Kirby's Coals of Fire

　　All the songs of the east speak of the love of the nightingale（夜莺） for the rose in the silent starlight night. The winged songster（歌手，诗人） serenades（小夜曲） the fragrant1（芳香的，愉悦的） flowers.

　　Not far from Smyrna, where the merchant drives his loaded camels, proudly arching their long necks as they journey beneath the lofty pines over holy ground, I saw a hedge（树篱，障碍） of roses. The turtle-dove flew among the branches of the tall trees, and as the sunbeams fell upon her wings, they glistened2（闪光，闪耀） as if they were mother-of-pearl. On the rose-bush grew a flower, more beautiful than them all, and to her the nightingale sung of his woes3; but the rose remained silent, not even a dewdrop（露珠） lay like a tear of sympathy on her leaves. At last she bowed her head over a heap of stones, and said, “Here rests the greatest singer in the world; over his tomb will I spread my fragrance4（香味，芬芳） , and on it I will let my leaves fall when the storm scatters5 them. He who sung of Troy became earth, and from that earth I have sprung. I, a rose from the grave of Homer, am too lofty to bloom for a nightingale.” Then the nightingale sung himself to death. A camel-driver came by, with his loaded camels and his black slaves; his little son found the dead bird, and buried the lovely songster in the grave of the great Homer, while the rose trembled in the wind.

　　The evening came, and the rose wrapped her leaves more closely round her, and dreamed: and this was her dream.

　　It was a fair sunshiny day; a crowd of strangers drew near who had undertaken（从事，开始进行） a pilgrimage（漫游，朝圣之行） to the grave of Homer. Among the strangers was a minstrel（歌手，艺人） from the north, the home of the clouds and the brilliant lights of the aurora6（极光，曙光） borealis. He plucked（摘，拔） the rose and placed it in a book, and carried it away into a distant part of the world, his fatherland. The rose faded with grief, and lay between the leaves of the book, which he opened in his own home, saying, “Here is a rose from the grave of Homer.”

　　Then the flower awoke from her dream, and trembled in the wind. A drop of dew（露水） fell from the leaves upon the singer's grave. The sun rose, and the flower bloomed more beautiful than ever. The day was hot, and she was still in her own warm Asia. Then footsteps approached, strangers, such as the rose had seen in her dream, came by, and among them was a poet from the north; he plucked the rose, pressed a kiss upon her fresh mouth, and carried her away to the home of the clouds and the northern lights. Like a mummy, the flower now rests in his 'Iliad,' and, as in her dream, she hears him say, as he opens the book, 'Here is a rose from the grave of Homer.'