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PORTRAIT SONNETS: 4, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sometimes when eastern carpets wear so thin
Last Line: The ultimate design of his own soul.
Subject(s): Rugs; Carpets


Sometimes when Eastern carpets wear so thin
Their borders lie like fringes on the floor
And even palace feet seem almost more
Than the frail dreams and legends held within
Mere thread and silk can bear, we begin
For the first time to see a deeper store
Of meaning in the place that had before
Shown nothing where a meaning should have been.

Perhaps what seems futility in her
Was, after all, the final strength of race
Which, less flamboyant as it wins its goal,
Became expressive of the things that were
For each of us the highest certain grace --
The ultimate design of his own soul.





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