Chapter I

Aldebaran, Aldebaran,
One night I saw thee rise
Above the peaks of Ispahan,
Red on those purple skies.

Thou wast a royal ruby stone
Set in a diadem
Of some great god upon his throne,
Whose garment's ample hem
Was margined with the clustered spheres
Beyond a myriad of years.

Above thee soared the Pleiades,
Beneath, Auriga flared;
His vast melodic harmonies
Rigel with Algol shared:
Space trembled to the minstrelsy
Of Deneb and Alcyone.