From teak and tamarind and palm
The heavy sun goes down unseen;
The jungle drowns in duskier green;
And quickening perfumes vespertine
Alone assail the sluggish calm.
Narcotic silence, opiate gloom:
The painted parakeets are gone,
The blazoned butterflies withdrawn.
Nocturnal blossoms, weird and wan,
Like phantom wings and faces bloom.
In the high trees the darkness grows,
And, rising, overbrims the sky.
Like a black serpent gliding hy
'Neath woven creepers covertly,
Unknown and near, the river flows;
Where deeplier in oblivion's tide
The dateless, fair pagodas fall,
And, winding on the toppled wall
Where carven gods hold carnival,
The cobra couples with his bride.