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"Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (written 1797, published 1816)


{Or a Vision in a Dream. A Fragment}
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan 
A stately pleasure dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea. 
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills, 
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted 
By woman wailing for her demon lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced:
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst 
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion 
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war! 

The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves. 
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!
A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw;
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me,
That with music loud and long,
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.

"Xanadu" by Rush (1977)

'To seek the sacred river Alph 
To walk the caves of ice 
To break my fast on honey dew 
And drink the milk of paradise...' 

I had heard the whispered tales 
Of immortality 
The deepest mystery 
From an ancient book. I took a clue 
I scaled the frozen mountain tops 
Of eastern lands unknown 
Time and Man alone 
Searching for the lost --- Xanadu 

Xanadu --- To stand within The Pleasure Dome 
Decreed by Kubla Khan 
To taste anew the fruits of life 
The last immortal man 
To find the sacred river Alph 
To walk the caves of ice 
Oh, I will dine on honey dew 
And drink the milks of Paradise 

A thousand years have come and gone 
But time has passed me by 
Stars stopped in the sky 
Frozen in an everlasting view 
Waiting for the world to end 
Weary of the night 
Praying for the light 
Prison of the lost --- Xanadu 

Xanadu --- Held within The Pleasure Dome 
Decreed by Kubla Khan 
To taste my bitter triumph 
As a mad immortal man 
Nevermore shall I return 
Escape these caves of ice 
For I have dined on honey dew 
And drunk the milk of Paradise

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