Clark Ashton Smith Poems

Omar, within thy scented garden-close,
When passed with eventide
The starward incense of the waning rose—
Too precious to abide
...

Dear one, what do we here ?
Petal by petal falls the alien spring
In gardens where we pass ungarlanded,
And seek once more the doves and myrtles dead
...

Who has seen the towers of Amithaine
Swan-throated rising from the main
Whose tides to some remoter moon
Flow in a fadeless afternoon?...
...

Alas! the evanescence of a dream,
That, like a rose, shall never blossom more!
A glimpse of unguessed things, and then the door
Of waking sense clangs to. Alas! the Gleam,
...

It lies beyond the farthest sea,
This castle whereonto I flee
When life and time hang wearily.
Yet though so far, 'tis strangely nigh:
...

O mouth by many kissed,
O heart that all might capture!
How art thou fain and mournful
For love that love has missed—
...

In the slanted ray,
Huddling closely, my three cats
Slept the winter day.
...

Penned beside the abatoir,
Stridently they moo and bellow
To the night-bringing star.
...

I belong to those manifold Existences
Once known, or once suspected,
That exist no more for man.
...

Beauty is the prisoner
None can hold,
Though all have captured her.
...