>Perhaps this has something of the spirit you and Rhu were talking about, Avy?
Actually Mav "Old Khayyam's" spirit (correct me if I am wrong, Rhub) is the serious other-worldly question of death and life and the contrasting quirky solution he has to it. "There is no lasting meaning to death and life anyway so just enjoy yourself with wine, woman(man), and song"

But regarding "the strange and evocative magic of Kubla Khan" Yes you are right! I won't say that there is no 'richness of the east' in English poetry. There is Kubla Khan and there is also Abhou Ben Adhem and others.

These are a few from a collection of his verses that describe Khayyam in a potter's shop, when the pots start speaking to him:
And strange to tell, among the Earthen Lot
Some could articulate, while others not:
A suddenly one more impatient cried -
Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?

Then said another - 'Surely not in vain
My substance from common Earth was Ta'en,
That He who subtly wrought me into Shape
Should stamp me back to common Earth again.'

None answer'd this; but after Silence spake
A vessel of a more ungainly Make:
'They sneer at me for leaning all awry;
What! Did the Hand then of the Potter shake?'

Then said another with a long-drawn Sigh,
'My Clay with long oblivion is gone dry:
But, fill me with the old familiar juice,
Methinks I might recover by-and-bye!'

Cheers!