Samarkand

thumb|350px|The Golden Road to Samarkand ~ James Elroy Flecker Samarkand or Samarqand (Uzbek and Tajik: Самарқанд; Persian: سمرقند) is a city in south-eastern Uzbekistan and among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central Asia. Quotes Sweet maid, if thou wouldst charm my sight,And bid these arms thy neck infold;That rosy cheek, that lily hand,Would give thy poet more delightThan all Bocara’s vaunted gold,Than all the gems of Samarcand. Sir William Jones, "A Persian Song of Hafiz" A Grammar of the Persian Language (1771) Poems, consisting chiefly of Translations from the Asiatick Languages (1772) The almond groves of Samarcand,  Bokhara, where red lilies blow,And Oxus, by whose yellow sand  The grave white-turbaned merchants go; Oscar Wilde, "Ave Imperatrix" ‘There’s a far-off scent about you seemsBorn in Samarkand.’ Rachel Taylor, "The Princess of Scotland" White on a throne or guarded in a cave  There lies a prophet who can understandWhy men were born: but surely we are brave,  Who take the Golden Road to Samarkand. James Elroy Flecker, Hassan of Bagdad (1922), Act 5, Scene 2 The last line is sometimes rendered "Who make the Golden Journey to Samarkand." To learn the age-old lesson day by day:It is not in the bright arrival planned,But in the dreams men dream along the way,They find the Golden Road to Samarkand. George Macdonald Fraser, Flashman at the Charge (1973) External links Category:Cities in Asia