First Jasmines

<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <h2>THE FIRST JASMINES</h2> <P class=L>AH, these jasmines, these white jasmines! </p> <p>I seem to remember the first day when I filled my hands with these jasmines, these white jasmines. </p> <p>I have loved the sunlight, the sky and the green earth; </p> <p>I have heard the liquid murmur of the river through the darkness of midnight; </p> <p>Autumn sunsets have come to me at the bend of a road in the lonely waste, like a bride raising her veil to accept her lover. </p> <p>Yet my memory is still sweet with the first white jasmines that I held in my hand when I was a child. </p> <p>Many a glad day has come in my life, and I have laughed with merrymakers on festival nights. </p> <p>On grey mornings of rain I have crooned many an idle song. </p> <p>I have worn round my neck the evening wreath of <i>bakulas</i> woven by the hand of love. </p> <p>Yet my heart is sweet with the memory of the first fresh jasmines that filled my hands when I was a child. </p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />