime,

Was mingled with the mighty sound of time.