And as he lay upon his back 

 The pealing centuries rolled back.... 

 He saw the blue Ægean. 

 And thus he dreamt: "My palace home 

 With minaret and marble dome 

 Upon the sapphire strait. 

 My garden full of nightingales, 

 One singing as the other fails 

 While evening groweth late. 

 "And from my watch-tower I behold 

 Beneath a sky of molten gold 

 My argosies return. 

 A homeward wind is in their sails, 

 Freighted are they with costly bales, 

 Vast fires behind them burn. 

 "I have a room with shining floors 

 And lofty roof and polished doors, 

 Wherein I love to dine 

 With two good friends at left and right, 

 Whose converse is my soul's delight 

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