A City of Dreams

Waikato Times, Volume 117, Issue 19515, 2 March 1935, Page 13 (Supplement)

A City of Dreams

IT WAS in the Indian dawn l-lial we set out lo see the City. - The sky above us was like a wide bowl of clear spun glass with a rose-pink strain through it. Wo rode .joyously enough through the woods, where ' trumpet-shaped flowers hung from Ihe boughs, and the creamy blossom of champnk trees sent forth a sweet perfume. But, as we entered the empty city of the once powerful Moghuls, we fell silent. Great rod brick bastions sloped away from the thick walls, and the arch that, let us through had now no gate; everywhere was the Ruinous Touch of Time. Once how gaily a cavalcade had gone that, way: elephants moving ponderously under velvet, trappings, the slender forms of Arab ponies stepping daintily lo the slinking of a jewelled bridle, litters, curtained closely in silk, borne on the shoulders of strong young .men, the majesty and splendour ol a day now gone moving rhythmically through the gates. And now Ihe silence of marble courtyards open lo the sun. and banqueting halls, where a monkey sat undisturbed among the rafters and looked on us as intruders in his home. Against the clear dawn rose minarets as delicate as lace, things of such beauty that we wondered the streets were not thronged with painters and their easels. At a wide space we came on a cluster of domes. The windows, of immense size, were a tracery of stone, and high above our heads the gloom was encircled by galleries, where the faintest whisper flew echoing round. At night how dark those domes must be, upreared in a myriad of stars! Coming to an ancient rose garden, we found steps in a thick wall that led down lo a long disused pool of water, where the lotus lay ill pale beauty forgotten by the sun. And like the entrance lo a dream

Its Mystery and Charm.

(M.A.B. in Christian Science Monitor.)

stood a pillared room, where the walls were frescoed, it is said, centuries ago, by Italian hands. All dim now, the scarlet and blue, the royal purple and gold. Strange to wander in these narrow streets crowded on either hand with so much beauty, to stand in these empty halls and under these domes, to climb these long-untrodden stairs and look out on masonry and stone carved and builded with such artistry and care! There, by a graceful balustrade, rose a clump of wild jungle flowers, a tall mullein vigorous of growth, thrusting its spire of yellow bloom defiantly up to greet the sun. As, at noon, Ihe shadow of arch and column roll on the tcssclated floor, so fell the halfIransparenl shadow of Ihe plant, leaf and stem and close-clustered blossom. Ihe fruitage of seed blown from lire far-off jungle, and left Undisturbed In the Palace of Kings. And over the steps leading down to a marble bathing pool grew a* fairy film ul maiden hair fe’rns. fed by night dews. Whatever there was once of cruel treachery, of barbaric customs in this ancient city is now forgotten, having left no trace, outside its mighty walls, encircling it, lie the far stretches of the unmeasured Indian plains. The river bed is half hidden by clumps of bamboo and tamarisk, and on old battlefields stand lovely groves of? palm. Little villages drowse among their fields; and, as the sky brightens, all the varied duties of tile day begin. Cattle arc fed, buffaloes are led to t.lie water. Tiny children patter over Hie sun-baked earth with shrill laughter, and women’s voices rise in a monotonous song as they grind the corn. But, enfolded in a never-broken peace, Hie “ rose-red city half as old as Time ” wails patiently, ils beauty there for t hose who will seek it. ils mystery and charm for those who will weave if into a poem or a dream.