Emily O'Dell in Samarkand
We travel not for trafficking alone;
By hotter winds our fiery hearts are fanned:
For lust of knowing what should not be known
We make the Golden Journey to Samarkand.
–James Elroy Flecker
Tonight, it feels like I’m bilocating to Samarkand. All week-end, while I was working on a project on Central Asia, I couldn’t get Samarkand out of my mind. I mean–just look at those turquoise and lapis lazuli mosaics. The opening poetic verses are from the poem “The Golden Journey to Samarkand.” Its author and I have tread similar paths in the Middle East–though centuries apart. A poet and playwright by night, James Elroy Flecker’s diplomatic career by day brought him to some of my favorite haunts–like Izmir, Istanbul, and Beirut. Oh–and a sanatorium (my personal favorite is Beethoven Spa in Teplice).
The last time I went to Uzbekistan, I walked across the border from Turkmenistan to stay in my favorite madressa hotel in Bukhara, and explore Karakalpakstan for the first time. Since I was short on time, I skipped Samarkand–but perhaps next time I’ll saunter back to Samarkand and re-visit the tomb of Timur (pictured above)–a conqueror about whom Edgar Allen Poe felt inspired to write his own poem.
O craving heart, for the lost flowers
And sunshine of my summer hours!
The undying voice of that dead time,
With its interminable chime,
Rings, in the spirit of a spell,
Upon thy emptiness-a knell.
–Tamerlane, Edgar Allen Poe
Emily O'Dell in Registan Square in Samarkand
