LALLA ROOKH:

1

In the eleventh year of the reign of Aurungzebe, Abdalla, King of the Lesser Bucharia, a lineal descendant from the Great Zingis, having abdicated the throne in favour of his son, set out on a pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Prophet; and, passing into India through the delightful valley of Cashmere, rested for a short time at 2Delhi on his way. He was entertained by Aurungzebe in a style of magnificent hospitality, worthy alike of the visitor and the host, and was afterwards escorted with the same splendour to Surat, where he embarked for Arabia.^[1] During the stay of the Royal Pilgrim at Delhi, a marriage was agreed upon between the Prince, his son, and the youngest daughter of the emperor, Lalla Rookh;^[2]—a Princess described by the Poets of her time as more beautiful than Leila,^[3] Shirine,^[4] Dewildé,^[5] or any of those heroines whose names and loves embellish the songs of Persia and Hindostan. It was intended that the nuptials should be celebrated at Cashmere; where the young King, as soon as the cares of empire would permit, was to meet, for the first time, his lovely bride, and, after a few months’ repose in that enchanting valley, conduct her over the snowy hills into Bucharia.

The day of Lalla Rookh’s departure from Delhi was as splendid as sunshine and pageantry could make it. The bazaars and baths were all covered with the richest tapestry; hundreds of gilded barges upon the Jumna floated with their banners shining in the water; while through the streets groups of beautiful children went strewing the most delicious flowers around, as in that Persian festival called the Scattering of the Roses;^[6] till every part of the city was as fragrant as if a caravan 3of musk from Khoten had passed through it. The Princess, having taken leave of her kind father, who at parting hung a cornelian of Yemen round her neck, on which was inscribed a verse from the Koran, and having sent a considerable present to the Fakirs, who kept up the Perpetual Lamp in her sister’s tomb, meekly ascended the palankeen prepared for her; and, while Aurungzebe stood to take a last look from his balcony, the procession moved slowly on the road to Lahore.

Seldom had the Eastern world seen a cavalcade so superb. From the gardens in the suburbs to the Imperial palace, it was one unbroken line of splendour. The gallant appearance of the Rajahs and Mogul Lords, distinguished by those insignia of the Emperor’s favour,^[7] the feathers of the egret of Cashmere in their turbans, and the small silver-rimmed kettledrums at the bows of their saddles;—the costly armour of their cavaliers, who vied, on this occasion, with the guards of the great Keder Khan,^[8] in the brightness of their silver battle-axes and the massiness of their maces of gold;—the glittering of the gilt pine-apples^[9] on the tops of the palankeens;—the embroidered trappings of the elephants, bearing on their backs small turrets, in the shape of little antique temples, within which the Ladies of Lalla Rookh lay as it were enshrined;—the rose-coloured veils of the 4Princess’s own sumptuous litter,^[10] at the front of which a fair young female slave sat fanning her through the curtains, with feathers of the Argus pheasant’s wing;^[11]—and the lovely troop of Tartarian and Cashmerian maids of honour, whom the young King had sent to accompany his bride, and who rode on each side of the litter, upon small Arabian horses:—all was brilliant, tasteful, and magnificent, and pleased even the critical and fastidious Fadladeen, Great Nazir or Chamberlain of the Haram, who was borne in his palankeen immediately after the Princess, and considered himself not the least important personage of the pageant.

Fadladeen was a judge of everything,—from the pencilling of a Circassian’s eyelids to the deepest questions of science and literature; from the mixture of a conserve of rose-leaves to the composition of an epic poem: and such influence had his opinion upon the various tastes of the day, that all the cooks and poets of Delhi stood in awe of him. His political conduct and opinions were founded upon that line of Sadi,—“Should the Prince at noon-day say, It is night, declare that you behold the moon and stars.”—And his zeal for religion; of which Aurungzebe was a munificent protector,^[12] was about as disinterested as that of the goldsmith who fell in love with the diamond eyes of the Idol of Jaghernaut.^[13]

5During the first days of their journey, Lalla Rookh, who had passed all her life within the shadow of the Royal Gardens of Delhi,^[14] found enough in the beauty of the scenery through which they passed to interest her mind, and delight her imagination; and when at evening, or in the heat of the day, they turned off from the high road to those retired and romantic places which had been selected for her encampments, sometimes on the banks of a small rivulet, as clear as the waters of the Lake of Pearl;^[15] sometimes under the sacred shade of a Banyan tree, from which the view opened upon a glade covered with antelopes; and often in those hidden, embowered spots, described by one from the Isles of the West,^[16] as “places of melancholy, delight, and safety, where all the company around was wild peacocks and turtle-doves;”—she felt a charm in these scenes, so lovely and so new to her, which, for a time, made her indifferent to every other amusement. But Lalla Rookh was young, and the young love variety; nor could the conversation of her Ladies and the great Chamberlain, Fadladeen, (the only persons, of course, admitted to her pavilion,) sufficiently enliven those many vacant hours, which were devoted neither to the pillow nor the palankeen. There was a little Persian slave who sung sweetly to the Vina, and who, now and then, lulled the Princess to sleep with the ancient ditties of her country, about the loves of Wamak and 6Ezra,^[17] the fair-haired Zal and his mistress Rodahver;^[18] not forgetting the combat of Rustam with the terrible White Demon.^[19] At other times she was amused by those graceful dancing-girls of Delhi, who had been permitted by the Bramins of the Great Pagoda to attend her, much to the horror of the good Mussulman Fadladeen, who could see nothing graceful or agreeable in idolaters, and to whom the very tinkling of their golden anklets^[20] was an abomination.

But these and many other diversions were repeated till they lost all their charm, and the nights and noondays were beginning to move heavily, when, at length, it was recollected that, among the attendants sent by the bridegroom, was a young poet of Cashmere, much celebrated throughout the valley for his manner of reciting the Stories of the East, on whom his Royal Master had conferred the privilege of being admitted to the pavilion of the Princess, that he might help to beguile the tediousness of the journey by some of his most agreeable recitals. At the mention of a poet, Fadladeen elevated his critical eyebrows, and, having refreshed his faculties with a dose of that delicious opium^[21] which is distilled from the black poppy of the Thebais, gave orders for the minstrel to be forthwith introduced into the presence.

7The Princess, who had once in her life seen a poet from behind the screens of gauze in her Father’s hall, and had conceived from that specimen no very favourable ideas of the Caste, expected but little in this new exhibition to interest her;—she felt inclined, however, to alter her opinion on the very first appearance of Feramorz. He was a youth about Lalla Rookh’s own age, and graceful as that idol of women, Crishna,^[22]—such as he appears to their young imaginations, heroic, beautiful, breathing music from his very eyes, and exalting the religion of his worshippers into love. His dress was simple, yet not without some marks of costliness; and the ladies of the Princess were not long in discovering that the cloth, which encircled his high Tartarian cap, was of the most delicate kind that the shawl-goats of Tibet supply.^[23] Here and there, too, over his vest, which was confined by a flowered girdle of Kashan, hung strings of fine pearl, disposed with an air of studied negligence:—nor did the exquisite embroidery of his sandals escape the observation of these fair critics; who, however they might give way to Fadladeen upon the unimportant topics of religion and government, had the spirit of martyrs in every thing relating to such momentous matters as jewels and embroidery.

For the purpose of relieving the pauses of recitation by music, the young Cashmerian held in his hand a kitar;—such 8as, in old times, the Arab maids of the West used to listen to by moonlight in the gardens of the Alhambra—and, having premised, with much humility, that the story he was about to relate was founded on the adventures of that Veiled Prophet of Khorassan,^[24] who, in the year of the Hegira 163, created such alarm throughout the Eastern Empire, made an obeisance to the Princess, and thus began:—

The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan^[25]

---

11

In that delightful Province of the Sun,

The first of Persian lands he shines upon,

Where all the loveliest children of his beam,

Flow’rets and fruits, blush over every stream,^[26]

12And, fairest of all streams, the Murga roves

Among Merou’s^[27] bright palaces and groves;—

There on that throne, to which the blind belief

Of millions rais’d him, sat the Prophet-Chief,

The Great Mokanna. O’er his features hung

The Veil, the Silver Veil, which he had flung

In mercy there, to hide from mortal sight

His dazzling brow, till man could bear its light.

For, far less luminous, his votaries said,

Were ev’n the gleams, miraculously shed

O’er Moussa’s^[28] cheek,^[29] when down the Mount he trod,

All glowing from the presence of his God!

On either side, with ready hearts and hands,

His chosen guard of bold Believers stands;

Young fire-eyed disputants, who deem their swords,

On points of faith, more eloquent than words;

And such their zeal, there’s not a youth with brand

Uplifted there, but, at the Chief’s command,

Would make his own devoted heart its sheath,

And bless the lips that doom’d so dear a death!

In hatred to the Caliph’s hue of night,^[30]

Their vesture, helms and all, is snowy white;

Their weapons various—some equipp’d for speed,

With javelins of the light Kathaian reed;^[31]

Or bows of buffalo horn and shining quivers

13Fill’d with the stems^[32] that bloom on Iran’s rivers;^[33]

While some, for war’s more terrible attacks,

Wield the huge mace and ponderous battle-axe;

And as they wave aloft in morning’s beam

The milk-white plumage of their helms, they seem

Like a chenar-tree grove,^[34] when winter throws

O’er all its tufted heads his feathering snows.

Between the porphyry pillars, that uphold

The rich moresque-work of the roof of gold,

Aloft the Haram’s curtain’d galleries rise,

Where, through the silken net-work, glancing eyes,

From time to time, like sudden gleams that glow

Through autumn clouds, shine o’er the pomp below.—

What impious tongue, ye blushing saints, would dare

To hint that aught but Heaven hath plac’d you there?

Or that the loves of this light world could bind,

In their gross chain, your Prophet’s soaring mind?

No—wrongful thought!—commission’d from above

To people Eden’s bowers with shapes of love,

(Creatures so bright, that the same lips and eyes

They wear on earth will serve in Paradise,)

There to recline among Heaven’s native maids,

And crown the’ Elect with bliss that never fades—

Well hath the Prophet-Chief his bidding done;

And every beauteous race beneath the sun,

14From those who kneel at Brahma’s burning founts,^[35]

To the fresh nymphs bounding o’er Yemen’s mounts;

From Persia’s eyes of full and fawn-like ray

To the small, half-shut glances of Kathay;^[36]

And Georgia’s bloom, and Azab’s darker smiles,

And the gold ringlets of the Western Isles;

All, all are there;—each Land its flower hath given,

To form that fair young Nursery for Heaven!

But why this pageant now? this arm’d array?

What triumph crowds the rich Divan to-day

With turban’d heads, of every hue and race,

15Bowing before that veil’d and awful face,

Like tulip-beds,^[37] of different shape and dyes,

Bending beneath the’ invisible West-wind’s sighs!

What new-made mystery now, for Faith to sign,

And blood to seal, as genuine and divine,

What dazzling mimickry of God’s own power

Hath the bold Prophet plann’d to grace this hour?

Not such the pageant now, though not less proud;

Yon warrior youth, advancing from the crowd,

With silver bow, with belt of broider’d crape,

And fur-bound bonnet of Bucharian shape,^[38]

So fiercely beautiful in form and eye,

Like war’s wild planet in a summer sky;

That youth to-day,—a proselyte, worth hordes

Of cooler spirits and less practis’d swords,—

Is come to join, all bravery and belief,

The creed and standard of the heaven-sent Chief.

Though few his years, the West already knows

Young Azim’s fame;—beyond the’ Olympian snows,

Ere manhood darken’d o’er his downy cheek,

O’erwhelm’d in fight and captive to the Greek,^[39]

He linger’d there, till peace dissolv’d his chains;—

Oh, who could, even in bondage, tread the plains

Of glorious Greece, nor feel his spirit rise

Kindling within him? who, with heart and eyes,

16Could walk where Liberty had been, nor see

The shining foot-prints of her Deity,

Nor feel those godlike breathings in the air,

Which mutely told her spirit had been there?

Not he, that youthful warrior,—no, too well

For his soul’s quiet work’d the’ awakening spell;

And now, returning to his own dear land,

Full of those dreams of good that, vainly grand,

Haunt the young heart,—proud views of human-kind,

Of men to Gods exalted and refin’d,—

False views, like that horizon’s fair deceit,

Where earth and heaven but seem, alas, to meet!—

Soon as he heard an Arm Divine was rais’d

To right the nations, and beheld, emblaz’d

On the white flag Mokanna’s host unfurl’d,

Those words of sunshine, “Freedom to the World,”

At once his faith, his sword, his soul obey’d

The’ inspiring summons; every chosen blade

That fought beneath that banner’s sacred text

Seem’d doubly edg’d, for this world and the next;

And ne’er did Faith with her smooth bandage bind

Eyes more devoutly willing to be blind,

In virtue’s cause;—never was soul inspir’d

With livelier trust in what it most desir’d,

Than his, the’ enthusiast there, who kneeling, pale

With pious awe, before that Silver Veil,

17Believes the form, to which he bends his knee,

Some pure, redeeming angel, sent to free

This fetter’d world from every bond and stain,

And bring its primal glories back again!

Low as young Azim knelt, that motley crowd

Of all earth’s nations sunk the knee and bow’d,

With shouts of “Alla!” echoing long and loud;

While high in air, above the Prophet’s head,

18Hundreds of banners, to the sunbeam spread,

Wav’d, like the wings of the white birds that fan

The flying throne of star-taught Soliman.^[40]

Then thus he spoke:—“Stranger, though new the frame

“Thy soul inhabits now, I’ve track’d its flame

“For many an age,^[41] in every chance and change

“Of that existence, through whose varied range,—

“As through a torch-race, where, from hand to hand,

“The flying youths transmit their shining brand,—

“From frame to frame the unextinguish’d soul

“Rapidly passes, till it reach the goal!

“Nor think ’tis only the gross Spirits, warm’d

“With duskier fire and for earth’s medium form’d,

“That run this course;—Beings, the most divine,

“Thus deign through dark mortality to shine.

“Such was the Essence that in Adam dwelt,

“To which all Heaven, except the Proud One, knelt:^[42]

“Such the refin’d Intelligence that glow’d

“In Moussa’s^[43] frame,—and, thence descending, flow’d

“Through many a Prophet’s breast;^[44]—in Issa^[45] shone,

“And in Mohammed burn’d; till, hastening on,

“(As a bright river that, from fall to fall

“In many a maze descending, bright through all,

“Finds some fair region where, each labyrinth past,

“In one full lake of light it rests at last!)

19“That Holy Spirit, settling calm and free

“From lapse or shadow, centres all in me!”

Again, throughout the’ assembly, at these words,

Thousands of voices rung: the warriors’ swords

Were pointed up to heaven; a sudden wind

In the’ open banners played, and from behind

Those Persian hangings, that but ill could screen

The Haram’s loveliness, white hands were seen

Waving embroider’d scarves, whose motion gave

A perfume forth;—like those the Houris wave

When beck’ning to their bowers the’ immortal Brave.

“But these,” pursued the Chief, “are truths sublime,

“That claim a holier mood and calmer time

“Than earth allows us now;—this sword must first

“The darkling prison-house of Mankind burst

“Ere Peace can visit them, or Truth let in

“Her wakening daylight on a world of sin.

“But then, celestial warriors, then, when all

“Earth’s shrines and thrones before our banner fall;

“When the glad Slave shall at these feet lay down

“His broken chain, the tyrant Lord his crown,

“The Priest his book, the Conqueror his wreath,

“And from the lips of Truth one mighty breath

“Shall, like a whirlwind, scatter in its breeze

20“That whole dark pile of human mockeries;—

“Then shall the reign of mind commence on earth,

“And starting fresh, as from a second birth,

“Man, in the sunshine of the world’s new spring,

“Shall walk transparent, like some holy thing!

“Then, too, your Prophet from his angel brow

“Shall cast the Veil that hides its splendours now,

“And gladden’d Earth shall, through her wide expanse,

“Bask in the glories of this countenance!—

“For thee, young warrior, welcome!—thou hast yet

“Some tasks to learn, some frailties to forget,

“Ere the white war-plume o’er thy brow can wave;—

“But, once my own, mine all till in the grave!”

The pomp is at an end—the crowds are gone—

Each ear and heart still haunted by the tone

Of that deep voice, which thrilled like Alla’s own!

The Young all dazzled by the plumes and lances,

The glittering throne, and Haram’s half-caught glances;

The Old deep pondering on the promis’d reign

Of peace and truth; and all the female train

Ready to risk their eyes, could they but gaze

A moment on that brow’s miraculous blaze!

But there was one, among the chosen maids,

Who blush’d behind the gallery’s silken shades,

One, to whose soul the pageant of to-day

21Has been like death:—you saw her pale dismay,

Ye wondering sisterhood, and heard the burst

Of exclamation from her lips, when first

She saw that youth, too well, too dearly known,

Silently kneeling at the Prophet’s throne.

Ah Zelica! there was a time, when bliss

Shone o’er thy heart from every look of his;

When but to see him, hear him, breathe the air

In which he dwelt, was thy soul’s fondest prayer;

When round him hung such a perpetual spell

Whate’er he did, none ever did so well.

22Too happy days! when, if he touch’d a flower

Or gem of thine, ’twas sacred from that hour;

When thou didst study him till every tone

And gesture and dear look became thy own,—

Thy voice like his, the changes of his face

In thine reflected with still lovelier grace.

Like echo, sending back sweet music, fraught

With twice the’ aërial sweetness it had brought!

Yet now he comes,—brighter than even he

E’er beam’d before,—but, ah! not bright for thee;

No—dread, unlook’d for, like a visitant

From the’ other world, he comes as if to haunt

Thy guilty soul with dreams of lost delight,

Long lost to all but memory’s aching sight:—

Sad dreams! as when the Spirit of our Youth

Returns in sleep, sparkling with all the truth

And innocence once ours, and leads us back,

In mournful mockery, o’er the shining track

Of our young life, and points out every ray

Of hope and peace we’ve lost upon the way!

Once happy pair!—In proud Bokhara’s groves,

Who had not heard of their first youthful loves?

Born by that ancient flood,^[46] which from its spring

In the dark Mountains swiftly wandering,

Enrich’d by every pilgrim brook that shines

23With relics from Bucharia’s ruby mines,

And, lending to the Caspian half its strength,

In the cold Lake of Eagles sinks at length;—

There, on the banks of that bright river born,

The flowers, that hung above its wave at morn,

Bless’d not the waters, as they murmur’d by,

With holier scent and lustre, than the sigh

And virgin-glance of first affection cast

Upon their youth’s smooth current, as it pass’d!

But war disturb’d this vision,—far away

From her fond eyes summon’d to join the’ array

Of Persia’s warriors on the hills of Thrace,

The youth exchang’d his sylvan dwelling-place

For the rude tent and war-field’s deathful clash;

His Zelica’s sweet glances for the flash

Of Grecian wild-fire, and Love’s gentle chains

For bleeding bondage on Byzantium’s plains.

Month after month, in widowhood of soul

Drooping, the maiden saw two summers roll

Their suns away—but ah! how cold and dim

Even summer suns, when not beheld with him!

From time to time ill-omen’d rumours came,

Like spirit-tongues mutt’ring the sick man’s name,

Just ere he dies:—at length those sounds of dread

Fell with’ring on her soul, “Azim is dead!”

24Oh Grief, beyond all other griefs, when fate

First leaves the young heart lone and desolate

In the wide world, without that only tie

For which it lov’d to live or fear’d to die;—

Lorn as the hung-up lute, that ne’er hath spoken

Since the sad day its master-chord was broken!

Fond maid, the sorrow of her soul was such,

Even reason sunk,—blighted beneath its touch:

And though, ere long, her sanguine spirit rose

Above the first dead pressure of its woes,

Though health and bloom return’d, the delicate chain

Of thought, once tangled, never clear’d again.

Warm, lively, soft as in youth’s happiest day,

The mind was still all there, but turned astray;—

A wand’ring bark, upon whose pathway shone

All stars of heaven, except the guiding one!

Again she smil’d, nay, much and brightly smil’d,

But ’twas a lustre, strange, unreal, wild;

And when she sung to her lute’s touching strain,

’Twas like the notes, half ecstasy, half pain,

The bulbul^[47] utters, ere her soul depart,

When, vanquish’d by some minstrel’s powerful art,

She dies upon the lute whose sweetness broke her heart!

Such was the mood in which that mission found

Young Zelica,—that mission, which around

25The Eastern world, in every region blest

With woman’s smile, sought out its loveliest,

To grace that galaxy of lips and eyes

Which the Veil’d Prophet destined for the skies:—

And such quick welcome as a spark receives

Dropp’d on a bed of Autumn’s withered leaves,

Did every tale of these enthusiasts find

In the wild maiden’s sorrow-blighted mind.

All fire at once the madd’ning zeal she caught;—

Elect of Paradise! blest, rapturous thought!

Predestin’d bride, in heaven’s eternal dome,

Of some brave youth—ha! durst they say “of some?”

26No—of the one, one only object trac’d

In her heart’s core too deep to be effac’d;

The one whose memory, fresh as life, is twin’d

With every broken link of her lost mind;

Whose image lives, though Reason’s self be wreck’d,

Safe ’mid the ruins of her intellect!

Alas, poor Zelica! it needed all

The fantasy, which held thy mind in thrall,

To see in that gay Haram’s glowing maids

A sainted colony for Eden’s shades;

Or dream that he,—of whose unholy flame

Thou wert too soon the victim,—shining came

From Paradise, to people its pure sphere

With souls like thine, which he hath ruin’d here!

No—had not Reason’s light totally set,

And left thee dark, thou hadst an amulet

In the lov’d image, graven on thy heart,

Which would have sav’d thee from the tempter’s art,

And kept alive, in all its bloom of breath,

That purity, whose fading is love’s death!—

But lost, inflamed,—a restless zeal took place

Of the mild virgin’s still and feminine grace;

First of the Prophet’s favourites, proudly first

In zeal and charms,—too well the’ Impostor nurs’d

Her soul’s delirium, in whose active flame,

27Thus lighting up a young, luxuriant frame,

He saw more potent sorceries to bind

To his dark yoke the spirits of mankind,

More subtle chains than hell itself e’er twin’d.

No art was spar’d, no witchery;—all the skill

His demons taught him was employ’d to fill

Her mind with gloom and ecstasy by turns—

That gloom, through which Frenzy but fiercer burns;

That ecstasy, which from the depth of sadness

Glares like the maniac’s moon, whose light is madness.

’Twas from a brilliant banquet, where the sound

Of poesy and music breath’d around,

Together picturing to her mind and ear

The glories of that heaven, her destin’d sphere,

Where all was pure, where every stain that lay

Upon the spirit’s light should pass away,

And, realizing more than youthful love

E’er wish’d or dream’d, she should for ever rove

Through fields of fragrance by her Azim’s side,

His own bless’d, purified, eternal bride!—

’Twas from a scene, a witching trance like this,

He hurried her away, yet breathing bliss,

To the dim charnel-house;—through all its steams

Of damp and death, led only by those gleams

Which foul Corruption lights, as with design

28To show the gay and proud she too can shine!—

And, passing on through upright ranks of Dead,

Which to the maiden, doubly craz’d by dread,

Seem’d, through the bluish death-light round them cast,

To move their lips in mutterings as she pass’d—

There, in that awful place, when each had quaff’d

And pledg’d in silence such a fearful draught,

Such—oh! the look and taste of that red bowl

Will haunt her till she dies—he bound her soul

By a dark oath, in hell’s own language fram’d,

Never, while earth his mystic presence claim’d,

While the blue arch of day hung o’er them both,

29Never, by that all-imprecating oath,

In joy or sorrow from his side to sever.—

She swore, and the wide charnel echoed, “Never, never!”

From that dread hour, entirely, wildly given

To him and—she believ’d, lost maid!—to Heaven;

Her brain, her heart, her passions all inflam’d,

How proud she stood, when in full Haram nam’d

The Priestess of the Faith!—how flash’d her eyes

With light, alas! that was not of the skies,

When round, in trances, only less than hers,

She saw the Haram kneel, her prostrate worshippers!

Well might Mokanna think that form alone

Had spells enough to make the world his own:—

Light, lovely limbs, to which the spirit’s play

Gave motion, airy as the dancing spray,

When from its stem the small bird wings away:

Lips in whose rosy labyrinth, when she smil’d,

The soul was lost; and blushes, swift and wild

As are the momentary meteors sent

Across the’ uncalm, but beauteous firmament.

And then her look—oh! where’s the heart so wise

Could unbewilder’d meet those matchless eyes?

Quick, restless, strange, but exquisite withal,

Like those of angels, just before their fall;

Now shadow’d with the shames of earth—now crost

30By glimpses of the Heaven her heart had lost;

In ev’ry glance there broke, without control,

The flashes of a bright, but troubled soul,

Where sensibility still wildly play’d,

Like lightning, round the ruins it had made!

And such was now young Zelica—so chang’d

From her who, some years since, delighted rang’d

The almond groves that shade Bokhara’s tide,

All life and bliss, with Azim by her side!

So alter’d was she now, this festal day,

When, ’mid the proud Divan’s dazzling array,

The vision of that Youth whom she had lov’d,

Had wept as dead, before her breath’d and mov’d;—

When—bright, she thought, as if from Eden’s track

But half-way trodden, he had wander’d back

Again to earth, glistening with Eden’s light—

Her beauteous Azim shone before her sight.

O Reason! who shall say what spells renew,

When least we look for it, thy broken clew!

Through what small vistas o’er the darken’d brain

Thy intellectual day-beam bursts again;

And how, like forts, to which beleaguerers win

Unhop’d-for entrance through some friend within,

One clear idea, waken’d in the breast

31By memory’s magic, lets in all the rest!

Would it were thus, unhappy girl, with thee!

But though light came, it came but partially;

Enough to show the maze, in which thy sense

Wander’d about,—but not to guide it thence;

Enough to glimmer o’er the yawning wave,

But not to point the harbour which might save.

Hours of delight and peace, long left behind,

With that dear form came rushing o’er her mind;

But, oh! to think how deep her soul had gone

In shame and falsehood since those moments shone;

And, then, her oath—there madness lay again,

And, shuddering, back she sunk into her chain

Of mental darkness, as if blest to flee

From light, whose every glimpse was agony!

Yet, one relief this glance of former years

Brought, mingled with its pain,—tears, floods of tears,

Long frozen at her heart, but now like rills

Let loose in spring-time from the snowy hills,

And gushing warm, after a sleep of frost,

Through valleys where their flow had long been lost.

Sad and subdued, for the first time her frame

Trembled with horror, when the summons came

(A summons proud and rare, which all but she,

And she, till now, had heard with ecstasy,)

32To meet Mokanna at his place of prayer,

A garden oratory, cool and fair,

By the stream’s side, where still at close of day

The Prophet of the Veil retir’d to pray;

Sometimes alone—but, oftener far, with one,

One chosen nymph to share his orison.

Of late none found such favour in his sight

As the young Priestess; and though, since that night

When the death-caverns echoed every tone

Of the dire oath that made her all his own,

The’ Impostor, sure of his infatuate prize,

Had, more than once, thrown off his soul’s disguise,

And utter’d such unheavenly, monstrous things,

As even across the desp’rate wanderings

Of a weak intellect, whose lamp was out,

Threw startling shadows of dismay and doubt;—

Yet zeal, ambition, her tremendous vow,

The thought, still haunting her, of that bright brow,

Whose blaze, as yet from mortal eye conceal’d,

Would soon, proud triumph! be to her reveal’d,

To her alone;—and then the hope, most dear,

Most wild of all, that her transgression here

Was but a passage through earth’s grosser fire,

From which the spirit would at last aspire,

Even purer than before,—as perfumes rise

33Through flame and smoke, most welcome to the skies—

And that when Azim’s fond, divine embrace

Should circle her in heaven, no dark’ning trace

Would on that bosom he once lov’d remain,

But all be bright, be pure, be his again!—

These were the wildering dreams, whose curst deceit

Had chain’d her soul beneath the tempter’s feet,

And made her think even damning falsehood sweet.

But now that Shape, which had appall’d her view,

That Semblance—oh, how terrible, if true!—

Which came across her frenzy’s full career

With shock of consciousness, cold, deep, severe,

As when, in northern seas, at midnight dark,

An isle of ice encounters some swift bark,

And, startling all its wretches from their sleep,

By one cold impulse hurls them to the deep;—

So came that shock not frenzy’s self could bear,

And waking up each long-lull’d image there,

But check’d her headlong soul, to sink it in despair!

Wan and dejected, through the evening dusk,

She now went slowly to that small kiosk,

Where, pond’ring alone his impious schemes,

Mokanna waited her—too wrapt in dreams

Of the fair-rip’ning future’s rich success,

To heed the sorrow, pale and spiritless,

34That sat upon his victim’s downcast brow,

Or mark how slow her step, how alter’d now

From the quick, ardent Priestess, whose light bound

Came like a spirit’s o’er the’ unechoing ground,—

From that wild Zelica, whose every glance

Was thrilling fire, whose every thought a trance!

Upon his couch the Veil’d Mokanna lay,

While lamps around—not such as lend their ray,

Glimmering and cold, to those who nightly pray

In holy Koom,^[48] or Mecca’s dim arcades,—

But brilliant, soft, such lights as lovely maids

Look loveliest in, shed their luxurious glow

Upon his mystic Veil’s white glittering flow.

Beside him, ’stead of beads and books of prayer,

Which the world fondly thought he mus’d on there,

Stood vases, fill’d with Kishmee’s^[49] golden wine,

And the red weepings of the Shiraz vine;

Of which his curtain’d lips full many a draught

Took zealously, as if each drop they quaff’d,

Like Zemzem’s Spring of Holiness,^[50] had power

To freshen the soul’s virtues into flower!

And still he drank and ponder’d—nor could see

The’ approaching maid, so deep his reverie;

At length, with fiendish laugh, like that which broke

From Eblis at the Fall of Man, he spoke:—

35“Yes, ye vile race, for hell’s amusement given,

“Too mean for earth, yet claiming kin with heaven;

“God’s images, forsooth!—such gods as he

“Whom India serves, the monkey deity;—^[51]

“Ye creatures of a breath, proud things of clay,

“To whom if Lucifer, as grandams say,

“Refus’d, though at the forfeit of heaven’s light,

“To bend in worship, Lucifer was right!—^[52]

“Soon shall I plant this foot upon the neck

“Of your foul race, and without fear or check,

“Luxuriating in hate, avenge my shame,

“My deep-felt, long-nurst loathing of man’s name!

36“Soon at the head of myriads, blind and fierce

“As hooded falcons, through the universe

“I’ll sweep my dark’ning, desolating way,

“Weak man my instrument, curst man my prey!

“Ye wise, ye learn’d, who grope your dull way on

“By the dim twinkling gleams of ages gone,

“Like superstitious thieves, who think the light

“From dead men’s marrow guides them best at night—^[53]

“Ye shall have honours—wealth,—yes, Sages, yes—

“I know, grave fools, your wisdom’s nothingness;

“Undazzled it can track yon starry sphere,

“But a gilt stick, a bawble blinds it here.

“How I shall laugh, when trumpeted along,

“In lying speech, and still more lying song,

“By these learn’d slaves, the meanest of the throng;

“Their wits bought up, their wisdom shrunk so small,

“A sceptre’s puny point can wield it all!

“Ye too, believers of incredible creeds,

“Whose faith enshrines the monsters which it breeds;

“Who, bolder even than Nemrod, think to rise,

“By nonsense heap’d on nonsense, to the skies;

“Ye shall have miracles, ay, sound ones too,

“Seen, heard, attested, ev’ry thing—but true.

“Your preaching zealots, too inspir’d to seek

“One grace of meaning for the things they speak;

37“Your martyrs, ready to shed out their blood,

“For truths too heavenly to be understood;

“And your State Priests, sole vendors of the lore

“That works salvation;—as, on Ava’s shore,

“Where none but priests are privileg’d to trade

“In that best marble of which Gods are made;^[54]

“They shall have mysteries—ay, precious stuff

“For knaves to thrive by—mysteries enough;

“Dark, tangled doctrines, dark as fraud can weave,

“Which simple votaries shall on trust receive,

“While craftier feign belief, till they believe.

“A Heaven too ye must have, ye lords of dust,—

“A splendid Paradise,—pure souls, ye must:

“That Prophet ill sustains his holy call,

“Who finds not heavens to suit the tastes of all;

“Houris for boys, omniscience for sages,

“And wings and glories for all ranks and ages.

“Vain things!—as lust or vanity inspires,

“The Heaven of each is but what each desires,

“And, soul or sense, whate’er the object be,

“Man would be man to all eternity!

“So let him—Eblis! grant this crowning curse,

“But keep him what he is, no Hell were worse.”

“Oh my lost soul!” exclaim’d the shuddering maid,

Whose ears had drunk like poison all he said:—

38Mokanna started—not abash’d, afraid,—

He knew no more of fear than one who dwells

Beneath the tropics knows of icicles!

But, in those dismal words that reach’d his ear,

“Oh my lost soul!” there was a sound so drear,

So like that voice, among the sinful dead,

In which the legend o’er Hell’s Gate is read,

That, new as ’twas from her, whom nought could dim

Or sink till now, it startled even him.

“Ha, my fair Priestess!”—thus, with ready wile,

The’ impostor turn’d to greet her—“thou, whose smile

“Hath inspiration in its rosy beam

“Beyond the’ Enthusiast’s hope or Prophet’s dream!

“Light of the faith! who twin’st religion’s zeal

“So close with love’s, men know not which they feel,

“Nor which to sigh for, in their trance of heart,

“The heaven thou preachest or the heaven thou art!

“What should I be without thee? without thee

“How dull were power, how joyless victory!

“Though borne by angels, if that smile of thine

“Bless’d not my banner, ’twere but half divine.

“But—why so mournful, child? those eyes, that shone

“All life last night—what!—is their glory gone?

“Come, come—this morn’s fatigue hath made them pale,

“They want rekindling—suns themselves would fail,

39“Did not their comets bring, as I to thee,

“From light’s own fount supplies of brilliancy.

“Thou seest this cup—no juice of earth is here,

“But the pure waters of that upper sphere,

“Whose rills o’er ruby beds and topaz flow,

“Catching the gem’s bright colour as they go.

“Nightly my Genii come and fill these urns—

“Nay, drink—in every drop life’s essence burns;

“’Twill make that soul all fire, those eyes all light—

“Come, come, I want thy loveliest smiles to-night:—

“There is a youth—why start?—thou saw’st him then;

“Look’d he not nobly? such the godlike men

“Thou’lt have to woo thee in the bowers above;—

“Though he, I fear, hath thoughts too stern for love,

“Too rul’d by that cold enemy of bliss

“The world calls virtue—we must conquer this;—

“Nay, shrink not, pretty sage! ’tis not for thee

“To scan the mazes of Heaven’s mystery:

“The steel must pass through fire, ere it can yield

“Fit instruments for mighty hands to wield.

“This very night I mean to try the art

“Of powerful beauty on that warrior’s heart.

“All that my Haram boasts of bloom and wit,

“Of skill and charms, most rare and exquisite,

“Shall tempt the boy;—young Mirzala’s blue eyes,

“Whose sleepy lid like snow on violets lies;

40“Arouya’s cheeks, warm as a spring-day sun,

“And lips that, like the seal of Solomon,

“Have magic in their pressure; Zeba’s lute,

“And Lilla’s dancing feet, that gleam and shoot

“Rapid and white as sea-birds o’er the deep—

“All shall combine their witching powers to steep

“My convert’s spirit in that soft’ning trance,

“From which to heaven is but the next advance;

“That glowing, yielding fusion of the breast,

“On which Religion stamps her image best.

“But hear me, Priestess!—though each nymph of these

“Hath some peculiar, practis’d power to please,

“Some glance or step which, at the mirror tried,

“First charms herself, then all the world beside;

“There still wants one, to make the victory sure,

“One who in every look joins every lure;

“Through whom all beauty’s beams concentred pass,

“Dazzling and warm, as through love’s burning glass;

“Whose gentle lips persuade without a word,

“Whose words, ev’n when unmeaning, are ador’d,

“Like inarticulate breathings from a shrine,

“Which our faith takes for granted are divine!

“Such is the nymph we want, all warmth and light,

“To crown the rich temptations of to-night;

“Such the refin’d enchantress that must be

“This hero’s vanquisher,—and thou art she!”

41

With her hands clasp’d, her lips apart and pale,

The maid had stood, gazing upon the Veil

From which these words, like south winds through a fence

Of Kerzrah flowers, came fill’d with pestilence;^[55]

So boldly utter’d too! as if all dread

Of frowns from her, of virtuous frowns, were fled,

And the wretch felt assur’d that, once plung’d in,

Her woman’s soul would know no pause in sin!

At first, though mute she listen’d, like a dream

Seem’d all he said: nor could her mind, whose beam

42As yet was weak, penetrate half his scheme.

But when, at length, he utter’d, “Thou art she!”

All flash’d at once, and shrieking piteously,

“Oh not for worlds!” she cried—“Great God! to whom

“I once knelt innocent, is this my doom?

“Are all my dreams, my hopes of heavenly bliss,

“My purity, my pride, then come to this,—

“To live, the wanton of a fiend! to be

“The pander of his guilt—oh infamy!

“And sunk, myself, as low as hell can steep

“In its hot flood, drag others down as deep!

“Others—ha! yes—that youth who came to-day—

“Not him I lov’d—not him—oh! do but say,

“But swear to me this moment ’tis not he,

“And I will serve, dark fiend, will worship even thee!”

“Beware, young raving thing!—in time beware,

“Nor utter what I cannot, must not bear,

“Even from thy lips. Go—try thy lute, thy voice,

“The boy must feel their magic;—I rejoice

“To see those fires, no matter whence they rise,

“Once more illuming my fair Priestess’ eyes;

“And should the youth, whom soon those eyes shall warm,

“Indeed resemble thy dead lover’s form,

“So much the happier wilt thou find thy doom,

“As one warm lover, full of life and bloom,

43“Excels ten thousand cold ones in the tomb.

“Nay, nay, no frowning, sweet!—those eyes were made

“For love, not anger—I must be obey’d.”

“Obey’d!—’tis well—yes, I deserve it all—

“On me, on me Heaven’s vengeance cannot fall

“Too heavily—but Azim, brave and true

“And beautiful—must he be ruin’d too?

“Must he too, glorious as he is, be driven

“A renegade like me from Love and Heaven?

“Like me?—weak wretch, I wrong him—not like me;

“No—he’s all truth and strength and purity!

“Fill up your madd’ning hell-cup to the brim,

“Its witch’ry, fiends, will have no charm for him.

“Let loose your glowing wantons from their bowers,

“He loves, he loves, and can defy their powers!

“Wretch as I am, in his heart still I reign

“Pure as when first we met, without a stain!

“Though ruin’d—lost—my memory, like a charm

“Left by the dead, still keeps his soul from harm.

“Oh! never let him know how deep the brow

“He kiss’d at parting is dishonour’d now;—

“Ne’er tell him how debas’d, how sunk is she,

“Whom once he lov’d—once!—still loves dotingly.

“Thou laugh’st, tormentor,—what!—thou’lt brand my name?

44“Do, do—in vain—he’ll not believe my shame—

“He thinks me true, that nought beneath God’s sky

“Could tempt or change me, and—so once thought I.

“But this is past—though worse than death my lot,

“Than hell—’tis nothing while he knows it not.

“Far off to some benighted land I’ll fly,

“Where sunbeam ne’er shall enter till I die;

“Where none will ask the lost one whence she came,

“But I may fade and fall without a name.

“And thou—curst man or fiend, whate’er thou art,

“Who found’st this burning plague-spot in my heart,

“And spread’st it—oh, so quick!—through soul and frame,

“With more than demon’s art, till I became

“A loathsome thing, all pestilence, all flame!—

“If when I’m gone⸺”

“If when I’m gone⸺”“Hold, fearless maniac, hold,

“Nor tempt my rage—by Heaven, not half so bold

“The puny bird, that dares with teasing hum

“Within the crocodile’s stretch’d jaws to come!^[56]

“And so thou’lt fly, forsooth?—what!—give up all

“Thy chaste dominion in the Haram Hall,

“Where now to Love and now to Alla given,

“Half mistress and half saint, thou hang’st as even

“As doth Medina’s tomb, ’twixt hell and heaven!

“Thou’lt fly!—as easily may reptiles run,

45“The gaunt snake once hath fix’d his eyes upon;

“As easily, when caught, the prey may be

“Pluck’d from his loving folds, as thou from me.

“No, no, ’tis fix’d—let good or ill betide,

“Thou’rt mine till death, till death Mokanna’s bride!

“Hast thou forgot thy oath?”

“Hast thou forgot thy oath?”At this dread word,

The Maid, whose spirit his rude taunts had stirr’d

Through all its depth, and rous’d an anger there,

That burst and lighten’d ev’n through her despair—

Shrunk back, as if a blight were in the breath

That spoke that word, and stagger’d, pale as death.

“Yes, my sworn bride, let others seek in bowers

“Their bridal place—the charnel vault was ours!

“Instead of scents and balms, for thee and me

“Rose the rich steams of sweet mortality;

“Gay, flickering death-lights shone while we were wed,

“And, for our guests, a row of goodly Dead.

“(Immortal spirits in their time, no doubt,)

“From reeking shrouds upon the rite look’d out!

“That oath thou heard’st more lips than thine repeat—

“That cup—thou shudd’rest, Lady,—was it sweet?

“That cup we pledg’d, the charnel’s choicest wine,

“Hath bound thee—ay—body and soul all mine;

46“Bound thee by chains that, whether blest or curst

“No matter now, not hell itself shall burst!

“Hence, woman, to the Haram, and look gay,

“Look wild, look—any thing but sad; yet stay—

“One moment more—from what this night hath pass’d,

“I see thou know’st me, know’st me well at last.

“Ha! ha! and so, fond thing, thou thought’st all true,

“And that I love mankind?—I do, I do—

“As victims, love them; as the sea-dog doats

“Upon the small, sweet fry that round him floats;

“Or, as the Nile-bird loves the slime that gives

“That rank and venomous food on which she lives!^[57]—

“And, now thou seest my soul’s angelic hue,

“’Tis time these features were uncurtain’d too;—

“This brow, whose light—oh rare celestial light!

“Hath been reserv’d to bless thy favour’d sight;

“These dazzling eyes, before whose shrouded might

“Thou’st seen immortal Man kneel down and quake—

“Would that they were heaven’s lightnings for his sake!

“But turn and look—then wonder, if thou wilt,

“That I should hate, should take revenge, by guilt,

“Upon the hand, whose mischief or whose mirth

“Sent me thus maim’d and monstrous upon earth;

“And on that race who, though more vile they be

“Than mowing apes, are demi-gods to me!

47“Here—judge if hell, with all its power to damn,

“Can add one curse to the foul thing I am!”

He raised his veil—the Maid turn’d slowly round,

Look’d at him—shriek’d—and sunk upon the ground!

---

48On their arrival, next night, at the place of encampment, they were surprised and delighted to find the groves all around illuminated; some artists of Yamtcheou^[58] having been sent on previously for the purpose. On each side of the green alley, which led to the Royal Pavilion, artificial sceneries of bamboo-work^[59] were erected, representing arches, minarets, and towers, from which hung thousands of silken lanterns, painted by the most delicate pencils of Canton.—Nothing could be more beautiful than the leaves of the mango-trees and acacias, shining in the light of the bamboo-scenery, which shed a lustre round as soft as that of the nights of Peristan.

Lalla Rookh, however, who was too much occupied by the sad story of Zelica and her lover, to give a thought to anything else, except, perhaps, him who related it, hurried on through this scene of splendour to her pavilion,—greatly to the mortification of the poor artists of Yamtcheou,—and was followed with equal rapidity by the Great Chamberlain, cursing, as he went, that ancient Mandarin, whose parental anxiety in lighting 49up the shores of the lake, where his beloved daughter had wandered and been lost, was the origin of these fantastic Chinese illuminations.^[60]

Without a moment’s delay, young Feramorz was introduced, and Fadladeen, who could never make up his mind as to the merits of a poet till he knew the religious sect to which he belonged, was about to ask him whether he was a Shia or a Sooni, when Lalla Rookh impatiently clapped her hands for silence, and the youth, being seated upon the musnud near her, proceeded:—

---

50

Prepare thy soul, young Azim!—thou hast brav’d

The bands of Greece, still mighty though enslav’d;

Hast fac’d her phalanx, arm’d with all its fame,

Her Macedonian pikes and globes of flame;

All this hast fronted, with firm heart and brow,

But a more perilous trial waits thee now,—

Woman’s bright eyes, a dazzling host of eyes

From every land where woman smiles or sighs;

Of every hue, as Love may chance to raise

His black or azure banner in their blaze;

And each sweet mode of warfare, from the flash

That lightens boldly through the shadowy lash,

51To the sly, stealing splendours, almost hid,

Like swords half-sheath’d, beneath the downcast lid:—

Such, Azim, is the lovely, luminous host

Now led against thee; and, let conquerors boast

Their fields of fame, he who in virtue arms

A young, warm spirit against beauty’s charms,

Who feels her brightness, yet defies her thrall,

Is the best, bravest conqueror of them all.

Now, through the Haram chambers, moving lights

And busy shapes proclaim the toilet’s rites;—

From room to room the ready handmaids hie,

Some skill’d to wreath the turban tastefully,

Or hang the veil, in negligence of shade,

O’er the warm blushes of the youthful maid,

Who, if between the folds but one eye shone,

Like Seba’s Queen could vanquish with that one:—^[61]

While some bring leaves of Henna, to imbue

The fingers’ ends with a bright roseate hue,^[62]

So bright, that in the mirror’s depth they seem

Like tips of coral branches in the stream;

And others mix the Kohol’s jetty dye,

To give that long, dark languish to the eye,^[63]

Which makes the maids, whom kings are proud to cull

From fair Circassia’s vales, so beautiful.

All is in motion; rings and plumes and pearls

52Are shining every where:—some younger girls

Are gone by moonlight to the garden beds,

To gather fresh, cool chaplets for their heads;—

Gay creatures! sweet, though mournful, ’tis to see

How each prefers a garland from that tree

Which brings to mind her childhood’s innocent day,

And the dear fields and friendships far away.

The maid of India, blest again to hold

In her full lap the Champac’s leaves of gold,^[64]

Thinks of the time when, by the Ganges’ flood,

Her little playmates scatter’d many a bud

Upon her long black hair, with glossy gleam

Just dripping from the consecrated stream;

While the young Arab, haunted by the smell

Of her own mountain flowers, as by a spell,—

The sweet Elcaya,^[65] and that courteous tree

Which bows to all who seek its canopy,^[66]

Sees, call’d up round her by these magic scents,

The well, the camels, and her father’s tents;

Sighs for the home she left with little pain,

And wishes even its sorrows back again!

Meanwhile, through vast illuminated halls,

Silent and bright, where nothing but the falls

Of fragrant waters, gushing with cool sound

From many a jasper fount, is heard around,

53Young Azim roams bewilder’d,—nor can guess

What means this maze of light and loneliness.

Here, the way leads, o’er tessellated floors

Or mats of Cairo, through long corridors,

Where, rang’d in cassolets and silver urns,

Sweet wood of aloe or of sandal burns;

And spicy rods, such as illume at night

The bowers of Tibet,^[67] send forth odorous light,

Like Peris’ wands, when pointing out the road

For some pure Spirit to its blest abode:—

And here, at once, the glittering saloon

Bursts on his sight, boundless and bright as noon;

54Where, in the midst, reflecting back the rays

In broken rainbows, a fresh fountain plays

High as the’ enamell’d cupola, which towers

All rich with Arabesques of gold and flowers:

And the mosaic floor beneath shines through

The sprinkling of that fountain’s silv’ry dew,

Like the wet, glistening shells, of every dye,

That on the margin of the Red Sea lie.

Here too he traces the kind visitings

Of woman’s love in those fair, living things

Of land and wave, whose fate—in bondage thrown

For their weak loveliness—is like her own!

On one side gleaming with a sudden grace

Through water, brilliant as the crystal vase

In which it undulates, small fishes shine,

Like golden ingots from a fairy mine;—

While, on the other, latticed lightly in

With odoriferous woods of Comorin,^[68]

Each brilliant bird that wings the air is seen;—

Gay, sparkling loories, such as gleam between

The crimson blossoms of the coral tree^[69]

In the warm Isles of India’s sunny sea:

Mecca’s blue sacred pigeon,^[70] and the thrush

Of Hindostan,^[71] whose holy warblings gush,

At evening, from the tall pagoda’s top;—

55Those golden birds that, in the spice-time, drop

About the gardens, drunk with that sweet food^[72]

Whose scent hath lur’d them o’er the summer flood;^[73]

And those that under Araby’s soft sun

Build their high nests of budding cinnamon:^[74]

In short, all rare and beauteous things, that fly

Through the pure element, here calmly lie

Sleeping in light, like the green birds^[75] that dwell

In Eden’s radiant fields of asphodel!

So on, through scenes past all imagining,

More like the luxuries of that impious King,^[76]

Whom Death’s dark angel, with his lightning torch,

Struck down and blasted even in Pleasure’s porch,

Than the pure dwelling of a Prophet sent,

Arm’d with Heaven’s sword, for man’s enfranchisement—

Young Azim wander’d, looking sternly round,

His simple garb and war-boots’ clanking sound

But ill according with the pomp and grace

And silent lull of that voluptuous place.

“Is this, then,” thought the youth, “is this the way

“To free man’s spirit from the dead’ning sway

“Of worldly sloth,—to teach him while he lives,

“To know no bliss but that which virtue gives,

“And when he dies, to leave his lofty name

56“A light, a landmark on the cliffs of fame?

“It was not so, Land of the generous thought

“And daring deed, thy godlike sages taught;

“It was not thus, in bowers of wanton ease,

“Thy Freedom nurs’d her sacred energies;

“Oh! not beneath the’ enfeebling, withering glow

“Of such dull luxury did those myrtles grow,

“With which she wreath’d her sword, when she would dare

“Immortal deeds; but in the bracing air

“Of toil,—of temperance,—of that high, rare,

“Ethereal virtue, which alone can breathe

“Life, health, and lustre into Freedom’s wreath.

“Who, that surveys this span of earth we press,—

“This speck of life in time’s great wilderness,

“This narrow isthmus ’twixt two boundless seas,

“The past, the future, two eternities!—

“Would sully the bright spot, or leave it bare,

“When he might build him a proud temple there,

“A name, that long shall hallow all its space,

“And be each purer soul’s high resting-place?

“But no—it cannot be, that one, whom God

“Hath sent to break the wizard Falsehood’s rod,—

“A Prophet of the Truth, whose mission draws

“Its rights from Heaven, should thus profane its cause

“With the world’s vulgar pomps;—no, no,—I see—

“He thinks me weak—this glare of luxury

57“Is but to tempt, to try the eaglet gaze

“Of my young soul—shine on, ’twill stand the blaze!”

So thought the youth;—but, ev’n while he defied

This witching scene, he felt its witchery glide

Through ev’ry sense. The perfume breathing round,

Like a pervading spirit;—the still sound

Of falling waters, lulling as the song

Of Indian bees at sunset, when they throng

Around the fragrant Nilica, and deep

In its blue blossoms hum themselves to sleep;^[77]

And music, too—dear music! that can touch

Beyond all else the soul that loves it much—

Now heard far off, so far as but to seem

Like the faint, exquisite music of a dream;

All was too much for him, too full of bliss,

The heart could nothing feel, that felt not this;

Soften’d he sunk upon a couch, and gave

His soul up to sweet thoughts, like wave on wave

Succeeding to smooth seas, when storms are laid;

He thought of Zelica, his own dear maid,

And of the time, when, full of blissful sighs,

They sat and look’d into each other’s eyes,

Silent and happy—as if God had given

Nought else worth looking at on this side heaven.

58“Oh, my lov’d mistress, thou, whose spirit still

“Is with me, round me, wander where I will—

“It is for thee, for thee alone I seek

“The paths of glory; to light up thy cheek

“With warm approval—in that gentle look

“To read my praise, as in an angel’s book,

“And think all toils rewarded, when from thee

“I gain a smile worth immortality!

“How shall I bear the moment when restor’d

“To that young heart where I alone am Lord,

“Though of such bliss unworthy,—since the best

“Alone deserve to be the happiest;—

“When from those lips, unbreath’d upon for years,

“I shall again kiss off the soul-felt tears,

“And find those tears warm as when last they started,

“Those sacred kisses pure as when we parted?

“O my own life!—why should a single day,

“A moment keep me from those arms away?”

While thus he thinks, still nearer on the breeze

Come those delicious, dream-like harmonies,

Each note of which but adds new, downy links

To the soft chain in which his spirit sinks.

He turns him tow’rd the sound, and far away

Through a long vista, sparkling with the play

Of countless lamps,—like the rich track which Day

59Leaves on the waters, when he sinks from us,

So long the path, its light so tremulous;—

He sees a group of female forms advance,

Some chain’d together in the mazy dance

By fetters, forg’d in the green sunny bowers,

As they were captives to the King of Flowers;^[78]

60And some disporting round, unlink’d and free,

Who seem’d to mock their sisters’ slavery;

And round and round them still, in wheeling flight,

Went, like gay moths about a lamp at night;

While others walk’d, as gracefully along

Their feet kept time, the very soul of song,

From psaltery, pipe, and lutes of heavenly thrill,

Or their own youthful voices, heavenlier still.

And now they come, now pass before his eye,

Forms such as Nature moulds, when she would vie

With Fancy’s pencil, and give birth to things

Lovely beyond its fairest picturings.

Awhile they dance before him, then divide,

Breaking, like rosy clouds at even-tide

Around the rich pavilion of the sun,—

Till silently dispersing, one by one

Through many a path, that from the chamber leads

To gardens, terraces, and moonlight meads,

Their distant laughter comes upon the wind,

And but one trembling nymph remains behind,—

Beck’ning them back in vain, for they are gone,

And she is left in all that light alone;

No veil to curtain o’er her beauteous brow,

In its young bashfulness more beauteous now;

But a light golden chain-work round her hair,^[79]

Such as the maids of Yezd^[80] and Shiras wear,

61From which, on either side, gracefully hung

A golden amulet, in the Arab tongue,

Engraven o’er with some immortal line

From Holy Writ, or bard scarce less divine;

While her left hand, as shrinkingly she stood,

Held a small lute of gold and sandal-wood,

Which, once or twice, she touch’d with hurried strain,

Then took her trembling fingers off again.

But when at length a timid glance she stole

At Azim, the sweet gravity of soul

She saw through all his features calm’d her fear,

And, like a half-tam’d antelope, more near,

Though shrinking still, she came;—then sat her down

Upon a musnud’s^[81] edge, and, bolder grown,

In the pathetic mode of Isfahan^[82]

Touch’d a preluding strain, and thus began:—

---

There’s a bower of roses by Bendemeer’s^[83] stream,

And the nightingale sings round it all the day long;

In the time of my childhood ’twas like a sweet dream,

To sit in the roses and hear the bird’s song.

That bower and its music I never forget,

But oft when alone in the bloom of the year,

I think—is the nightingale singing there yet?

Are the roses still bright by the calm Bendemeer?

62No, the roses soon wither’d that hung o’er the wave,

But some blossoms were gather’d, while freshly they shone,

And a dew was distill’d from their flowers, that gave

All the fragrance of summer, when summer was gone.

Thus memory draws from delight, ere it dies,

An essence that breathes of it many a year;

Thus bright to my soul, as ’twas then to my eyes,

Is that bower on the banks of the calm Bendemeer.

---

63“Poor maiden!” thought the youth, “if thou wert sent,

“With thy soft lute and beauty’s blandishment,

“To wake unholy wishes in this heart,

“Or tempt its truth, thou little know’st the art.

“For though thy lip should sweetly counsel wrong,

“Those vestal eyes would disavow its song.

“But thou hast breath’d such purity, thy lay

“Returns so fondly to youth’s virtuous day,

“And leads thy soul—if e’er it wander’d thence—

“So gently back to its first innocence,

“That I would sooner stop the unchained dove,

“When swift returning to its home of love,

“And round its snowy wing new fetters twine,

“Than turn from virtue one pure wish of thine!”

Scarce had this feeling pass’d, when, sparkling through

The gently open’d curtains of light blue

That veil’d the breezy casement, countless eyes,

Peeping like stars through the blue evening skies,

Look’d laughing in, as if to mock the pair

That sat so still and melancholy there:—

And now the curtains fly apart, and in

From the cool air, ’mid showers of jessamine

Which those without fling after them in play,

Two lightsome maidens spring,—lightsome as they

Who live in the’ air on odours,—and around

64The bright saloon, scarce conscious of the ground,

Chase one another, in a varying dance

Of mirth and languor, coyness and advance,

Too eloquently like love’s warm pursuit:—

While she, who sung so gently to the lute

Her dream of home, steals timidly away,

Shrinking as violets do in summer’s ray,—

But takes with her from Azim’s heart that sigh

We sometimes give to forms that pass us by

In the world’s crowd, too lovely to remain,

Creatures of light we never see again!

Around the white necks of the nymphs who danc’d

Hung carcanets of orient gems, that glanc’d

More brilliant than the sea-glass glittering o’er

The hills of crystal on the Caspian shore;^[84]

While from their long, dark tresses, in a fall

Of curls descending, bells as musical

As those that, on the golden-shafted trees

Of Eden, shake in the eternal breeze,^[85]

Rung round their steps, at every bound more sweet,

As ’twere the’ extatic language of their feet.

At length the chase was o’er, and they stood wreath’d

Within each other’s arms; while soft there breath’d

Through the cool casement, mingled with the sighs

Of moonlight flowers, music that seem’d to rise

65From some still lake, so liquidly it rose;

And, as it swell’d again at each faint close,

The ear could track, through all that maze of chords

And young sweet voices, these impassion’d words;—

---

A Spirit there is, whose fragrant sigh

Is burning now through earth and air:

Where cheeks are blushing, the Spirit is nigh;

Where lips are meeting, the Spirit is there!

His breath is the soul of flowers like these,

And his floating eyes—oh! they resemble^[86]

Blue water-lilies,^[87] when the breeze

Is making the stream around them tremble.

Hail to thee, hail to thee, kindling power!

Spirit of Love, Spirit of Bliss!

Thy holiest time is the moonlight hour,

And there never was moonlight so sweet as this.

By the fair and brave

Who blushing unite,

Like the sun and wave,

When they meet at night;

66By the tear that shows

When passion is nigh,

As the rain-drop flows

From the heat of the sky;

By the first love-beat

Of the youthful heart,

By the bliss to meet,

And the pain to part;

By all that thou hast

To mortals given,

Which—oh, could it last,

This earth were heaven!

We call thee hither, entrancing Power!

Spirit of Love! Spirit of Bliss!

Thy holiest time is the moonlight hour,

And there never was moonlight so sweet as this.

---

Impatient of a scene, whose luxuries stole,

Spite of himself, too deep into his soul,

And where, midst all that the young heart loves most,

Flowers, music, smiles, to yield was to be lost,

67The youth had started up, and turn’d away

From the light nymphs, and their luxurious lay,

To muse upon the pictures that hung round,—^[88]

Bright images, that spoke without a sound,

And views, like vistas into fairy ground.

But here again new spells came o’er his sense:—

All that the pencil’s mute omnipotence

Could call up into life, of soft and fair,

Of fond and passionate, was glowing there;

Nor yet too warm, but touched with that fine art

Which paints of pleasure but the purer part;

Which knows even Beauty when half-veil’d is best,—

Like her own radiant planet of the west,

Whose orb when half retir’d looks loveliest.^[89]

There hung the history of the Genii-King,

Traced through each gay, voluptuous wandering

With her from Saba’s bowers, in whose bright eyes

He read that to be blest is to be wise;—^[90]

Here fond Zuleika^[91] woos with open arms

The Hebrew boy, who flies from her young charms,

Yet, flying, turns to gaze, and, half undone,

Wishes that Heaven and she could both be won;

And here Mohammed, born for love and guile,

Forgets the Koran in his Mary’s smile;—

Then beckons some kind angel from above

With a new text to consecrate their love.^[92]

68

With rapid step, yet pleas’d and ling’ring eye,

Did the youth pass these pictur’d stories by,

And hasten’d to a casement, where the light

Of the calm moon came in, and freshly bright

The fields without were seen, sleeping as still

As if no life remain’d in breeze or rill.

Here paus’d he, while the music, now less near,

Breath’d with a holier language on his ear,

As though the distance, and that heavenly ray

Through which the sounds came floating, took away

All that had been too earthly in the lay.

69Oh! could he listen to such sounds unmov’d,

And by that light—nor dream of her he lov’d?

Dream on, unconscious boy! while yet thou may’st;

’Tis the last bliss thy soul shall ever taste.

Clasp yet awhile her image to thy heart,

Ere all the light, that made it dear, depart.

Think of her smiles as when thou saw’st them last,

Clear, beautiful, by nought of earth o’ercast;

Recall her tears, to thee at parting given,

Pure as they weep, if angels weep, in Heaven.

Think, in her own still bower she waits thee now,

With the same glow of heart and bloom of brow,

Yet shrin’d in solitude—thine all, thine only,

Like the one star above thee, bright and lonely.

Oh! that a dream so sweet, so long enjoy’d,

Should be so sadly, cruelly destroy’d!

The song is hush’d, the laughing nymphs are flown,

And he is left, musing of bliss, alone;—

Alone?—no, not alone—that heavy sigh,

That sob of grief, which broke from some one nigh—

Whose could it be?—alas! is misery found

Here, even here, on this enchanted ground?

He turns, and sees a female form, close veil’d,

Leaning, as if both heart and strength had fail’d,

Against a pillar near;—not glittering o’er

70With gems and wreaths, such as the others wore,

But in that deep-blue, melancholy dress,^[93]

Bokhara’s maidens wear in mindfulness

Of friends or kindred, dead or far away;—

And such as Zelica had on that day

He left her—when, with heart too full to speak,

He took away her last warm tears upon his cheek.

A strange emotion stirs within him,—more

Than mere compassion ever wak’d before;

Unconsciously he opes his arms, while she

Springs forward, as with life’s last energy,

But, swooning in that one convulsive bound,

Sinks, ere she reach his arms, upon the ground;—

Her veil falls off—her faint hands clasp his knees—

’Tis she herself!—’tis Zelica he sees!

But, ah, so pale, so chang’d—none but a lover

Could in that wreck of beauty’s shrine discover

The once ador’d divinity—even he

Stood for some moments mute, and doubtingly

Put back the ringlets from her brow, and gaz’d

Upon those lids, where once such lustre blaz’d,

Ere he could think she was indeed his own,

Own darling maid, whom he so long had known

In joy and sorrow, beautiful in both;

Who, even when grief was heaviest—when loth

71He left her for the wars—in that worst hour

Sat in her sorrow like the sweet night-flower,^[94]

When darkness brings its weeping glories out,

And spreads its sighs like frankincense about.

“Look up, my Zelica—one moment show

“Those gentle eyes to me, that I may know

72“Thy life, thy loveliness is not all gone,

“But there, at least, shines as it ever shone.

“Come, look upon thy Azim—one dear glance,

“Like those of old, were heaven! whatever chance

“Hath brought thee here, oh, ’twas a blessed one!

“There—my lov’d lips—they move—that kiss hath run

“Like the first shoot of life through every vein,

“And now I clasp her, mine, all mine again.

“Oh the delight—now, in this very hour,

“When had the whole rich world been in my power,

“I should have singled out thee, only thee,

“From the whole world’s collected treasury—

“To have thee here—to hang thus fondly o’er

“My own, best, purest Zelica once more!”

It was indeed the touch of those fond lips

Upon her eyes that chas’d their short eclipse,

And, gradual as the snow, at Heaven’s breath,

Melts off and shows the azure flowers beneath,

Her lids unclos’d, and the bright eyes were seen

Gazing on his—not, as they late had been,

Quick, restless, wild, but mournfully serene;

As if to lie, even for that tranced minute,

So near his heart, had consolation in it;

And thus to wake in his belov’d caress

Took from her soul one half its wretchedness.

73But, when she heard him call her good and pure,

Oh, ’twas too much—too dreadful to endure!

Shudd’ring she broke away from his embrace,

And, hiding with both hands her guilty face,

Said, in a tone whose anguish would have riven

A heart of very marble, “Pure!—oh Heaven!”—

That tone—those looks so chang’d—the withering blight,

That sin and sorrow leave where’er they light;

The dead despondency of those sunk eyes,

Where once, had he thus met her by surprise,

He would have seen himself, too happy boy,

Reflected in a thousand lights of joy;

And then the place,—that bright, unholy place,

Where vice lay hid beneath each winning grace

And charm of luxury, as the viper weaves

Its wily covering of sweet balsam leaves,—^[95]

All struck upon his heart, sudden and cold

As death itself;—it needs not to be told—

No, no—he sees it all, plain as the brand

Of burning shame can mark—whate’er the hand,

That could from Heaven and him such brightness sever,

’Tis done—to Heaven and him she’s lost for ever!

It was a dreadful moment; not the tears,

The lingering, lasting misery of years

74Could match that minute’s anguish—all the worst

Of sorrow’s elements in that dark burst

Broke o’er his soul, and, with one crash of fate,

Laid the whole hopes of his life desolate.

“Oh! curse me not,” she cried, as wild he toss’d

His desperate hand tow’rds Heaven—“though I am lost,

“Think not that guilt, that falsehood made me fall,

“No, no—’twas grief, ’twas madness did it all!

“Nay, doubt me not—though all thy love hath ceas’d—

“I know it hath—yet, yet believe, at least,

“That every spark of reason’s light must be

“Quench’d in this brain, ere I could stray from thee.

“They told me thou wert dead—why, Azim, why

“Did we not, both of us, that instant die

“When we were parted? oh! could’st thou but know

“With what a deep devotedness of woe

“I wept thy absence—o’er and o’er again

“Thinking of thee, still thee, till thought grew pain,

“And memory, like a drop that, night and day,

“Falls cold and ceaseless, wore my heart away.

“Didst thou but know how pale I sat at home,

“My eyes still turn’d the way thou wert to come,

“And, all the long, long night of hope and fear,

“Thy voice and step still sounding in my ear—

“Oh God! thou would’st not wonder that, at last,

75“When every hope was all at once o’ercast,

“When I heard frightful voices round me say

“Azim is dead!—this wretched brain gave way,

“And I became a wreck, at random driven,

“Without one glimpse of reason or of Heaven—

“All wild—and even this quenchless love within

76“Turn’d to foul fires to light me into sin!—

“Thou pitiest me—I knew thou would’st—that sky

“Hath nought beneath it half so lorn as I.

“The fiend, who lur’d me hither—hist! come near,

“Or thou too, thou art lost, if he should hear—

“Told me such things—oh! with such devilish art

“As would have ruin’d even a holier heart—

“Of thee, and of that ever-radiant sphere,

“Where bless’d at length, if I but serv’d him here,

“I should for ever live in thy dear sight,—

“And drink from those pure eyes eternal light.

“Think, think how lost, how madden’d I must be,

“To hope that guilt could lead to God or thee!

“Thou weep’st for me—do weep—oh, that I durst

“Kiss off that tear! but, no—these lips are curst,

“They must not touch thee;—one divine caress,

“One blessed moment of forgetfulness

“I’ve had within those arms, and that shall lie,

“Shrin’d in my soul’s deep memory till I die;

“The last of joy’s last relics here below,

“The one sweet drop, in all this waste of woe,

“My heart has treasur’d from affection’s spring,

“To soothe and cool its deadly withering!

“But thou—yes, thou must go—for ever go;

“This place is not for thee—for thee! oh no,

“Did I but tell thee half, thy tortur’d brain

77“Would burn like mine, and mine grow wild again!

“Enough, that Guilt reigns here—that hearts, once good,

“Now tainted, chill’d, and broken, are his food.—

“Enough, that we are parted—that there rolls

“A flood of headlong fate between our souls,

“Whose darkness severs me as wide from thee

“As hell from heaven, to all eternity!”

“Zelica, Zelica!” the youth exclaim’d,

In all the tortures of a mind inflam’d

Almost to madness—“by that sacred Heaven,

“Where yet, if prayers can move, thou’lt be forgiven,

“As thou art here—here, in this writhing heart,

“All sinful, wild, and ruin’d as thou art!

“By the remembrance of our once pure love,

“Which, like a church-yard light, still burns above

“The grave of our lost souls—which guilt in thee

“Cannot extinguish, nor despair in me!

“I do conjure, implore thee to fly hence—

“If thou hast yet one spark of innocence,

“Fly with me from this place⸺”

“Fly with me from this place⸺”“With thee! oh bliss!

“’Tis worth whole years of torment to hear this.

“What! take the lost one with thee?—let her rove

“By thy dear side, as in those days of love,

“When we were both so happy, both so pure—

78“Too heavenly dream! if there’s on earth a cure

“For the sunk heart, ’tis this—day after day

“To be the blest companion of thy way;

“To hear thy angel eloquence—to see

“Those virtuous eyes for ever turn’d on me;

“And, in their light re-chasten’d silently,

“Like the stain’d web that whitens in the sun,

“Grow pure by being purely shone upon!

“And thou wilt pray for me—I know thou wilt—

“At the dim vesper hour, when thoughts of guilt

“Come heaviest o’er the heart, thou’lt lift thine eyes,

“Full of sweet tears, unto the dark’ning skies,

“And plead for me with Heaven, till I can dare

“To fix my own weak, sinful glances there;

“Till the good angels, when they see me cling

“For ever near thee, pale and sorrowing,

“Shall for thy sake pronounce my soul forgiven,

“And bid thee take thy weeping slave to Heaven!

“Oh yes, I’ll fly with thee⸺”

“Oh yes, I’ll fly with thee”Scarce had she said

These breathless words, when a voice deep and dread

As that of Monker, waking up the dead

From their first sleep—so startling ’twas to both—

Rung through the casement near, “Thy oath! thy oath!”

Oh Heaven, the ghastliness of that Maid’s look!—

79“’Tis he,” faintly she cried, while terror shook

Her inmost core, nor durst she lift her eyes,

Though through the casement, now, nought but the skies

And moonlight fields were seen, calm as before—

“’Tis he, and I am his—all, all is o’er—

“Go—fly this instant, or thou’rt ruin’d too—

“My oath, my oath, oh God! ’tis all too true,

“True as the worm in this cold heart it is—

“I am Mokanna’s bride—his, Azim, his—

“The Dead stood round us, while I spoke that vow,

“Their blue lips echo’d it—I hear them now!

“Their eyes glar’d on me, while I pledg’d that bowl,

80“’Twas burning blood—I feel it in my soul!

“And the Veil’d Bridegroom—hist! I’ve seen to-night

“What angels know not of—so foul a sight,

“So horrible—oh! never may’st thou see

“What there lies hid from all but hell and me!

“But I must hence—off, off—I am not thine,

“Nor Heaven’s, nor Love’s, nor aught that is divine—

“Hold me not—ha! think’st thou the fiends that sever

“Hearts, cannot sunder hands?—thus, then—for ever!”

With all that strength, which madness lends the weak,

She flung away his arm; and, with a shriek,

Whose sound, though he should linger out more years

Than wretch e’er told, can never leave his ears—

Flew up through that long avenue of light,

Fleetly as some dark, ominous bird of night

Across the sun, and soon was out of sight!

---

81

Lalla Rookh could think of nothing all day but the misery of these two young lovers. Her gaiety was gone, and she looked pensively even upon Fadladeen. She felt, too, without knowing why, a sort of uneasy pleasure in imagining that Azim must have been just such a youth as Feramorz; just as worthy to enjoy all the blessings, without any of the pangs, of that illusive passion which too often, like the sunny apples of Istkahar,^[96] is all sweetness on one side, and all bitterness on the other.

82As they passed along a sequestered river after sunset, they saw a young Hindoo girl upon the bank,^[97] whose employment seemed to them so strange, that they stopped their palankeens to observe her. She had lighted a small lamp, filled with oil of cocoa, and placing it in an earthen dish, adorned with a wreath of flowers, had committed it with a trembling hand to the stream; and was now anxiously watching its progress down the current, heedless of the gay cavalcade which had drawn up beside her. Lalla Rookh was all curiosity;—when one of her attendants, who had lived upon the banks of the Ganges (where this ceremony is so frequent, that often, in the dusk of the evening, the river is seen glittering all over with lights, like the Oton-tala, or Sea of Stars),^[98] informed the Princess that it was the usual way, in which the friends of those who had gone on dangerous voyages offered up vows for their safe return. If the lamp sunk immediately, the omen was disastrous; but if it went shining down the stream, and continued to burn until entirely out of sight, the return of the beloved object was considered as certain.

Lalla Rookh, as they moved on, more than once looked back, to observe how the young Hindoo’s lamp proceeded; and, while she saw with pleasure that it was still unextinguished, she could not help fearing that all 83the hopes of this life were no better than that feeble light upon the river. The remainder of the journey was passed in silence. She now, for the first time, felt that shade of melancholy, which comes over the youthful maiden’s heart, as sweet and transient as her own breath upon a mirror; nor was it till she heard the lute of Feramorz, touched lightly at the door of her pavilion, that she waked from the reverie in which she had been wandering. Instantly her eyes were lighted up with pleasure; and after a few unheard remarks from Fadladeen, upon the indecorum of a poet seating himself in presence of a Princess, every thing was arranged as on the preceding evening and all listened with eagerness, while the story was thus continued:—

---

84

Whose are the gilded tents that crowd the way,

Where all was waste and silent yesterday?

This City of War, which, in a few short hours,

Hath sprung up here,^[99] as if the magic powers

Of Him who, in the twinkling of a star,

Built the high pillar’d halls of Chilminar,^[100]

Had conjur’d up, far as the eye can see,

This world of tents, and domes, and sun-bright armory:—

Princely pavilions, screen’d by many a fold

Of crimson cloth, and topp’d with balls of gold:—

Steeds, with their housings of rich silver spun,

Their chains and poitrels, glittering in the sun;

85And camels, tufted o’er with Yemen’s shells,^[101]

Shaking in every breeze their light-ton’d bells!

But yester-eve, so motionless around,

So mute was this wide plain, that not a sound

But the far torrent, or the locust bird^[102]

Hunting among the thickets, could be heard;—

Yet hark! what discords now, of every kind,

Shouts, laughs, and screams are revelling in the wind;

The neigh of cavalry;—the tinkling throngs

Of laden camels and their drivers’ songs;—^[103]

Ringing of arms, and flapping in the breeze

Of streamers from ten thousand canopies;—

War-music, bursting out from time to time,

With gong and tymbalon’s tremendous chime;—

Or, in the pause, when harsher sounds are mute,

The mellow breathings of some horn or flute,

That far off, broken by the eagle note

Of the’ Abyssinian trumpet,^[104] swell and float.

Who leads this mighty army?—ask ye “who?”

And mark ye not those banners of dark hue,

The Night and Shadow,^[105] over yonder tent?—

It is the Caliph’s glorious armament.

Roused in his Palace by the dread alarms,

That hourly came, of the false Prophet’s arms,

86And of his host of infidels, who hurl’d

Defiance fierce at Islam^[106] and the world,—

Though worn with Grecian warfare, and behind

The veils of his bright Palace calm reclin’d,

Yet brook’d he not such blasphemy should stain,

Thus unreveng’d, the evening of his reign;

But, having sworn upon the Holy Grave^[107]

To conquer or to perish, once more gave

His shadowy banners proudly to the breeze,

And with an army, nurs’d in victories,

Here stands to crush the rebels that o’er-run

His blest and beauteous Province of the Sun.

Ne’er did the march of Mahadi display

Such pomp before;—not even when on his way

To Mecca’s Temple, when both land and sea

Were spoil’d to feed the Pilgrim’s luxury;^[108]

When round him, ’mid the burning sands, he saw

Fruits of the North in icy freshness thaw,

And cool’d his thirsty lip, beneath the glow

Of Mecca’s sun, with urns of Persian snow:^[109]—

Nor e’er did armament more grand than that

Pour from the kingdoms of the Caliphat.

First, in the van, the People of the Rock,^[110]

On their light mountain steeds, of royal stock:^[111]

Then, chieftains of Damascus, proud to see

87The flashing of their swords’ rich marquetry;^[112]—

Men, from the regions near the Volga’s mouth,

Mix’d with the rude, black archers of the South;

And Indian lancers, in white turban’d ranks,

From the far Sinde, or Attock’s sacred banks,

With dusky legions from the land of Myrrh,^[113]

And many a mace-arm’d Moor and Mid-sea islander.

Nor less in number, though more new and rude

In warfare’s school, was the vast multitude

That, fir’d by zeal, or by oppression wrong’d,

Round the white standard of the’ impostor throng’d.

Beside his thousands of Believers—blind,

Burning and headlong as the Samiel wind—

Many who felt, and more who fear’d to feel

The bloody Islamite’s converting steel,

Flock’d to his banner;—Chiefs of the’ Uzbek race,

Waving their heron crests with martial grace;^[114]

Turkomans, countless as their flocks, led forth

From the’ aromatic pastures of the North;

Wild warriors of the turquoise hills,^[115]—and those

Who dwell beyond the everlasting snows

Of Hindoo Kosh,^[116] in stormy freedom bred,

Their fort the rock, their camp the torrent’s bed.

But none, of all who own’d the Chief’s command,

Rush’d to that battle-field with bolder hand,

88Or sterner hate, than Iran’s outlaw’d men,

Her Worshippers of Fire^[117]—all panting then

For vengeance on the’ accursed Saracen;

Vengeance at last for their dear country spurn’d,

Her throne usurp’d, and her bright shrines o’erturned.

From Yezd’s^[118] eternal Mansion of the Fire,

Where aged saints in dreams of Heaven expire:

From Badku, and those fountains of blue flame

That burn into the Caspian,^[119] fierce they came,

Careless for what or whom the blow was sped,

So vengeance triumph’d, and their tyrants bled.

Such was the wild and miscellaneous host,

That high in air their motley banners tost

Around the Prophet-Chief—all eyes still bent

Upon that glittering Veil, where’er it went,

That beacon through the battle’s stormy flood,

That rainbow of the field, whose showers were blood!

Twice hath the sun upon their conflict set,

And risen again, and found them grappling yet;

While streams of carnage, in his noontide blaze,

Smoke up to Heaven—hot as that crimson haze,

By which the prostrate Caravan is aw’d,^[120]

In the red Desert, when the wind’s abroad.

“On, Swords of God!” the panting Caliph calls,—

89“Thrones for the living—Heaven for him who falls!”

“On, brave avengers, on,” Mokanna cries,

“And Eblis blast the recreant slave that flies!”

Now comes the brunt, the crisis of the day—

They clash—they strive—the Caliph’s troops give way!

Mokanna’s self plucks the black Banner down,

And now the Orient World’s Imperial crown

Is just within his grasp—when, hark, that shout!

Some hand hath check’d the flying Moslem’s rout;

And now they turn, they rally—at their head

A warrior, (like those angel youths who led,

In glorious panoply of Heaven’s own mail,

The Champions of the Faith through Beder’s vale,^[121])

Bold as if gifted with ten thousand lives,

Turns on the fierce pursuers’ blades, and drives

At once the multitudinous torrent back—

While hope and courage kindle in his track;

And, at each step, his bloody falchion makes

Terrible vistas through which victory breaks!

In vain Mokanna, midst the general flight,

Stands, like the red moon, on some stormy night,

Among the fugitive clouds that, hurrying by,

Leave only her unshaken in the sky—

In vain he yells his desperate curses out,

Deals death promiscuously to all about,

To foes that charge and coward friends that fly,

90And seems of all the Great Arch-enemy.

The panic spreads—“A miracle!” throughout

The Moslem ranks, “a miracle!” they shout,

All gazing on that youth, whose coming seems

91A light, a glory, such as breaks in dreams;

And every sword, true as o’er billows dim

The needle tracks the load-star, following him!

Right tow’rds Mokanna now he cleaves his path,

Impatient cleaves, as though the bolt of wrath

He bears from Heaven withheld its awful burst

From weaker heads, and souls but half-way curst,

To break o’er Him, the mightiest and the worst!

But vain his speed—though, in that hour of blood,

Had all God’s seraphs round Mokanna stood,

With swords of fire, ready like fate to fall,

Mokanna’s soul would have defied them all;

Yet now, the rush of fugitives, too strong

For human force, hurries even him along;

In vain he struggles ’mid the wedg’d array

Of flying thousands—he is borne away;

And the sole joy his baffled spirit knows,

In this forc’d flight, is—murdering as he goes!

As a grim tiger, whom the torrent’s might

Surprises in some parch’d ravine at night,

Turns, even in drowning, on the wretched flocks,

Swept with him in that snow-flood from the rocks,

And, to the last, devouring on his way,

Bloodies the stream he hath not power to stay.

92“Alla illa Alla!”—the glad shout renew—

“Alla Akbar!”^[122]—the Caliph’s in Merou.

Hang out your gilded tapestry in the streets,

And light your shrines and chaunt your ziraleets.^[123]

The Swords of God have triumph’d—on his throne

Your Caliph sits, and the veil’d Chief hath flown.

Who does not envy that young warrior now,

To whom the Lord of Islam bends his brow,

In all the graceful gratitude of power,

For his throne’s safety in that perilous hour?

Who doth not wonder, when, amidst the’ acclaim

Of thousands, heralding to heaven his name—

Mid all those holier harmonies of fame,

Which sound along the path of virtuous souls,

Like music round a planet as it rolls,—

He turns away—coldly, as if some gloom

Hung o’er his heart no triumphs can illume;—

Some sightless grief, upon whose blasted gaze

Though glory’s light may play, in vain it plays?

Yes, wretched Azim! thine is such a grief,

Beyond all hope, all terror, all relief;

A dark, cold calm, which nothing now can break,

Or warm or brighten,—like that Syrian Lake,^[124]

Upon whose surface morn and summer shed

Their smiles in vain, for all beneath is dead!—

Hearts there have been, o’er which this weight of woe

93Came by long use of suffering, tame and slow;

But thine, lost youth! was sudden—over thee

It broke at once, when all seemed ecstacy;

When Hope look’d up, and saw the gloomy Past

Melt into splendour, and Bliss dawn at last—

’Twas then, even then, o’er joys so freshly blown,

This mortal blight of misery came down;

Even then, the full, warm gushings of thy heart

Were check’d—like fount-drops, frozen as they start—

And there, like them, cold, sunless relics hang,

Each fix’d and chill’d into a lasting pang.

---

One sole desire, one passion now remains

To keep life’s fever still within his veins,

Vengeance!—dire vengeance on the wretch who cast

O’er him and all he lov’d that ruinous blast.

For this, when rumours reach’d him in his flight

Far, far away, after that fatal night,—

Rumours of armies, thronging to the’ attack

Of the Veil’d Chief,—for this he wing’d him back,

Fleet as the vulture speeds to flags unfurl’d,

And, when all hope seem’d desperate, wildly hurl’d

Himself into the scale, and sav’d a world.

For this he still lives on, careless of all

The wreaths that Glory on his path lets fall;

94For this alone exists—like lightning-fire,

To speed one bolt of vengeance, and expire!

But safe as yet that Spirit of Evil lives;

With a small band of desperate fugitives,

The last sole stubborn fragment, left unriven,

Of the proud host that late stood fronting Heaven,

He gain’d Merou—breath’d a short curse of blood

95O’er his lost throne—then pass’d the Jihon’s flood,^[125]

And gathering all, whose madness of belief

Still saw a Saviour in their down-fall’n Chief,

Rais’d the white banner within Neksheb’s gates,^[126]

And there, untam’d, the’ approaching conqu’ror waits.

Of all his Haram, all that busy hive,

With music and with sweets sparkling alive,

He took but one, the partner of his flight,

One—not for love—not for her beauty’s light—

No, Zelica stood withering midst the gay,

Wan as the blossom that fell yesterday

From the’ Alma tree and dies, while overhead

To-day’s young flower is springing in its stead.^[127]

Oh, not for love—the deepest Damn’d must be

Touch’d with Heaven’s glory, ere such fiends as he

Can feel one glimpse of Love’s divinity.

But no, she is his victim; there lie all

Her charms for him—charms that can never pall,

As long as hell within his heart can stir,

Or one faint trace of Heaven is left in her.

To work an angel’s ruin,—to behold

As white a page as Virtue e’er unroll’d

Blacken, beneath his touch, into a scroll

Of damning sins, seal’d with a burning soul—

This is his triumph; this the joy accurst,

96That ranks him among demons all but first:

This gives the victim, that before him lies

Blighted and lost, a glory in his eyes,

A light like that with which hell-fire illumes

The ghastly, writhing wretch whom it consumes!

But other tasks now wait him—tasks that need

All the deep daringness of thought and deed

With which the Dives^[128] have gifted him—for mark,

Over yon plains, which night had else made dark,

Those lanterns, countless as the winged lights

That spangle India’s fields on showery nights,^[129]—

Far as their formidable gleams they shed,

The mighty tents of the beleaguerer spread,

Glimmering along the’ horizon’s dusky line,

And thence in nearer circles, till they shine

Among the founts and groves, o’er which the town

In all its arm’d magnificence looks down.

Yet, fearless, from his lofty battlements

Mokanna views that multitude of tents;

Nay, smiles to think that, though entoil’d, beset,

Not less than myriads dare to front him yet;—

That friendless, throneless, he thus stands at bay,

Even thus a match for myriads such as they.

“Oh, for a sweep of that dark Angel’s wing,

“Who brush’d the thousands of the’ Assyrian King^[130]

97“To darkness in a moment, that I might

“People Hell’s chambers with yon host to-night!

“But, come what may, let who will grasp the throne,

“Caliph or Prophet, Man alike shall groan

“Let who will torture him, Priest—Caliph—King—

“Alike this loathsome world of his shall ring

“With victims’ shrieks, and howlings of the slave,—

“Sounds, that shall glad me even within my grave!”

Thus, to himself—but to the scanty train

Still left around him, a far different strain:—

“Glorious Defenders of the sacred Crown

“I bear from Heaven, whose light nor blood shall drown,

“Nor shadow of earth eclipse;—before whose gems

“The paly pomp of this world’s diadems,

“The crown of Gerashid, the pillar’d throne

“Of Parviz,^[131] and the heron crest that shone,^[132]

“Magnificent, o’er Ali’s beauteous eyes,^[133]

“Fade like the stars when morn is in the skies:

“Warriors, rejoice—the port to which we’ve pass’d

“O’er Destiny’s dark wave, beams out at last!

“Victory’s our own—’tis written in that Book

“Upon whose leaves none but the angels look,

“That Islam’s sceptre shall beneath the power

“Of her great foe fall broken in that hour,

“When the moon’s mighty orb, before all eyes,

“From Neksheb’s Holy Well portentously shall rise!

98“Now turn and see!”⸺

“Now turn and see!”They turn’d, and, as he spoke,

A sudden splendour all around them broke,

And they beheld an orb, ample and bright,

Rise from the Holy Well,^[134] and cast its light

Round the rich city and the plain for miles,^[135]—

99Flinging such radiance o’er the gilded tiles

Of many a dome and fair-roof’d minaret

As autumn suns shed round them when they set.

Instant from all who saw the’ illusive sign

A murmur broke—“Miraculous! divine!”

The Gheber bow’d, thinking his idol star

Had wak’d, and burst impatient through the bar

Of midnight, to inflame him to the war;

While he of Moussa’s creed saw, in that ray,

The glorious Light which, in his freedom’s day,

Had rested on the Ark,^[136] and now again

Shone out to bless the breaking of his chain.

“To victory!” is at once the cry of all—

Nor stands Mokanna loitering at that call;

But instant the huge gates are flung aside,

And forth, like a diminutive mountain-tide

Into the boundless sea, they speed their course

Right on into the Moslem’s mighty force.

The watchmen of the camp,—who, in their rounds,

Had paus’d, and even forgot the punctual sounds

Of the small drum with which they count the night,^[137]

To gaze upon that supernatural light,—

Now sink beneath an unexpected arm,

And in a death-groan give their last alarm.

“On for the lamps, that light yon lofty screen,^[138]

100“Nor blunt your blades with massacre so mean;

“There rests the Caliph—speed—one lucky lance

“May now achieve mankind’s deliverance.”

Desperate the die—such as they only cast,

Who venture for a world, and stake their last.

But Fate’s no longer with him—blade for blade

Springs up to meet them through the glimmering shade,

And, as the clash is heard, new legions soon

Pour to the spot, like bees of Kauzeroon^[139]

To the shrill timbrel’s summons,—till, at length,

The mighty camp swarms out in all its strength,

And back to Neksheb’s gates, covering the plain

With random slaughter, drives the adventurous train;

Among the last of whom the Silver Veil

Is seen glittering at times, like the white sail

Of some toss’d vessel, on a stormy night,

Catching the tempest’s momentary light!

And hath not this brought the proud spirit low?

Nor dash’d his brow, nor check’d his daring? No.

Though half the wretches, whom at night he led

To thrones and victory, lie disgrac’d and dead,

Yet morning hears him, with unshrinking crest,

Still vaunt of thrones, and victory to the rest;—

And they believe him!—oh, the lover may

Distrust that look which steals his soul away;—

101The babe may cease to think that it can play

With Heaven’s rainbow;—alchymists may doubt

The shining gold their crucible gives out;

But Faith, fanatic Faith, once wedded fast

To some dear falsehood, hugs it to the last.

And well the’ Impostor knew all lures and arts,

That Lucifer e’er taught to tangle hearts;

Nor, ’mid these last bold workings of his plot

Against men’s souls, is Zelica forgot.

Ill-fated Zelica! had reason been

Awake, through half the horrors thou hast seen,

Thou never couldst have borne it—Death had come

At once, and taken thy wrung spirit home.

But ’twas not so—a torpor, a suspense

Of thought, almost of life, came o’er the’ intense

And passionate struggles of that fearful night,

When her last hope of peace and heaven took flight:

And though, at times, a gleam of frenzy broke,—

As through some dull volcano’s veil of smoke

Ominous flashings now and then will start,

Which show the fire’s still busy at its heart;

Yet was she mostly wrapp’d in solemn gloom,—

Not such as Azim’s, brooding o’er its doom,

And calm without, as is the brow of death,

While busy worms are gnawing underneath,—

102But in a blank and pulseless torpor, free

From thought or pain, a seal’d-up apathy,

Which left her oft, with scarce one living thrill,

The cold, pale victim of her torturer’s will.

Again, as in Merou, he had her deck’d

Gorgeously out, the Priestess of the sect;

And led her glittering forth before the eyes

Of his rude train, as to a sacrifice,—

Pallid as she, the young, devoted Bride

Of the fierce Nile, when, deck’d in all the pride

Of nuptial pomp, she sinks into his tide.^[140]

And while the wretched maid hung down her head,

103And stood, as one just risen from the dead,

Amid that gazing crowd, the fiend would tell

His credulous slaves it was some charm or spell

Possess’d her now,—and from that darken’d trance

Should dawn ere long their Faith’s deliverance.

Or if, at times, goaded by guilty shame,

Her soul was rous’d, and words of wildness came,

Instant the bold blasphemer would translate

Her ravings into oracles of fate,

Would hail heaven’s signals in her flashing eyes,

And call her shrieks the language of the skies!

But vain at length his arts—despair is seen

Gathering around; and famine comes to glean

All that the sword had left unreap’d:—in vain

At morn and eve across the northern plain

He looks impatient for the promis’d spears

Of the wild Hordes and Tartar mountaineers;

They come not—while his fierce beleaguerers pour

Engines of havoc in, unknown before,^[141]

And horrible as new;^[142]—javelins, that fly

Enwreath’d with smoky flames through the dark sky,

And red-hot globes, that, opening as they mount,

Discharge, as from a kindled Naphtha fount,^[143]

Showers of consuming fire o’er all below;

Looking, as through the’ illumin’d night they go,

104Like those wild birds^[144] that by the Magians oft,

At festivals of fire, were sent aloft

Into the air, with blazing faggots tied

To their huge wings, scattering combustion wide.

All night the groans of wretches who expire

In agony, beneath these darts of fire,

Ring through the city—while, descending o’er

Its shrines and domes and streets of sycamore,—

Its lone bazaars, with their bright cloths of gold,

Since the last peaceful pageant left unroll’d,—

Its beauteous marble baths, whose idle jets

Now gush with blood,—and its tall minarets,

105That late have stood up in the evening glare

Of the red sun, unhallow’d by a prayer;—

O’er each, in turn, the dreadful flame-bolts fall,

And death and conflagration throughout all

The desolate city hold high festival!

Mokanna sees the world is his no more;—

One sting at parting, and his grasp is o’er.

“What! drooping now?”—thus, with unblushing cheek,

He hails the few, who yet can hear him speak,

Of all those famish’d slaves around him lying,

And by the light of blazing temples dying;—

“What!—drooping now?—now, when at length we press

“Home o’er the very threshold of success;

“When Alla from our ranks hath thinn’d away

“Those grosser branches, that kept out his ray

“Of favour from us, and we stand at length

“Heirs of his light and children of his strength,

“The chosen few, who shall survive the fall

“Of Kings and Thrones, triumphant over all!

“Have you then lost, weak murmurers as you are,

“All faith in him, who was your Light, your Star?

“Have you forgot the eye of glory, hid

“Beneath this Veil, the flashing of whose lid

“Could, like a sun-stroke of the desert, wither

“Millions of such as yonder Chief brings hither?

106“Long have its lightnings slept—too long—but now

“All earth shall feel the’ unveiling of this brow!

“To-night—yes, sainted men! this very night,

“I bid you all to a fair festal rite,

“Where—having deep refresh’d each weary limb

“With viands, such as feast Heaven’s cherubim,

“And kindled up your souls, now sunk and dim,

“With that pure wine the Dark-ey’d Maids above

“Keep, seal’d with precious musk, for those they love,^[145]—

“I will myself uncurtain in your sight

“The wonders of this brow’s ineffable light;

“Then lead you forth, and with a wink disperse

“Yon myriads, howling through the universe!”

Eager they listen—while each accent darts

New life into their chill’d and hope-sick hearts;

Such treacherous life as the cool draught supplies

To him upon the stake, who drinks and dies!

Wildly they point their lances to the light

Of the fast sinking sun, and shout “To-night!”—

“To-night,” their Chief re-echoes in a voice

Of fiend-like mockery that bids hell rejoice.

Deluded victims!—never hath this earth

Seen mourning half so mournful as their mirth.

Here, to the few, whose iron frames had stood

This racking waste of famine and of blood,

107Faint, dying wretches clung, from whom the shout

Of triumph like a maniac’s laugh broke out:—

There, others, lighted by the smould’ring fire,

Danc’d like wan ghosts about a funeral pyre,

Among the dead and dying, strew’d around;—

While some pale wretch look’d on, and from his wound

Plucking the fiery dart by which he bled,

In ghastly transport wav’d it o’er his head!

’Twas more than midnight now—a fearful pause

Had follow’d the long shouts, the wild applause,

That lately from those Royal Gardens burst,

Where the Veil’d demon held his feast accurst,

When Zelica—alas, poor ruin’d heart,

In every horror doom’d to bear its part!—

Was bidden to the banquet by a slave,

Who, while his quivering lip the summons gave,

Grew black, as though the shadows of the grave

Compass’d him round, and, ere he could repeat

His message through, fell lifeless at her feet!

Shuddering she went—a soul-felt pang of fear,

A presage that her own dark doom was near,

Rous’d every feeling, and brought Reason back

Once more, to writhe her last upon the rack.

All round seem’d tranquil—even the foe had ceas’d,

As if aware of that demoniac feast,

108His fiery bolts; and though the heavens look’d red,

’Twas but some distant conflagration’s spread.

But hark—she stops—she listens—dreadful tone,

’Tis her Tormentor’s laugh—and now, a groan,

A long death-groan comes with it:—can this be

The place of mirth, the bower of revelry?

She enters—Holy Alla, what a sight

Was there before her! By the glimmering light

Of the pale dawn, mix’d with the flare of brands

That round lay burning, dropp’d from lifeless hands,

She saw the board, in splendid mockery spread,

Rich censers breathing—garlands overhead—

The urns, the cups, from which they late had quaff’d,

All gold and gems, but—what had been the draught?

Oh! who need ask, that saw those livid guests,

With their swoll’n heads sunk black’ning on their breasts,

Or looking pale to Heaven with glassy glare,

As if they sought but saw no mercy there;

As if they felt, though poison rack’d them through,

Remorse the deadlier torment of the two!

While some, the bravest, hardiest in the train

Of their false Chief, who on the battle-plain

Would have met death with transport by his side,

Here mute and helpless gasp’d;—but, as they died,

Look’d horrible vengeance with their eyes’ last strain,

And clench’d the slack’ning hand at him in vain.

109

Dreadful it was to see the ghastly stare,

The stony look of horror and despair,

Which some of these expiring victims cast

Upon their souls’ tormentor to the last;—

Upon that mocking Fiend, whose Veil, now rais’d,

Show’d them, as in death’s agony they gazed,

110Not the long promis’d light, the brow, whose beaming

Was to come forth, all conquering, all redeeming,

But features horribler than Hell e’er trac’d

On its own brood;—no Demon of the Waste,^[146]

No church-yard Ghole, caught lingering in the light

Of the blest sun, e’er blasted human sight

With lineaments so foul, so fierce as those

The’ Impostor, now in grinning mockery, shows:—

“There, ye wise Saints, behold your Light, your Star—

“Ye would be dupes and victims, and ye are.

“Is it enough? or must I, while a thrill

“Lives in your sapient bosoms, cheat you still?

“Swear that the burning death ye feel within

“Is but the trance with which Heaven’s joys begin;

“That this foul visage, foul as e’er disgrac’d

“Even monstrous man, is—after God’s own taste;

“And that—but see!—ere I have half-way said

“My greetings through, the’ uncourteous souls are fled.

“Farewell, sweet spirits! not in vain ye die,

“If Eblis loves you half so well as I.—

“Ha, my young bride!—’tis well—take thou thy seat;

“Nay come—no shuddering—didst thou never meet

“The dead before?—they grac’d our wedding, sweet;

“And these, my guests to-night, have brimm’d so true

“Their parting cups, that thou shalt pledge one too.

“But—how is this?—all empty? all drunk up?

111“Hot lips have been before thee in the cup,

“Young bride,—yet stay—one precious drop remains,

“Enough to warm a gentle Priestess’ veins;—

“Here, drink—and should thy lover’s conquering arms

“Speed hither, ere thy lip lose all its charms,

“Give him but half this venom in thy kiss,

“And I’ll forgive my haughty rival’s bliss!

“For me—I too must die—but not like these

“Vile, rankling things, to fester in the breeze;

“To have this brow in ruffian triumph shown,

“With all death’s grimness added to its own,

“And rot to dust beneath the taunting eyes

“Of slaves, exclaiming, ‘There his Godship lies!

“No—cursed race—since first my soul drew breath,

“They’ve been my dupes, and shall be even in death.

“Thou see’st yon cistern in the shade—’tis fill’d

“With burning drugs, for this last hour distill’d:^[147]—

“There will I plunge me, in that liquid flame—

“Fit bath to lave a dying Prophet’s frame!—

“There perish, all—ere pulse of thine shall fail—

“Nor leave one limb to tell mankind the tale.

“So shall my votaries, wheresoe’er they rave,

“Proclaim that Heaven took back the Saint it gave;—

“That I’ve but vanish’d from this earth awhile,

“To come again, with bright, unshrouded smile!

112“So shall they build me altars in their zeal,

“Where knaves shall minister, and fools shall kneel;

“Where Faith may mutter o’er her mystic spell,

“Written in blood—and Bigotry may swell

“The sail he spreads for Heaven with blasts from hell!

“So shall my banner, through long ages, be

“The rallying sign of fraud and anarchy:—

“Kings yet unborn shall rue Mokanna’s name,

“And, though I die, my spirit, still the same,

“Shall walk abroad in all the stormy strife,

“And guilt, and blood, that were its bliss in life.

“But, hark! their battering engine shakes the wall—

“Why, let it shake—thus I can brave them all.

“No trace of me shall greet them, when they come,

“And I can trust thy faith, for—thou’lt be dumb.

“Now mark how readily a wretch like me,

“In one bold plunge, commences Deity!”

He sprung and sunk, as the last words were said—

Quick clos’d the burning waters o’er his head,

And Zelica was left—within the ring

Of those wide walls the only living thing;

The only wretched one, still curs’d with breath,

In all that frightful wilderness of death!

More like some bloodless ghost—such as, they tell,

In the lone Cities of the Silent^[148] dwell,

113And there, unseen of all but Alla, sit

Each by its own pale carcass, watching it.

But morn is up, and a fresh warfare stirs

Throughout the camp of the beleaguerers.

Their globes of fire (the dread artillery lent

By Greece to conquering Mahadi) are spent;

And now the scorpion’s shaft, the quarry sent

114From high balistas, and the shielding throng

Of soldiers swinging the huge ram along,

All speak the’ impatient Islamite’s intent

To try, at length, if tower and battlement

And bastion’d wall be not less hard to win,

Less tough to break down than the hearts within.

First in impatience and in toil is he,

The burning Azim—oh! could he but see

The’ Impostor once alive within his grasp,

Not the gaunt lion’s hug, nor boa’s clasp,

Could match that gripe of vengeance, or keep pace

With the fell heartiness of Hate’s embrace!

Loud rings the ponderous ram against the walls;

Now shake the ramparts, now a buttress falls,

But still no breach—“Once more, one mighty swing

“Of all your beams, together thundering!”

There—the wall shakes—the shouting troops exult,

“Quick, quick discharge your weightiest catapult

“Right on that spot, and Neksheb is our own!”

’Tis done—the battlements come crashing down,

And the huge wall, by that stroke riven in two,

Yawning, like some old crater, rent anew,

Shows the dim, desolate city smoking through.

But strange! no signs of life—nought living seen

Above, below—what can this stillness mean?

115A minute’s pause suspends all hearts and eyes—

“In through the breach,” impetuous Azim cries;

But the cool Caliph, fearful of some wile

In this blank stillness, checks the troops awhile.—

Just then, a figure, with slow step, advanc’d

Forth from the ruin’d walls, and, as there glanc’d

A sunbeam over it, all eyes could see

The well-known Silver Veil!—“’Tis He, ’tis He,

“Mokanna, and alone!” they shout around;

Young Azim from his steed springs to the ground—

“Mine, Holy Caliph! mine,” he cries, “the task

“To crush yon daring wretch—’tis all I ask.”

Eager he darts to meet the demon foe,

Who still across wide heaps of ruin slow

And falteringly comes, till they are near;

Then, with a bound, rushes on Azim’s spear,

And, casting off the Veil in falling, shows—

Oh!—’tis his Zelica’s life-blood that flows!

“I meant not, Azim,” soothingly she said,

As on his trembling arm she lean’d her head,

And, looking in his face, saw anguish there

Beyond all wounds the quivering flesh can bear—

“I meant not thou shouldst have the pain of this:—

“Though death, with thee thus tasted, is a bliss

“Thou wouldst not rob me of, didst thou but know

116“How oft I’ve pray’d to God I might die so!

“But the Fiend’s venom was too scant and slow;—

“To linger on were maddening—and I thought

“If once that Veil—nay, look not on it—caught

“The eyes of your fierce soldiery, I should be

“Struck by a thousand death-darts instantly.

“But this is sweeter—oh! believe me, yes—

“I would not change this sad, but dear caress,

“This death within thy arms I would not give

“For the most smiling life the happiest live!

“All, that stood dark and drear before the eye

“Of my stray’d soul, is passing swiftly by;

“A light comes o’er me from those looks of love,

“Like the first dawn of mercy from above;

“And if thy lips but tell me I’m forgiven,

“Angels will echo the blest words in Heaven!

“But live, my Azim;—oh! to call thee mine

“Thus once again! my Azim—dream divine!

“Live, if thou ever lov’dst me, if to meet

“Thy Zelica hereafter would be sweet,

“Oh, live to pray for her—to bend the knee

“Morning and night before that Deity,

“To whom pure lips and hearts without a stain,

“As thine are, Azim, never breath’d in vain,—

“And pray that He may pardon her,—may take

“Compassion on her soul for thy dear sake,

117“And, nought remembering but her love to thee,

“Make her all thine, all His, eternally!

“Go to those happy fields where first we twin’d

“Our youthful hearts together—every wind

“That meets thee there, fresh from the well-known flowers,

“Will bring the sweetness of those innocent hours

“Back to thy soul, and mayst thou feel again

“For thy poor Zelica as thou didst then.

118“So shall thy orisons, like dew that flies

“To Heaven upon the morning’s sunshine, rise

“With all love’s earliest ardour to the skies!

“And should they—but, alas, my senses fail—

“Oh for one minute!—should thy prayers prevail—

“If pardon’d souls may, from that World of Bliss,

“Reveal their joy to those they love in this—

“I’ll come to thee—in some sweet dream—and tell—

“Oh Heaven—I die—dear love! farewell, farewell.”

Time fleeted—years on years had pass’d away,

And few of those who, on that mournful day,

Had stood, with pity in their eyes, to see

The maiden’s death and the youth’s agony,

Were living still—when, by a rustic grave,

Beside the swift Amoo’s transparent wave,

An aged man, who had grown aged there

By that lone grave, morning and night in prayer,

For the last time knelt down—and, though the shade

Of death hung darkening over him, there play’d

A gleam of rapture on his eye and cheek,

That brighten’d even Death—like the last streak

Of intense glory on the’ horizon’s brim,

When night o’er all the rest hangs chill and dim.

His soul had seen a Vision, while he slept;

She, for whose spirit he had pray’d and wept

119So many years, had come to him, all drest

In angel smiles, and told him she was blest!

For this the old man breath’d his thanks and died.—

And there, upon the banks of that lov’d tide,

He and his Zelica sleep side by side.

120The story of the Veiled Prophet of Khorassan being ended, they were now doomed to hear Fadladeen’s criticisms upon it. A series of disappointments and accidents had occurred to this learned Chamberlain during the journey. In the first place, those couriers stationed, as in the reign of Shah Jehan, between Delhi and the Western coast of India, to secure a constant supply of mangoes for the Royal Table, had, by some cruel irregularity, failed in their duty, and to eat any mangoes but those of Mazagong was, of course, impossible.^[149] In the next place, the elephant, laden with his fine antique porcelain,^[150] had, in an unusual fit of liveliness, shattered the whole set to pieces:—an irreparable loss, as many of the vessels were so exquisitely old, as to have been used under the Emperors Yan and Chun, who reigned many ages before the dynasty of Tang. His Koran, too, supposed to be the identical copy between the leaves of which Mahomet’s favourite pigeon used to nestle, had been mislaid by his Koran-bearer three whole days; not without much spiritual alarm to Fadladeen, who, though professing to hold with other loyal and orthodox Mussulmans, that salvation could only be found in the Koran, was strongly suspected of believing in his heart, that it could only be found in his own particular copy of it. When to all these grievances 121is added the obstinacy of the cooks, in putting the pepper of Canara into his dishes instead of the cinnamon of Serendib, we may easily suppose that he came to the task of criticism with, at least, a sufficient degree of irritability for the purpose.

“In order,” said he, importantly swinging about his chaplet of pearls, “to convey with clearness my opinion of the story this young man has related, it is necessary to take a review of all the stories that have ever⸺”—“My good Fadladeen!” exclaimed the Princess, interrupting him, “we really do not deserve that you should give yourself so much trouble. Your opinion of the poem we have just heard will, I have no doubt, be abundantly edifying, without any further waste of your valuable erudition.”—“If that be all,” replied the critic,—evidently mortified at not being allowed to show how much he knew about every thing but the subject immediately before him—“if that be all that is required, the matter is easily despatched.” He then proceeded to analyse the poem, in that strain (so well known to the unfortunate bards of Delhi), whose censures were an infliction from which few recovered, and whose very praises were like the honey extracted from the bitter flowers of the aloe. The chief personages of the story were, if he rightly understood them, an ill-favoured gentleman, with 122a veil over his face;—a young lady, whose reason went and came, according as it suited the poet’s convenience to be sensible or otherwise;—and a youth in one of those hideous Bucharian bonnets, who took the aforesaid gentleman in a veil for a Divinity. “From such materials,” said he, “what can be expected?—after rivalling each other in long speeches and absurdities, through some thousands of lines as indigestible as the filberts of Berdaa, our friend in the veil jumps into a tub of aquafortis; the young lady dies in a set speech, whose only recommendation is that it is her last; and the lover lives on to a good old age for the laudable purpose of seeing her ghost, which he at last happily accomplishes, and expires. This, you will allow, is a fair summary of the story; and if Nasser, the Arabian merchant, told no better,^[151] our Holy Prophet (to whom be all honour and glory!) had no need to be jealous of his abilities for story-telling.”

With respect to the style, it was worthy of the matter;—it had not even those politic contrivances of structure, which make up for the commonness of the thoughts by the peculiarity of the manner, nor that stately poetical phraseology by which sentiments mean in themselves, like the blacksmith’s^[152] apron converted into a banner, are so easily gilt and embroidered into consequence. Then, as to the versification, it was, to 123say no worse of it, execrable: it had neither the copious flow of Ferdosi, the sweetness of Hafez, nor the sententious march of Sadi; but appeared to him, in the uneasy heaviness of its movements, to have been modelled upon the gait of a very tired dromedary. The licences, too, in which it indulged, were unpardonable;—for instance, this line, and the poem abounded with such:—

“What critic that can count,” said Fadladeen, “and has his full complement of fingers to count withal, would tolerate for an instant such syllabic superfluities?” He here looked round, and discovered that most of his audience were asleep; while the glimmering lamps seemed inclined to follow their example. It became necessary, therefore, however painful to himself, to put an end to his valuable animadversions for the present, and he accordingly concluded, with an air of dignified candour, thus:—“Notwithstanding the observations which I have thought it my duty to make, it is by no means my wish to discourage the young man:—so far from it, indeed, that if he will but totally alter his style of writing and thinking, I have very little doubt that I shall be vastly pleased with him.”

Some days elapsed, after this harangue of the Great Chamberlain, before Lalla Rookh could venture to ask 124for another story. The youth was still a welcome guest in the pavilion—to one heart, perhaps, too dangerously welcome:—but all mention of poetry was, as if by common consent, avoided. Though none of the party had much respect for Fadladeen, yet his censures, thus magisterially delivered, evidently made an impression on them all. The Poet himself, to whom criticism was quite a new operation, (being wholly unknown in that Paradise of the Indies, Cashmere,) felt the shock as it is generally felt at first, till use has made it more tolerable to the patient;—the Ladies began to suspect that they ought not to be pleased, and seemed to conclude that there must have been much good sense in what Fadladeen said, from its having sent them all so soundly to sleep;—while the self-complacent Chamberlain was left to triumph in the idea of having, for the hundred and fiftieth time in his life, extinguished a Poet. Lalla Rookh alone—and Love knew why—persisted in being delighted with all she had heard, and in resolving to hear more as speedily as possible. Her manner, however, of first returning to the subject was unlucky. It was while they rested during the heat of noon near a fountain, on which some hand had rudely traced those well-known words from the Garden of Sadi,—“Many, like me, have viewed this fountain, but they are gone, and their eyes are closed for ever!”—that 125she took occasion, from the melancholy beauty of this passage, to dwell upon the charms of poetry in general. “It is true,” she said, “few poets can imitate that sublime bird, which flies always in the air, and never touches the earth:^[153]—it is only once in many ages a Genius appears, whose words, like those on the Written Mountain, last for ever:^[154] but still there are some, as delightful, perhaps, though not so wonderful, who, if not stars over our head, are at least flowers along our path, and whose sweetness of the moment we ought gratefully to inhale, without calling upon them for a brightness and a durability beyond their nature. In short,” continued she, blushing, as if conscious of being caught in an oration, “it is quite cruel that a poet cannot wander through his regions of enchantment, without having a critic for ever, like the old Man of the Sea, upon his back!”^[155]—Fadladeen, it was plain, took this last luckless allusion to himself, and would treasure it up in his mind as a whetstone for his next criticism. A sudden silence ensued; and the Princess, glancing a look at Feramorz, saw plainly she must wait for a more courageous moment.

But the glories of Nature, and her wild fragrant airs, playing freshly over the current of youthful spirits, will soon heal even deeper wounds than the dull Fadladeens 126of this world can inflict. In an evening or two after, they came to the small Valley of Gardens, which had been planted by order of the Emperor, for his favourite sister Rochinara, during their progress to Cashmere, some years before; and never was there a more sparkling assemblage of sweets, since the Gulzar-e-Irem, or Rose-bower of Irem. Every precious flower was there to be found, that poetry, or love, or religion has ever consecrated; from the dark hyacinth, to which Hafez compares his mistress’s hair,^[156] to the Cámalatá, by whose rosy blossoms the heaven of Indra is scented.^[157] As they sat in the cool fragrance of this delicious spot, and Lalla Rookh remarked that she could fancy it the abode of that Flower-loving Nymph whom they worship in the temples of Kathay,^[158] or of one of those Peris, those beautiful creatures of the air, who live upon perfumes, and to whom a place like this might make some amends for the Paradise they have lost,—the young Poet, in whose eyes she appeared, while she spoke, to be one of the bright spiritual creatures she was describing, said hesitatingly that he remembered a Story of a Peri, which, if the Princess had no objection, he would venture to relate. “It is,” said he, with an appealing look to Fadladeen, “in a lighter and humbler strain than the other:” then, striking a few careless but melancholy chords on his kitar, he thus began:—

Paradise & the Peri

---

129

One morn a Peri at the gate

Of Eden stood, disconsolate;

And as she listen’d to the Springs

Of Life within, like music flowing,

130And caught the light upon her wings

Through the half-open portal glowing,

She wept to think her recreant race

Should e’er have lost that glorious place!

“How happy,” exclaim’d this child of air,

“Are the holy Spirits who wander there,

“Mid flowers that never shall fade or fall;

“Though mine are the gardens of earth and sea,

“And the stars themselves have flowers for me,

“One blossom of Heaven out-blooms them all!

“Though sunny the Lake of cool Cashmere,

“With its plane-tree Isle reflected clear,^[159]

“And sweetly the founts of that Valley fall;

“Though bright are the waters of Sing-su-hay,

“And the golden floods that thitherward stray,^[160]

“Yet—oh, ’tis only the Blest can say

“How the waters of Heaven outshine them all!

“Go, wing thy flight from star to star,

“From world to luminous world, as far

“As the universe spreads its flaming wall:

“Take all the pleasures of all the spheres,

“And multiply each through endless years,

“One minute of Heaven is worth them all!”

131

The glorious Angel, who was keeping

The gates of Light, beheld her weeping;

And, as he nearer drew and listen’d

To her sad song, a tear-drop glisten’d

Within his eyelids, like the spray

From Eden’s fountain, when it lies

On the blue flower, which—Bramins say—

Blooms nowhere but in Paradise.^[161]

“Nymph of a fair but erring line!”

Gently he said—“One hope is thine.

“’Tis written in the Book of Fate,

“The Peri yet may be forgiven

“Who brings to this Eternal gate

“The Gift that is most dear to Heaven!

“Go, seek it, and redeem thy sin—

“’Tis sweet to let the Pardon’d in.”

Rapidly as comets run

To the’ embraces of the Sun;—

Fleeter than the starry brands

Flung at night from angel hands,^[162]

At those dark and daring sprites

Who would climb the’ empyreal heights,

Down the blue vault the Peri flies,

And, lighted earthward by a glance

132That just then broke from morning’s eyes,

Hung hovering o’er our world’s expanse.

But whither shall the Spirit go

To find this gift for Heaven?—“I know

“The wealth,” she cries, “of every urn,

“In which unnumber’d rubies burn,

“Beneath the pillars of Chilminar;^[163]

“I know where the Isles of Perfume are,

“Many a fathom down in the sea,

“To the south of sun-bright Araby;^[164]

“I know, too, where the Genii hid

“The jewell’d cup of their King Jamshid,^[165]

“With Life’s elixir sparkling high—

“But gifts like these are not for the sky.

“Where was there ever a gem that shone

“Like the steps of Alla’s wonderful Throne?

“And the Drops of Life—oh! what would they be

“In the boundless Deep of Eternity?”

While thus she mus’d, her pinions fann’d

The air of that sweet Indian land,

Whose air is balm; whose ocean spreads

O’er coral rocks, and amber beds:^[166]

Whose mountains, pregnant by the beam

Of the warm sun, with diamonds teem;

133Whose rivulets are like rich brides,

Lovely, with gold beneath their tides;

Whose sandal groves and bowers of spice

Might be a Peri’s Paradise!

But crimson now her rivers ran

With human blood—the smell of death

Came reeking from those spicy bowers,

And man, the sacrifice of man,

Mingled his taint with every breath

Up wafted from the innocent flowers.

Land of the Sun! what foot invades

Thy Pagods and thy pillar’d shades^[167]—

Thy cavern shrines, and Idol stones,

Thy Monarchs and their thousand Thrones?^[168]

’Tis He of Gazna^[169]—fierce in wrath

He comes, and India’s diadems

Lie scatter’d in his ruinous path.—

His bloodhounds he adorns with gems,

Torn from the violated necks

Of many a young and lov’d Sultana;^[170]

Maidens, within their pure Zenana,

Priests in the very fane he slaughters,

And choaks up with the glittering wrecks

Of golden shrines the sacred waters!

Downward the Peri turns her gaze,

And, through the war-field’s bloody haze

134Beholds a youthful warrior stand,

Alone, beside his native river,—

The red blade broken in his hand,

And the last arrow in his quiver.

“Live,” said the Conqueror, “live to share

“The trophies and the crowns I bear!”

Silent that youthful warrior stood—

Silent he pointed to the flood

All crimson with his country’s blood,

Then sent his last remaining dart,

For answer, to the’ Invader’s heart.

False flew the shaft, though pointed well;

The Tyrant liv’d, the Hero fell!—

Yet mark’d the Peri where he lay,

And, when the rush of war was past,

Swiftly descending on a ray

Of morning light, she caught the last—

Last glorious drop his heart had shed,

Before its free-born spirit fled!

“Be this,” she cried, as she wing’d her flight,

“My welcome gift at the Gates of Light.

“Though foul are the drops that oft distil

“On the field of warfare, blood like this,

“For Liberty shed, so holy is,^[171]

135“It would not stain the purest rill,

“That sparkles among the Bowers of Bliss!

“Oh, if there be, on this earthly sphere,

“A boon, an offering Heaven holds dear,

“’Tis the last libation Liberty draws

“From the heart that bleeds and breaks in her cause!”

“Sweet,” said the Angel, as she gave

The gift into his radiant hand,

“Sweet is our welcome of the Brave

“Who die thus for their native Land.—

“But see—alas!—the crystal bar

136“Of Eden moves not—holier far

“Than even this drop the boon must be,

“That opes the Gates of Heaven for thee!”

Her first fond hope of Eden blighted,

Now among Afric’s lunar Mountains,^[172]

Far to the South the Peri lighted;

And sleek’d her plumage at the fountains

Of that Egyptian tide—whose birth

Is hidden from the sons of earth

Deep in those solitary woods,

Where oft the Genii of the Floods

Dance round the cradle of their Nile,

And hail the new-born Giant’s smile.^[173]

Thence over Egypt’s palmy groves,

Her grots, and sepulchres of Kings,^[174]

The exil’d Spirit sighing roves;

And now hangs listening to the doves

In warm Rosetta’s vale^[175]—now loves

To watch the moonlight on the wings

Of the white pelicans that break

The azure calm of Mœris’ Lake.^[176]

’Twas a fair scene—a Land more bright

Never did mortal eye behold!

Who could have thought, that saw this night

Those valleys and their fruits of gold

137Basking in Heaven’s serenest light;—

Those groups of lovely date-trees bending

Languidly their leaf-crown’d heads,

Like youthful maids, when sleep descending

Warns them to their silken beds;^[177]—

Those virgin lilies, all the night

Bathing their beauties in the lake,

That they may rise more fresh and bright,

When their beloved Sun’s awake;—

Those ruin’d shrines and towers that seem

The relics of a splendid dream;

Amid whose fairy loneliness

Nought but the lapwing’s cry is heard,

Nought seen but (when the shadows, flitting

Fast from the moon, unsheath its gleam,)

Some purple-wing’d Sultana^[178] sitting

Upon a column, motionless

And glittering like an Idol bird!—

Who could have thought, that there, even there,

Amid those scenes so still and fair,

The Demon of the Plague hath cast

From his hot wing a deadlier blast,

More mortal far than ever came

From the red Desert’s sands of flame!

So quick, that every living thing

Of human shape, touch’d by his wing,

138Like plants, where the Simoom hath past,

At once falls black and withering!

The sun went down on many a brow,

Which, full of bloom and freshness then,

Is rankling in the pest-house now,

And ne’er will feel that sun again.

And, oh! to see the’ unburied heaps

On which the lonely moonlight sleeps—

The very vultures turn away,

And sicken at so foul a prey!

Only the fierce hyæna stalks^[179]

Throughout the city’s desolate walks^[180]

At midnight, and his carnage plies:—

Woe to the half-dead wretch, who meets

The glaring of those large blue eyes^[181]

Amid the darkness of the streets!

“Poor race of men!” said the pitying Spirit,

“Dearly ye pay for your primal Fall—

“Some flow’rets of Eden ye still inherit,

“But the trail of the Serpent is over them all!”

She wept—the air grew pure and clear

Around her, as the bright drops ran;

For there’s a magic in each tear

Such kindly Spirits weep for man!

Just then beneath some orange trees,

139Whose fruit and blossoms in the breeze

Were wantoning together, free,

Like age at play with infancy—

Beneath that fresh and springing bower,

Close by the Lake, she heard the moan

Of one who, at this silent hour,

Had thither stolen to die alone.

One who in life, where’er he mov’d,

Drew after him the hearts of many;

Yet now, as though he ne’er were lov’d,

Dies here unseen, unwept by any!

None to watch near him—none to slake

The fire that in his bosom lies,

With even a sprinkle from that lake,

Which shines so cool before his eyes.

No voice, well known through many a day,

To speak the last, the parting word,

Which, when all other sounds decay,

Is still like distant music heard;—

That tender farewell on the shore

Of this rude world, when all is o’er,

Which cheers the spirit, ere its bark

Puts off into the unknown Dark.

Deserted youth! one thought alone

Shed joy around his soul in death—

140That she, whom he for years had known,

And lov’d, and might have call’d his own,

Was safe from this foul midnight’s breath,—

Safe in her father’s princely halls,

Where the cool airs from fountain falls,

Freshly perfum’d by many a brand

Of the sweet wood from India’s land,

Were pure as she whose brow they fann’d.

But see—who yonder comes by stealth,^[182]

This melancholy bower to seek,

Like a young envoy, sent by Health,

With rosy gifts upon her cheek?

’Tis she—far off, through moonlight dim,

He knew his own betrothed bride,

She, who would rather die with him,

Than live to gain the world beside!—

Her arms are round her lover now,

His livid cheek to hers she presses,

And dips, to bind his burning brow,

In the cool lake her loosen’d tresses.

Ah! once, how little did he think

An hour would come, when he should shrink

With horror from that dear embrace,

Those gentle arms, that were to him

Holy as is the cradling place

141Of Eden’s infant cherubim!

And now he yields—now turns away,

Shuddering as if the venom lay

All in those proffer’d lips alone—

Those lips that, then so fearless grown,

Never until that instant came

Near his unask’d or without shame.

“Oh! let me only breathe the air,

“That blessed air, that’s breath’d by thee,

“And, whether on its wings it bear

“Healing or death, ’tis sweet to me!

“There—drink my tears, while yet they fall—

“Would that my bosom’s blood were balm,

“And, well thou know’st, I’d shed it all,

“To give thy brow one minute’s calm.

“Nay, turn not from me that dear face—

“Am I not thine—thy own lov’d bride—

“The one, the chosen one, whose place

“In life or death is by thy side?

“Think’st thou that she, whose only light,

“In this dim world, from thee hath shone,

“Could bear the long, the cheerless night,

“That must be hers when thou art gone?

“That I can live, and let thee go,

“Who art my life itself?—No, no—

“When the stem dies, the leaf that grew

142“Out of its heart must perish too!

“Then turn to me, my own love, turn,

“Before, like thee, I fade and burn;

“Cling to these yet cool lips, and share

“The last pure life that lingers there!”

She fails—she sinks—as dies the lamp

In charnel airs, or cavern-damp,

So quickly do his baleful sighs

Quench all the sweet light of her eyes.

One struggle—and his pain is past—

Her lover is no longer living!

One kiss the maiden gives, one last,

Long kiss, which she expires in giving!

“Sleep,” said the Peri, as softly she stole

The farewell sigh of that vanishing soul,

As true as e’er warm’d a woman’s breast—

“Sleep on, in visions of odour rest,

“In balmier airs than ever yet stirr’d

“The’ enchanted pile of that lonely bird,

“Who sings at the last his own death-lay,^[183]

“And in music and perfume dies away!”

Thus saying, from her lips she spread

Unearthly breathings through the place,

And shook her sparkling wreath, and shed

143Such lustre o’er each paly face,

That like two lovely saints they seem’d,

Upon the eve of doomsday taken

From their dim graves, in odour sleeping;

While that benevolent Peri beam’d

Like their good angel, calmly keeping

Watch o’er them till their souls would waken.

144But morn is blushing in the sky;

Again the Peri soars above,

Bearing to Heaven that precious sigh

Of pure self-sacrificing love.

High throbb’d her heart, with hope elate,

The’ Elysian palm she soon shall win,

For the bright Spirit at the gate

Smil’d as she gave that offering in;

And she already hears the trees

Of Eden, with their crystal bells

Ringing in that ambrosial breeze

That from the throne of Alla swells;

And she can see the starry bowls

That lie around that lucid lake,

Upon whose banks admitted Souls

Their first sweet draught of glory take!^[184]

But, ah! even Peris’ hopes are vain—

Again the Fates forbade, again

The’ immortal barrier clos’d—“Not yet,”

The Angel said as, with regret,

He shut from her that glimpse of glory—

“True was the maiden, and her story,

“Written in light o’er Alla’s head,

“By seraph eyes shall long be read.

“But, Peri, see—the crystal bar

145“Of Eden moves not—holier far

“Than even this sigh the boon must be

“That opes the Gates of Heaven for thee.”

Now, upon Syria’s land of roses^[185]

Softly the light of Eve reposes,

And, like a glory, the broad sun

Hangs over sainted Lebanon;

Whose head in wintry grandeur towers,

And whitens with eternal sleet,

While summer, in a vale of flowers,

Is sleeping rosy at his feet.

To one, who look’d from upper air

O’er all the’ enchanted regions there,

How beauteous must have been the glow,

The life, the sparkling from below!

Fair gardens, shining streams, with ranks

Of golden melons on their banks,

More golden where the sun-light falls;

Gay lizards, glittering on the walls^[186]

Of ruin’d shrines, busy and bright

As they were all alive with light;

And, yet more splendid, numerous flocks

Of pigeons, settling on the rocks,

With their rich restless wings, that gleam

146Variously in the crimson beam

Of the warm West,—as if inlaid

With brilliants from the mine, or made

Of tearless rainbows, such as span

The’ unclouded skies of Peristan.

And then the mingling sounds that come

Of shepherd’s ancient reed,^[187] with hum

Of the wild bees of Palestine,^[188]

Banqueting through the flowery vales;

And, Jordan, those sweet banks of thine,

And woods, so full of nightingales.^[189]

But nought can charm the luckless Peri;

Her soul is sad—her wings are weary—

Joyless she sees the Sun look down

On that great Temple, once his own,^[190]

Whose lonely columns stand sublime,

Flinging their shadows from on high,

Like dials, which the wizard, Time,

Had rais’d to count his ages by!

Yet haply there may lie conceal’d

Beneath those Chambers of the Sun,

Some amulet of gems anneal’d

In upper fires, some tablet seal’d

With the great name of Solomon,

147Which, spell’d by her illumin’d eyes,

May teach her where, beneath the moon,

In earth or ocean, lies the boon,

The charm, that can restore so soon

An erring Spirit to the skies.

Cheer’d by this hope she bends her thither;—

Still laughs the radiant eye of Heaven,

Nor have the golden bowers of Even

In the rich West begun to wither;—

When, o’er the vale of Balbec winging

Slowly, she sees a child at play,

Among the rosy wild flowers singing,

As rosy and as wild as they;

Chasing, with eager hands and eyes,

The beautiful blue damsel flies,^[191]

That flutter’d round the jasmine stems,

Like wingèd flowers or flying gems:—

And, near the boy, who tir’d with play

Now nestling ’mid the roses lay,

She saw a wearied man dismount

From his hot steed, and on the brink

Of a small imaret’s rustic fount^[192]

Impatient fling him down to drink.

Then swift his haggard brow he turn’d

To the fair child, who fearless sat,

148Though never yet hath day-beam burn’d

Upon a brow more fierce than that,—

Sullenly fierce—a mixture dire,

Like thunder-clouds, of gloom and fire;

In which the Peri’s eye could read

Dark tales of many a ruthless deed;

149The ruin’d maid—the shrine profan’d—

Oaths broken—and the threshold stain’d

With blood of guests!—there written, all,

Black as the damning drops that fall

From the denouncing Angel’s pen,

Ere Mercy weeps them out again.

Yet tranquil now that man of crime

(As if the balmy evening time

Soften’d his spirit) look’d and lay,

Watching the rosy infant’s play:—

Though still, whene’er his eye by chance

Fell on the boy’s, its lurid glance

Met that unclouded joyous gaze,

As torches that have burnt all night

Through some impure and godless rite,

Encounter morning’s glorious rays.

But, hark! the vesper call to prayer,

As slow the orb of daylight sets,

Is rising sweetly on the air,

From Syria’s thousand minarets!

The boy has started from the bed

Of flowers, where he had laid his head,

And down upon the fragrant sod

Kneels,^[193] with his forehead to the south,

150Lisping the’ eternal name of God

From Purity’s own cherub mouth,

And looking, while his hands and eyes

Are lifted to the glowing skies,

Like a stray babe of Paradise,

Just lighted on that flowery plain,

And seeking for its home again.

Oh! ’twas a sight—that Heaven—that child—

A scene, which might have well beguil’d

Even haughty Eblis of a sigh

For glories lost and peace gone by!

And how felt he, the wretched Man

Reclining there—while memory ran

O’er many a year of guilt and strife,

Flew o’er the dark flood of his life,

Nor found one sunny resting-place,

Nor brought him back one branch of grace!

“There was a time,” he said, in mild,

Heart-humbled tones—“thou blessed child!

“When, young and haply pure as thou,

“I look’d and pray’d like thee—but now—”

He hung his head—each nobler aim,

And hope, and feeling, which had slept

From boyhood’s hour, that instant came

Fresh o’er him, and he wept—he wept!

151

Blest tears of soul-felt penitence!

In whose benign, redeeming flow

Is felt the first, the only sense

Of guiltless joy that guilt can know.

“There’s a drop,” said the Peri, “that down from the moon

“Falls through the withering airs of June

“Upon Egypt’s land,^[194] of so healing a power,

“So balmy a virtue, that e’en in the hour

“The drop descends, contagion dies,

“And health re-animates earth and skies!—

“Oh, is it not thus, thou man of sin,

152“The precious tears of repentance fall?

“Though foul thy fiery plagues within,

“One heavenly drop hath dispell’d them all!”

And now—behold him kneeling there

By the child’s side, in humble prayer,

While the same sunbeam shines upon

The guilty and the guiltless one,

153And hymns of joy proclaim through Heaven

The triumph of a Soul Forgiven!

’Twas when the golden orb had set,

While on their knees they linger’d yet,

There fell a light more lovely far

Than ever came from sun or star,

Upon the tear that, warm and meek,

Dew’d that repentant sinner’s cheek.

To mortal eye this light might seem

A northern flash or meteor beam—

But well the’ enraptur’d Peri knew

’Twas a bright smile the Angel threw

From Heaven’s gate, to hail that tear

Her harbinger of glory near!

“Joy, joy for ever! my task is done—

“The Gates are pass’d, and Heaven is won!

“Oh! am I not happy? I am, I am—

“To thee, sweet Eden! how dark and sad

“Are the diamond turrets of Shadukiam,^[195]

“And the fragrant bowers of Amberabad!

“Farewell, ye odours of Earth, that die

“Passing away like a lover’s sigh;—

“My feast is now of the Tooba Tree,^[196]

“Whose scent is the breath of Eternity!

154“Farewell, ye vanishing flowers, that shone

“In my fairy wreath, so bright and brief;—

“Oh! what are the brightest that e’er have blown,

“To the lote-tree, springing by Alla’s throne,^[197]

“Whose flowers have a soul in every leaf!

“Joy, joy for ever!—my task is done—

“The Gates are pass’d, and Heaven is won!”

155“And this,” said the Great Chamberlain, “is poetry! this flimsy manufacture of the brain, which, in comparison with the lofty and durable monuments of genius, is as the gold filigree-work of Zamara beside the eternal architecture of Egypt!” After this gorgeous sentence, which, with a few more of the same kind, Fadladeen kept by him for rare and important occasions, he proceeded to the anatomy of the short poem just recited. The lax and easy kind of metre in which it was written ought to be denounced, he said, as one of the leading causes of the alarming growth of poetry in our times. If some check were not given to this lawless facility, we should soon be over-run by a race of bards as numerous and as shallow as the hundred and twenty thousand Streams of Basra.^[198] They who succeeded in this style deserved chastisement for their very success;—as warriors have been punished, even after gaining a victory, because they had taken the liberty of gaining it in an irregular or unestablished manner. What, then, was to be said to those who failed? to those who presumed, as in the present lamentable instance, to imitate the license and ease of the bolder sons of song, without any of that grace or vigour which gave a dignity even to negligence;—who, like them, flung the jereed^[199] carelessly, but not, like them, to the mark;—“and who,” said he, raising his voice, to excite 156a proper degree of wakefulness in his hearers, “contrive to appear heavy and constrained in the midst of all the latitude they allow themselves, like one of those young pagans that dance before the Princess, who is ingenious enough to move as if her limbs were fettered, in a pair of the lightest and loosest drawers of Masulipatam!”

It was but little suitable, he continued, to the grave march of criticism to follow this fantastical Peri, of whom they had just heard, through all her flights and adventures between earth and heaven; but he could not help adverting to the puerile conceitedness of the Three Gifts which she is supposed to carry to the skies,—a drop of blood, forsooth, a sigh, and a tear! How the first of these articles was delivered into the Angel’s “radiant hand” he professed himself at a loss to discover; and as to the safe carriage of the sigh and the tear, such Peris and such poets were beings by far too incomprehensible for him even to guess how they managed such matters. “But, in short,” said he, “it is a waste of time and patience to dwell longer upon a thing so incurably frivolous,—puny even among its own puny race, and such as only the Banyan Hospital^[200] for Sick Insects should undertake.”

In vain did Lalla Rookh try to soften this inexorable critic; in vain did she resort to her most eloquent 157common-places,—reminding him that poets were a timid and sensitive race, whose sweetness was not to be drawn forth, like that of the fragrant grass near the Ganges, by crushing and trampling upon them;^[201]—that severity often extinguished every chance of the perfection which it demanded; and that, after all, perfection was like the Mountain of the Talisman,—no one had ever yet reached its summit.^[202] Neither these gentle axioms, nor the still gentler looks with which they were inculcated, could lower for one instant the elevation of Fadladeen’s eyebrows, or charm him into any thing like encouragement, or even toleration, of her poet. Toleration, indeed, was not among the weaknesses of Fadladeen:—he carried the same spirit into matters of poetry and of religion, and, though little versed in the beauties or sublimities of either, was a perfect master of the art of persecution in both. His zeal was the same, too, in either pursuit; whether the game before him was pagans or poetasters,—worshippers of cows, or writers of epics.

They had now arrived at the splendid city of Lahore, whose mausoleums and shrines, magnificent and numberless, where Death appeared to share equal honours with Heaven, would have powerfully affected the heart and imagination of Lalla Rookh, if feelings more of this earth had not taken entire possession of her already. She 158was here met by messengers, despatched from Cashmere, who informed her that the King had arrived in the Valley, and was himself superintending the sumptuous preparations that were then making in the Saloons of the Shalimar for her reception. The chill she felt on receiving this intelligence,—which to a bride whose heart was free and light would have brought only images of affection and pleasure,—convinced her that her peace was gone for ever, and that she was in love, irretrievably in love, with young Feramorz. The veil had fallen off in which this passion at first disguises itself, and to know that she loved was now as painful as to love without knowing it had been delicious. Feramorz, too,—what misery would be his, if the sweet hours of intercourse so imprudently allowed them should have stolen into his heart the same fatal fascination as into hers;—if, notwithstanding her rank, and the modest homage he always paid to it, even he should have yielded to the influence of those long and happy interviews, where music, poetry, the delightful scenes of nature,—all had tended to bring their hearts close together, and to waken by every means that too ready passion, which often, like the young of the desert-bird, is warmed into life by the eyes alone!^[203] She saw but one way to preserve herself from being culpable as well as unhappy, and this, however painful, she was resolved to adopt. Feramorz must no more be admitted 159to her presence. To have strayed so far into the dangerous labyrinth was wrong, but to linger in it, while the clue was yet in her hand, would be criminal. Though the heart she had to offer to the King of Bucharia might be cold and broken, it should at least be pure; and she must only endeavour to forget the short dream of happiness she had enjoyed,—like that Arabian shepherd, who, in wandering into the wilderness, caught a glimpse of the Gardens of Irim, and then lost them again for ever!^[204]

The arrival of the young Bride at Lahore was celebrated in the most enthusiastic manner. The Rajas and Omras in her train, who had kept at a certain distance during the journey, and never encamped nearer to the Princess than was strictly necessary for her safeguard, here rode in splendid cavalcade through the city, and distributed the most costly presents to the crowd. Engines were erected in all the squares, which cast forth showers of confectionery among the people; while the artisans, in chariots^[205] adorned with tinsel and flying streamers, exhibited the badges of their respective trades through the streets. Such brilliant displays of life and pageantry among the palaces, and domes, and gilded minarets of Lahore, made the city altogether like a place of enchantment;—particularly on the day when Lalla Rookh set out again upon her journey, when she was accompanied to the gate by all 160the fairest and richest of the nobility, and rode along between ranks of beautiful boys and girls, who kept waving over their heads plates of gold and silver flowers,^[206] and then threw them around to be gathered by the populace.

For many days after their departure from Lahore, a considerable degree of gloom hung over the whole party. Lalla Rookh, who had intended to make illness her excuse for not admitting the young minstrel, as usual, to the pavilion, soon found that to feign indisposition was unnecessary;—Fadladeen felt the loss of the good road they had hitherto travelled, and was very near cursing Jehan-Guire (of blessed memory!) for not having continued his delectable alley of trees,^[207] at least as far as the mountains of Cashmere;—while the Ladies, who had nothing now to do all day but to be fanned by peacocks’ feathers and listen to Fadladeen, seemed heartily weary of the life they led, and, in spite of all the Great Chamberlain’s criticisms, were so tasteless as to wish for the poet again. One evening, as they were proceeding to their place of rest for the night, the Princess, who, for the freer enjoyment of the air, had mounted her favourite Arabian palfrey, in passing by a small grove, heard the notes of a lute from within its leaves, and a voice, which she but too well knew, singing the following words:—

The tone of melancholy defiance in which these words were uttered, went to Lalla Rookh’s heart;—and, as she reluctantly rode on, she could not help feeling it to 162be a sad but still sweet certainty, that Feramorz was to the full as enamoured and miserable as herself.

The place where they encamped that evening was the first delightful spot they had come to since they left Lahore. On one side of them was a grove full of small Hindoo temples, and planted with the most graceful trees of the East; where the tamarind, the cassia, and the silken plantains of Ceylon were mingled in rich contrast with the high fanlike foliage of the Palmyra,—that favourite tree of the luxurious bird that lights up the chambers of its nest with fire-flies.^[208] In the middle of the lawn where the pavilion stood there was a tank surrounded by small mangoe-trees, on the clear cold waters of which floated multitudes of the beautiful red lotus;^[209] while at a distance stood the ruins of a strange and awful-looking tower, which seemed old enough to have been the temple of some religion no longer known, and which spoke the voice of desolation in the midst of all that bloom and loveliness. This singular ruin excited the wonder and conjectures of all. Lalla Rookh guessed in vain, and the all-pretending Fadladeen, who had never till this journey been beyond the precincts of Delhi, was proceeding most learnedly to show that he knew nothing whatever about the matter, when one of the Ladies suggested that perhaps Feramorz could satisfy 163their curiosity. They were now approaching his native mountains, and this tower might perhaps be a relic of some of those dark superstitions, which had prevailed in that country before the light of Islam dawned upon it. The Chamberlain, who usually preferred his own ignorance to the best knowledge that any one else could give him, was by no means pleased with this officious reference; and the Princess, too, was about to interpose a faint word of objection, but, before either of them could speak, a slave was despatched for Feramorz, who, in a very few minutes, made his appearance before them—looking so pale and unhappy in Lalla Rookh’s eyes, that she repented already of her cruelty in having so long excluded him.

That venerable tower, he told them, was the remains of an ancient Fire-temple, built by those Ghebers or Persians of the old religion, who, many hundred years since, had fled hither from their Arab conquerors,^[210] preferring liberty and their altars in a foreign land to the alternative of apostasy or persecution in their own. It was impossible, he added, not to feel interested in the many glorious but unsuccessful struggles, which had been made by these original natives of Persia to cast off the yoke of their bigoted conquerors. Like their own Fire in the Burning Field at Bakou,^[211] when suppressed in 164one place, they had but broken out with fresh flame in another; and, as a native of Cashmere, of that fair and Holy Valley, which had in the same manner become the prey of strangers,^[212] and seen her ancient shrines and native princes swept away before the march of her intolerant invaders, he felt a sympathy, he owned, with the sufferings of the persecuted Ghebers, which every monument like this before them but tended more powerfully to awaken.

It was the first time that Feramorz had ever ventured upon so much prose before Fadladeen, and it may easily be conceived what effect such prose as this must have produced upon that most orthodox and most pagan-hating personage. He sat for some minutes aghast, ejaculating only at intervals, “Bigoted conquerors!—sympathy with Fire-worshippers!”^[213]—while Feramorz, happy to take advantage of this almost speechless horror of the Chamberlain, proceeded to say that he knew a melancholy story, connected with the events of one of those struggles of the brave Fire-worshippers against their Arab masters, which, if the evening was not too far advanced, he should have much pleasure in being allowed to relate to the Princess. It was impossible for Lalla Rookh to refuse;—he had never before looked half so animated; and when he spoke of the Holy Valley his 165eyes had sparkled, she thought, like the talismanic characters on the scimitar of Solomon. Her consent was therefore most readily granted; and while Fadladeen sat in unspeakable dismay, expecting treason and abomination in every line, the poet thus began his story of the Fire-worshippers:—

The Fire Worshippers

---

169

’Tis moonlight over Oman’s Sea;^[214]

Her banks of pearl and palmy isles

Bask in the night-beam beauteously,

And her blue waters sleep in smiles.

’Tis moonlight in Harmozia’s^[215] walls,

And through her Emir’s porphyry halls,

Where, some hours since, was heard the swell

Of trumpet and the clash of zel,^[216]

Bidding the bright-eyed sun farewell;—

The peaceful sun, whom better suits

The music of the bulbul’s nest,

Or the light touch of lovers’ lutes,

170To sing him to his golden rest.

All hush’d—there’s not a breeze in motion;

The shore is silent as the ocean.

If zephyrs come, so light they come,

Nor leaf is stirr’d nor wave is driven;—

The wind-tower on the Emir’s dome^[217]

Can hardly win a breath from heaven.

Even he, that tyrant Arab, sleeps

Calm, while a nation round him weeps;

While curses load the air he breathes,

And falchions from unnumbered sheaths

Are starting to avenge the shame

His race hath brought on Iran’s^[218] name.

Hard, heartless Chief, unmov’d alike

Mid eyes that weep, and swords that strike;—

One of that saintly, murderous brood,

To carnage and the Koran given,

Who think through unbelievers’ blood

Lies their directest path to heaven;—

One, who will pause and kneel unshod

In the warm blood his hand hath pour’d,

To mutter o’er some text of God

Engraven on his reeking sword;^[219]—

Nay, who can coolly note the line,

The letter of those words divine,

171To which his blade, with searching art,

Had sunk into its victim’s heart!

Just Alla! what must be thy look,

When such a wretch before thee stands

Unblushing, with thy Sacred Book,—

Turning the leaves with blood-stain’d hands,

And wresting from its page sublime

His creed of lust, and hate, and crime;—

Even as those bees of Trebizond,

Which, from the sunniest flowers that glad

With their pure smile the gardens round,

Draw venom forth that drives men mad.^[220]

Never did fierce Arabia send

A satrap forth more direly great;

Never was Iran doom’d to bend

Beneath a yoke of deadlier weight.

Her throne had fallen—her pride was crush’d—

Her sons were willing slaves, nor blush’d,

In their own land,—no more their own,—

To crouch beneath a stranger’s throne.

Her towers, where Mithra once had burn’d,

To Moslem shrines—oh shame!—were turn’d,

Where slaves, converted by the sword,

Their mean, apostate worship pour’d,

172And curs’d the faith their sires ador’d.

Yet has she hearts, mid all this ill,

O’er all this wreck high buoyant still

With hope and vengeance;—hearts that yet—

Like gems, in darkness, issuing rays

They’ve treasur’d from the sun that’s set,—

Beam all the light of long-lost days!

And swords she hath, nor weak nor slow

To second all such hearts can dare;

As he shall know, well, dearly know,

Who sleeps in moonlight luxury there,

Tranquil as if his spirit lay

Becalm’d in Heaven’s approving ray.

Sleep on—for purer eyes than thine

Those waves are hush’d, those planets shine;

Sleep on, and be thy rest unmov’d

By the white moonbeam’s dazzling power;—

None but the loving and the lov’d

Should be awake at this sweet hour.

And see—where, high above those rocks

That o’er the deep their shadows fling,

Yon turret stands;—where ebon locks,

As glossy as a heron’s wing

Upon the turban of a king,^[221]

Hang from the lattice, long and wild—

173’Tis she, that Emir’s blooming child,

All truth and tenderness and grace,

Though born of such ungentle race;—

An image of Youth’s radiant Fountain

Springing in a desolate mountain!^[222]

Oh what a pure and sacred thing

Is Beauty, curtain’d from the sight

Of the gross world, illumining

One only mansion with her light!

Unseen by man’s disturbing eye,—

The flower that blooms beneath the sea,

Too deep for sunbeams, doth not lie

Hid in more chaste obscurity.

So, Hinda, have thy face and mind,

Like holy mysteries, lain enshrin’d.

And oh, what transport for a lover

To lift the veil that shades them o’er!—

Like those who, all at once, discover

In the lone deep some fairy shore,

Where mortal never trod before,

And sleep and wake in scented airs

No lip had ever breath’d but theirs.

Beautiful are the maids that glide,

On summer-eves, through Yemen’s^[223] dales,

174And bright the glancing looks they hide

Behind their litters’ roseate veils;—

And brides, as delicate and fair

As the white jasmine flowers they wear,

Hath Yemen in her blissful clime,

Who, lull’d in cool kiosk or bower,^[224]

Before their mirrors count the time,^[225]

And grow still lovelier every hour.

But never yet hath bride or maid

In Araby’s gay Haram smil’d,

Whose boasted brightness would not fade

Before Al Hassan’s blooming child.

Light as the angel shapes that bless

An infant’s dream, yet not the less

Rich in all woman’s loveliness;—

With eyes so pure, that from their ray

Dark Vice would turn abash’d away,

Blinded like serpents, when they gaze

Upon the emerald’s virgin blaze;^[226]—

Yet fill’d with all youth’s sweet desires,

Mingling the meek and vestal fires

Of other worlds with all the bliss,

The fond, weak tenderness of this:

A soul, too, more than half divine,

Where, through some shades of earthly feeling.

175Religion’s soften’d glories shine,

Like light through summer foliage stealing,

Shedding a glow of such mild hue,

So warm, and yet so shadowy too,

As makes the very darkness there

More beautiful than light elsewhere.

Such is the maid who, at this hour,

Hath risen from her restless sleep,

And sits alone in that high bower,

Watching the still and shining deep.

Ah! ’twas not thus,—with tearful eyes

And beating heart,—she used to gaze

On the magnificent earth and skies,

In her own land, in happier days.

Why looks she now so anxious down

Among those rocks, whose rugged frown

Blackens the mirror of the deep?

Whom waits she all this lonely night?

Too rough the rocks, too bold the steep,

For man to scale that turret’s height!—

So deem’d at least her thoughtful sire,

When high, to catch the cool night-air,

After the day-beam’s withering fire,^[227]

He built her bower of freshness there,

176And had it deck’d with costliest skill,

And fondly thought it safe as fair:—

Think, reverend dreamer! think so still,

Nor wake to learn what Love can dare;—

Love, all-defying Love, who sees

No charm in trophies won with ease;—

Whose rarest, dearest fruits of bliss

Are pluck’d on Danger’s precipice!

Bolder than they who dare not dive

For pearls, but when the sea’s at rest,

Love, in the tempest most alive,

Hath ever held that pearl the best

He finds beneath the stormiest water.

Yes—Araby’s unrivall’d daughter,

Though high that tower, that rock-way rude,

There’s one who, but to kiss thy cheek,

Would climb the’ untrodden solitude

Of Ararat’s tremendous peak,^[228]

And think its steeps, though dark and dread,

Heaven’s pathways, if to thee they led!

Even now thou seest the flashing spray,

That lights his oar’s impatient way;—

Even now thou hear’st the sudden shock

Of his swift bark against the rock,

And stretchest down thy arms of snow,

As if to lift him from below!

177Like her to whom, at dead of night,

The bridegroom, with his locks of light,^[229]

Came, in the flush of love and pride,

And scal’d the terrace of his bride;—

When, as she saw him rashly spring,

And midway up in danger cling,

She flung him down her long black hair,

Exclaiming, breathless, “There, love, there!”

And scarce did manlier nerve uphold

The hero Zal in that fond hour,

Than wings the youth who, fleet and bold,

Now climbs the rocks to Hinda’s bower.

See—light as up their granite steeps

The rock-goats of Arabia clamber,^[230]

Fearless from crag to crag he leaps,

And now is in the maiden’s chamber.

She loves—but knows not whom she loves,

Nor what his race, nor whence he came;—

Like one who meets, in Indian groves,

Some beauteous bird without a name,

Brought by the last ambrosial breeze,

From isles in the’ undiscover’d seas,

To show his plumage for a day

To wondering eyes, and wing away!

Will he thus fly—her nameless lover?

178Alla forbid! ’twas by a moon

As fair as this, while singing over

Some ditty to her soft Kanoon,^[231]

Alone, at this same witching hour,

She first beheld his radiant eyes

Gleam through the lattice of the bower,

Where nightly now they mix their sighs;

And thought some spirit of the air

(For what could waft a mortal there?)

Was pausing on his moonlight way

To listen to her lonely lay!

This fancy ne’er hath left her mind:

And—though, when terror’s swoon had past,

She saw a youth, of mortal kind,

Before her in obeisance cast,—

Yet often since, when he hath spoken

Strange, awful words,—and gleams have broken

From his dark eyes, too bright to bear,

Oh! she hath fear’d her soul was given

To some unhallow’d child of air,

Some erring Spirit cast from heaven,

Like those angelic youths of old,

Who burn’d for maids of mortal mould,

Bewilder’d left the glorious skies,

And lost their heaven for woman’s eyes.

Fond girl! nor fiend nor angel he

179Who woos thy young simplicity;

But one of earth’s impassion’d sons,

As warm in love, as fierce in ire,

As the best heart whose current runs

Full of the Day-God’s living fire.

But quench’d to-night that ardour seems,

And pale his cheek, and sunk his brow;—

Never before, but in her dreams,

Had she beheld him pale as now:

And those were dreams of troubled sleep,

From which ’twas joy to wake and weep;

Visions, that will not be forgot,

But sadden every waking scene,

Like warning ghosts, that leave the spot

All wither’d where they once have been.

“How sweetly,” said the trembling maid,

Of her own gentle voice afraid,

So long had they in silence stood,

Looking upon that tranquil flood—

“How sweetly does the moon-beam smile

“To-night upon yon leafy isle!

“Oft, in my fancy’s wanderings,

“I’ve wish’d that little isle had wings,

“And we, within its fairy bowers,

“Were wafted off to seas unknown,

180“Where not a pulse should beat but ours,

“And we might live, love, die alone!

“Far from the cruel and the cold,—

“Where the bright eyes of angels only

“Should come around us, to behold

“A paradise so pure and lonely.

“Would this be world enough for thee?”—

Playful she turn’d, that he might see

The passing smile her cheek put on;

But when she mark’d how mournfully

His eyes met hers, that smile was gone;

And, bursting into heart-felt tears,

“Yes, yes,” she cried, “my hourly fears,

“My dreams have boded all too right—

“We part—for ever part—to-night!

“I knew, I knew it could not last—

“’Twas bright, ’twas heavenly, but ’tis past

“Oh! ever thus, from childhood’s hour,

“I’ve seen my fondest hopes decay;

“I never lov’d a tree or flower,

“But ’twas the first to fade away.

“I never nurs’d a dear gazelle,

“To glad me with its soft black eye,

“But when it came to know me well,

“And love me, it was sure to die!

“Now too—the joy most like divine

181“Of all I ever dreamt or knew,

“To see thee, hear thee, call thee mine,—

“Oh misery! must I lose that too?

Yet go—on peril’s brink we meet;—

“Those frightful rocks—that treacherous sea—

182“No, never come again—though sweet,

“Though heaven, it may be death to thee.

“Farewell—and blessings on thy way,

“Where’er thou goest, beloved stranger!

“Better to sit and watch that ray,

“And think thee safe, though far away,

“Than have thee near me, and in danger!”

“Danger!—oh, tempt me not to boast—”

The youth exclaim’d—“thou little know’st

“What he can brave, who, born and nurst

“In Danger’s paths, has dar’d her worst;

“Upon whose ear the signal word

“Of strife and death is hourly breaking;

“Who sleeps with head upon the sword

“His fever’d hand must grasp in waking.

“Danger!—”

“Danger!—”“Say on—thou fear’st not then,

“And we may meet—oft meet again?”

“Oh! look not so—beneath the skies

“I now fear nothing but those eyes.

“If aught on earth could charm or force

“My spirit from its destin’d course,—

“If aught could make this soul forget

“The bond to which its seal is set,

183“’Twould be those eyes;—they, only they,

“Could melt that sacred seal away!

“But no—’tis fix’d—my awful doom

“Is fix’d—on this side of the tomb

“We meet no more;—why, why did Heaven

“Mingle two souls that earth has riven,

“Has rent asunder wide as ours?

“Oh, Arab maid, as soon the Powers

“Of Light and Darkness may combine,

“As I be link’d with thee or thine!

“Thy Father⸺”

“Thy Father⸺”“Holy Alla save

“His grey head from that lightning glance!

“Thou know’st him not—he loves the brave;

“Nor lives there under heaven’s expanse

“One who would prize, would worship thee

“And thy bold spirit, more than he.

“Oft when, in childhood, I have play’d

“With the bright falchion by his side,

“I’ve heard him swear his lisping maid

“In time should be a warrior’s bride.

“And still, whene’er at Haram hours

“I take him cool sherbets and flowers,

“He tells me, when in playful mood,

“A hero shall my bridegroom be,

“Since maids are best in battle woo’d,

184“And won with shouts of victory!

“Nay, turn not from me—thou alone

“Art form’d to make both hearts thy own.

“Go—join his sacred ranks—thou know’st

“The’ unholy strife these Persians wage:—

“Good Heaven, that frown!—even now thou glow’st

“With more than mortal warrior’s rage.

“Haste to the camp by morning’s light,

“And, when that sword is raised in fight,

“Oh still remember, Love and I

“Beneath its shadow trembling lie!

“One victory o’er those Slaves of Fire,

“Those impious Ghebers, whom my sire

“Abhors⸺”

“Abhors”“Hold, hold—thy words are death—”

The stranger cried, as wild he flung

His mantle back, and show’d beneath

The Gheber belt that round him clung.—^[232]

“Here, maiden, look—weep—blush to see

“All that thy sire abhors in me!

“Yes—I am of that impious race,

“Those Slaves of Fire, who, morn and even,

“Hail their Creator’s dwelling-place

“Among the living lights of heaven:^[233]

“Yes—I am of that outcast few,

“To Iran and to vengeance true,

185“Who curse the hour your Arabs came

“To desolate our shrines of flame,

“And swear, before God’s burning eye,

“To break our country’s chains, or die!

“Thy bigot sire,—nay, tremble not,—

“He, who gave birth to those dear eyes,

186“With me is sacred as the spot

“From which our fires of worship rise!

“But know—’twas he I sought that night,

“When, from my watch-boat on the sea,

“I caught this turret’s glimmering light,

“And up the rude rocks desperately

“Rush’d to my prey—thou know’st the rest—

“I climb’d the gory vulture’s nest,

“And found a trembling dove within;—

“Thine, thine the victory—thine the sin—

“If Love hath made one thought his own,

“That Vengeance claims first—last—alone!

“Oh! had we never, never met,

“Or could this heart e’en now forget

“How link’d, how bless’d we might have been,

“Had fate not frown’d so dark between!

“Hadst thou been born a Persian maid,

“In neighbouring valleys had we dwelt,

“Through the same fields in childhood play’d,

“At the same kindling altar knelt,—

“Then, then, while all those nameless ties,

“In which the charm of Country lies,

“Had round our hearts been hourly spun,

“Till Iran’s cause and thine were one;

“While in thy lute’s awakening sigh

“I heard the voice of days gone by,

187“And saw, in every smile of thine,

“Returning hours of glory shine;—

“While the wrong’d Spirit of our Land

“Liv’d, look’d, and spoke her wrongs through thee,—

“God! who could then this sword withstand?

“Its very flash were victory!

“But now—estrang’d, divorc’d for ever,

“Far as the grasp of Fate can sever;

“Our only ties what love has wove,—

“In faith, friends, country, sunder’d wide;

“And then, then only, true to love,

“When false to all that’s dear beside!

“Thy father Iran’s deadliest foe—

“Thyself perhaps, even now—but no—

“Hate never look’d so lovely yet!

“No—sacred to thy soul will be

“The land of him who could forget

“All but that bleeding land for thee.

“When other eyes shall see, unmov’d,

“Her widows mourn, her warriors fall,

“Thou’lt think how well one Gheber lov’d,

“And for his sake thou’lt weep for all!

“But look⸺”

“But look”With sudden start he turn’d

And pointed to the distant wave,

Where lights, like charnel meteors, burn’d

188Bluely, as o’er some seaman’s grave;

And fiery darts, at intervals,^[234]

Flew up all sparkling from the main,

As if each star that nightly falls,

Were shooting back to heaven again.

“My signal lights!—I must away—

“Both, both are ruin’d, if I stay.

“Farewell—sweet life! thou cling’st in vain—

“Now, Vengeance, I am thine again!”

Fiercely he broke away, nor stopp’d,

Nor look’d—but from the lattice dropp’d

Down ’mid the pointed crags beneath,

As if he fled from love to death.

While pale and mute young Hinda stood

Nor mov’d, till in the silent flood

A momentary plunge below

Startled her from her trance of woe;—

Shrieking she to the lattice flew,

“I come—I come—if in that tide

“Thou sleep’st to-night, I’ll sleep there too,

“In death’s cold wedlock, by thy side.

“Oh! I would ask no happier bed

“Than the chill wave my love lies under:—

“Sweeter to rest together dead,

“Far sweeter, than to live asunder!”

189But no—their hour is not yet come—

Again she sees his pinnace fly,

Wafting him fleetly to his home,

Where’er that ill-starr’d home may lie;

And calm and smooth it seem’d to win

Its moonlight way before the wind,

As if it bore all peace within,

Nor left one breaking heart behind!

---

190The Princess, whose heart was sad enough already, could have wished that Feramorz had chosen a less melancholy story; as it is only to the happy that tears are a luxury. Her Ladies, however, were by no means sorry that love was once more the Poet’s theme; for, whenever he spoke of love, they said, his voice was as sweet as if he had chewed the leaves of that enchanted tree, which grows over the tomb of the musician, Tan-Sein.^[235]

Their road all the morning had lain through a very dreary country;—through valleys, covered with a low bushy jungle, where, in more than one place, the awful signal of the bamboo staff,^[236] with the white flag at its top, reminded the traveller that, in that very spot, the tiger had made some human creature his victim. It was, therefore, with much pleasure that they arrived at sunset in a safe and lovely glen, and encamped under one of those holy trees, whose smooth columns and spreading roofs seem to destine them for natural temples of religion. Beneath this spacious shade, some pious hands had erected a row of pillars ornamented with the most beautiful porcelain,^[237] which now supplied the use 191of mirrors to the young maidens, as they adjusted their hair in descending from the palankeens. Here, while, as usual, the Princess sat listening anxiously, with Fadladeen in one of his loftiest moods of criticism by her side, the young Poet, leaning against a branch of the tree, thus continued his story:—

---

192

The morn hath risen clear and calm,

And o’er the Green Sea^[238] palely shines,

Revealing Bahrein’s^[239] groves of palm,

And lighting Kishma’s^[239] amber vines.

Fresh smell the shores of Araby,

While breezes from the Indian sea

Blow round Selama’s^[240] sainted cape,

And curl the shining flood beneath,—

Whose waves are rich with many a grape,

And cocoa-nut and flowery wreath,

Which pious seamen, as they pass’d,

Had tow’rd that holy headland cast—

193Oblations to the Genii there

For gentle skies and breezes fair!

The nightingale now bends her flight^[241]

From the high trees, where all the night

She sung so sweet, with none to listen;

And hides her from the morning star

Where thickets of pomegranate glisten

In the clear dawn,—bespangled o’er

With dew, whose night drops would not stain

The best and brightest scimitar^[242]

That ever youthful Sultan wore

On the first morning of his reign.

And see—the Sun himself!—on wings

Of glory up the East he springs.

Angel of Light! who from the time

Those heavens began their march sublime,

Hath first of all the starry choir

Trod in his Maker’s steps of fire!

Where are the days, thou wondrous sphere,

When Iran, like a sun-flower, turn’d

To meet that eye where’er it burn’d?—

When, from the banks of Bendemeer

To the nut-groves of Samarcand,

Thy temples flam’d o’er all the land?

Where are they? ask the shades of them

194Who, on Cadessia’s^[243] bloody plains,

Saw fierce invaders pluck the gem

From Iran’s broken diadem,

And bind her ancient faith in chains:—

Ask the poor exile, cast alone

On foreign shores, unlov’d, unknown,

Beyond the Caspian’s Iron Gates,^[244]

Or on the snowy Mossian mountains,

Far from his beauteous land of dates,

Her jasmine bowers and sunny fountains:

Yet happier so than if he trod

His own belov’d, but blighted, sod,

Beneath a despot stranger’s nod!—

Oh, he would rather houseless roam

Where Freedom and his God may lead,

Than be the sleekest slave at home

That crouches to the conqueror’s creed!

Is Iran’s pride then gone for ever,

Quench’d with the flame in Mithra’s caves?—

No—she has sons, that never—never—

Will stoop to be the Moslem’s slaves,

While heaven has light or earth has graves;—

Spirits of fire, that brood not long,

But flash resentment back for wrong;

And hearts where, slow but deep, the seeds

Of vengeance ripen into deeds,

195Till, in some treacherous hour of calm,

They burst, like Zeilan’s giant palm,^[245]

Whose buds fly open with a sound

That shakes the pigmy forests round!

Yes, Emir! he, who scal’d that tower,

And, had he reach’d thy slumbering breast,

Had taught thee, in a Gheber’s power

How safe e’en tyrant heads may rest—

Is one of many, brave as he,

Who loathe thy haughty race and thee;

Who, though they know the strife is vain,

Who, though they know the riven chain

Snaps but to enter in the heart

Of him who rends its links apart,

Yet dare the issue,—blest to be

E’en for one bleeding moment free,

And die in pangs of liberty!

Thou know’st them well—’tis some moons since

Thy turban’d troops and blood-red flags,

Thou satrap of a bigot Prince,

Have swarm’d among these Green Sea crags;

Yet here, e’en here, a sacred band,

Ay, in the portal of that land

Thou, Arab, dar’st to call thy own,

Their spears across thy path have thrown;

196Here—ere the winds half wing’d thee o’er—

Rebellion brav’d thee from the shore.

Rebellion! foul, dishonouring word,

Whose wrongful blight so oft has stain’d

The holiest cause that tongue or sword

Of mortal ever lost or gain’d.

How many a spirit, born to bless,

Hath sunk beneath that withering name,

Whom but a day’s, an hour’s success

Had wafted to eternal fame!

As exhalations, when they burst

From the warm earth, if chill’d at first,

If check’d in soaring from the plain,

Darken to fogs and sink again;—

But, if they once triumphant spread

Their wings above the mountain-head,

Become enthroned in upper air,

And turn to sun-bright glories there!

And who is he, that wields the might

Of Freedom on the Green Sea brink,

Before whose sabre’s dazzling light^[246]

The eyes of Yemen’s warriors wink?

Who comes, embower’d in the spears

Of Kerman’s hardy mountaineers?—

197Those mountaineers that truest, last,

Cling to their country’s ancient rites,

As if that God, whose eyelids cast

Their closing gleam on Iran’s heights,

Among her snowy mountains threw

The last light of his worship too!

’Tis Hafed—name of fear, whose sound

Chills like the muttering of a charm!—

Shout but that awful name around,

And palsy shakes the manliest arm.

198’Tis Hafed, most accurs’d and dire

(So rank’d by Moslem hate and ire)

Of all the rebel Sons of Fire;

Of whose malign, tremendous power

The Arabs, at their mid-watch hour,

Such tales of fearful wonder tell,

That each affrighted sentinel

Pulls down his cowl upon his eyes,

Lest Hafed in the midst should rise!

A man, they say, of monstrous birth,

A mingled race of flame and earth,

Sprung from those old, enchanted kings,^[247]

Who in their fairy helms, of yore,

A feather from the mystic wings

Of the Simoorgh resistless wore;

And gifted by the Fiends of Fire,

Who groan’d to see their shrines expire,

With charms that, all in vain withstood,

Would drown the Koran’s light in blood!

Such were the tales, that won belief,

And such the colouring Fancy gave

To a young, warm, and dauntless Chief,—

One who, no more than mortal brave,

Fought for the land his soul ador’d,

For happy homes and altars free,—

199His only talisman, the sword,

His only spell-word, Liberty!

One of that ancient hero line,

Along whose glorious current shine

Names, that have sanctified their blood;

As Lebanon’s small mountain-flood

Is render’d holy by the ranks

Of sainted cedars on its banks.^[248]

’Twas not for him to crouch the knee

Tamely to Moslem tyranny;

’Twas not for him, whose soul was cast

In the bright mould of ages past,

Whose melancholy spirit, fed

With all the glories of the dead,

Though fram’d for Iran’s happiest years,

Was born among her chains and tears!—

’Twas not for him to swell the crowd

Of slavish heads, that shrinking bow’d

Before the Moslem, as he pass’d,

Like shrubs beneath the poison-blast—

No—far he fled—indignant fled

The pageant of his country’s shame;

While every tear her children shed

Fell on his soul like drops of flame;

And, as a lover hails the dawn

Of a first smile, so welcom’d he

200The sparkle of the first sword drawn

For vengeance and for liberty!

But vain was valour—vain the flower

Of Kerman, in that deathful hour,

Against Al Hassan’s whelming power.—

In vain they met him, helm to helm,

Upon the threshold of that realm

He came in bigot pomp to sway,

And with their corpses block’d his way—

In vain—for every lance they rais’d,

Thousands around the conqueror blaz’d;

For every arm that lin’d their shore,

Myriads of slaves were wafted o’er,—

A bloody, bold, and countless crowd,

Before whose swarm as fast they bow’d

As dates beneath the locust cloud.

There stood—but one short league away

From old Harmozia’s sultry bay—

A rocky mountain, o’er the Sea

Of Oman beetling awfully:^[249]

A last and solitary link

Of those stupendous chains that reach

From the broad Caspian’s reedy brink

Down winding to the Green Sea beach.

201Around its base the bare rocks stood,

Like naked giants, in the flood,

As if to guard the Gulf across;

While, on its peak, that brav’d the sky,

A ruin’d Temple tower’d, so high

That oft the sleeping albatross^[250]

Struck the wild ruins with her wing,

And from her cloud-rock’d slumbering

Started—to find man’s dwelling there

In her own silent fields of air!

Beneath, terrific caverns gave

Dark welcome to each stormy wave

That dash’d, like midnight revellers, in;—

And such the strange, mysterious din

At times throughout those caverns roll’d,—

And such the fearful wonders told

Of restless sprites imprison’d there,

That bold were Moslem, who would dare,

At twilight hour, to steer his skiff

Beneath the Gheber’s lonely cliff.^[251]

On the land side, those towers sublime,

That seem’d above the grasp of Time,

Were sever’d from the haunts of men

By a wide, deep, and wizard glen,

So fathomless, so full of gloom,

202No eye could pierce the void between:

It seem’d a place where Gholes might come

With their foul banquets from the tomb,

And in its caverns feed unseen.

Like distant thunder, from below,

The sound of many torrents came,

Too deep for eye or ear to know

If ’twere the sea’s imprison’d flow,

Or floods of ever-restless flame.

For, each ravine, each rocky spire

Of that vast mountain stood on fire;^[252]

And, though for ever past the days

When God was worshipp’d in the blaze

That from its lofty altar shone,—

Though fled the priests, the votaries gone,

Still did the mighty flame burn on,^[253]

Through chance and change, through good and ill,

Like its own God’s eternal will,

Deep, constant, bright, unquenchable!

Thither the vanquish’d Hafed led

His little army’s last remains;—

“Welcome, terrific glen!” he said,

“Thy gloom, that Eblis’ self might dread,

“Is Heaven to him who flies from chains!”

203O’er a dark, narrow bridge-way, known

To him and to his Chiefs alone,

They cross’d the chasm and gain’d the towers,—

“This home,” he cried, “at least is ours;—

“Here we may bleed, unmock’d by hymns

“Of Moslem triumph o’er our head;

“Here we may fall, nor leave our limbs

“To quiver to the Moslem’s tread.

“Stretch’d on this rock, while vultures’ beaks

“Are whetted on our yet warm cheeks,

“Here—happy that no tyrant’s eye

“Gloats on our torments—we may die!”—

’Twas night when to those towers they came,

And gloomily the fitful flame,

That from the ruin’d altar broke,

Glar’d on his features, as he spoke:—

“’Tis o’er—what men could do, we’ve done—

“If Iran will look tamely on,

“And see her priests, her warriors driven

“Before a sensual bigot’s nod,

“A wretch, who shrines his lusts in heaven,

“And makes a pander of his God;

“If her proud sons, her high-born souls,

“Men, in whose veins—oh last disgrace!

204“The blood of Zal and Rustam^[254] rolls,—

“If they will court this upstart race,

“And turn from Mithra’s ancient ray,

“To kneel at shrines of yesterday;

“If they will crouch to Iran’s foes,

“Why, let them—till the land’s despair

“Cries out to Heaven, and bondage grows

“Too vile for e’en the vile to bear!

“Till shame at last, long hidden, burns

“Their inmost core, and conscience turns

“Each coward tear the slave lets fall

“Back on his heart in drops of gall.

“But here, at least, are arms unchain’d,

“And souls that thraldom never stain’d;—

“This spot, at least, no foot of slave

“Or satrap ever yet profan’d;

“And though but few—though fast the wave

“Of life is ebbing from our veins,

“Enough for vengeance still remains.

“As panthers, after set of sun,

“Rush from the roots of Lebanon

“Across the dark sea-robber’s way,^[255]

“We’ll bound upon our startled prey;

“And when some hearts that proudest swell

“Have felt our falchion’s last farewell;

“When Hope’s expiring throb is o’er,

205“And e’en despair can prompt no more,

“This spot shall be the sacred grave

“Of the last few who, vainly brave,

“Die for the land they cannot save!”

His Chiefs stood round—each shining blade

Upon the broken altar laid—

206And though so wild and desolate

Those courts, where once the Mighty sate;

No longer on those mouldering towers

Was seen the feast of fruits and flowers,

With which of old the Magi fed

The wandering Spirits of their Dead;^[256]

Though neither priest nor rites were there,

Nor charmed leaf of pure pomegranate;^[257]

Nor hymn, nor censer’s fragrant air,

Nor symbol of their worshipp’d planet;^[258]

Yet the same God that heard their sires

Heard them, while on that altar’s fires

They swore^[259] the latest, holiest deed

Of the few hearts, still left to bleed,

Should be, in Iran’s injur’d name,

To die upon that Mount of Flame—

The last of all her patriot line,

Before her last untrampled Shrine!

Brave, suffering souls! they little knew

How many a tear their injuries drew

From one meek maid, one gentle foe,

Whom love first touch’d with others’ woe—

Whose life, as free from thought as sin,

Slept like a lake, till Love threw in

His talisman, and woke the tide,

207And spread its trembling circles wide.

Once, Emir! thy unheeding child,

’Mid all this havoc, bloom’d and smil’d,—

Tranquil as on some battle plain

The Persian lily shines and towers,^[260]

Before the combat’s reddening stain

Hath fall’n upon her golden flowers.

Light-hearted maid, unaw’d, unmov’d,

While Heaven but spar’d the sire she lov’d,

Once at thy evening tales of blood

Unlistening and aloof she stood—

And oft, when thou hast pac’d along

Thy Haram halls with furious heat,

Hast thou not curs’d her cheerful song,

That came across thee, calm and sweet,

Like lutes of angels, touch’d so near

Hell’s confines, that the damn’d can hear!

Far other feelings Love hath brought—

Her soul all flame, her brow all sadness,

She now has but the one dear thought,

And thinks that o’er, almost to madness!

Oft doth her sinking heart recall

His words—“For my sake weep for all;”

And bitterly, as day on day

Of rebel carnage fast succeeds,

208She weeps a lover snatch’d away

In every Gheber wretch that bleeds.

There’s not a sabre meets her eye,

But with his life-blood seems to swim;

There’s not an arrow wings the sky,

But fancy turns its point to him.

No more she brings with footstep light

Al Hassan’s falchion for the fight;

And—had he look’d with clearer sight,

Had not the mists, that ever rise

From a foul spirit, dimm’d his eyes—

He would have mark’d her shuddering frame,

When from the field of blood he came,

The faltering speech—the look estrang’d—

Voice, step, and life, and beauty chang’d—

He would have mark’d all this, and known

Such change is wrought by Love alone!

Ah! not the Love, that should have bless’d

So young, so innocent a breast;

Not the pure, open, prosperous Love,

That, pledg’d on earth and seal’d above,

Grows in the world’s approving eyes,

In friendship’s smile and home’s caress,

Collecting all the heart’s sweet ties

Into one knot of happiness!

209No, Hinda, no,—thy fatal flame

Is nurs’d in silence, sorrow, shame;—

A passion, without hope or pleasure,

In thy soul’s darkness buried deep,

It lies, like some ill-gotten treasure,—

Some idol, without shrine or name,

O’er which its pale-eyed votaries keep

Unholy watch, while others sleep.

Seven nights have darken’d Oman’s sea,

Since last, beneath the moonlight ray,

She saw his light oar rapidly

Hurry her Gheber’s bark away,—

And still she goes, at midnight hour,

To weep alone in that high bower,

And watch, and look along the deep

For him whose smiles first made her weep;—

But watching, weeping, all was vain,

She never saw his bark again.

The owlet’s solitary cry,

The night-hawk, flitting darkly by,

And oft the hateful carrion bird,

Heavily flapping his clogg’d wing,

Which reek’d with that day’s banqueting—

Was all she saw, was all she heard.

210’Tis the eighth morn—Al Hassan’s brow

Is brighten’d with unusual joy—

What mighty mischief glads him now,

Who never smiles but to destroy?

The sparkle upon Herkend’s Sea,

When toss’d at midnight furiously,^[261]

Tells not of wreck and ruin nigh,

More surely than that smiling eye!

“Up, daughter, up—the Kerna’s^[262] breath

“Has blown a blast would waken death,

“And yet thou sleep’st—up, child, and see

“This blessed day for Heaven and me,

“A day more rich in Pagan blood

“Than ever flash’d o’er Oman’s flood.

“Before another dawn shall shine,

“His head—heart—limbs—will all be mine;

“This very night his blood shall steep

“These hands all over ere I sleep!”—

“His blood!” she faintly scream’d—her mind

Still singling one from all mankind—

“Yes—spite of his ravines and towers,

“Hafed, my child, this night is ours.

“Thanks to all-conquering treachery,

“Without whose aid the links accurst,

“That bind these impious slaves, would be

“Too strong for Alla’s self to burst!

211“That rebel fiend, whose blade has spread

“My path with piles of Moslem dead,

“Whose baffling spells had almost driven

“Back from their course the Swords of Heaven,

“This night, with all his band, shall know

“How deep an Arab’s steel can go,

212“When God and Vengeance speed the blow.

“And—Prophet! by that holy wreath

“Thou wor’st on Ohod’s field of death,^[263]

“I swear, for every sob that parts

“In anguish from these heathen hearts,

“A gem from Persia’s plunder’d mines

“Shall glitter on thy Shrine of Shrines.

“But, ha!—she sinks—that look so wild—

“Those livid lips—my child, my child,

“This life of blood befits not thee,

“And thou must back to Araby.

“Ne’er had I risk’d thy timid sex

“In scenes that man himself might dread,

“Had I not hop’d our every tread

“Would be on prostrate Persian necks—

“Curst race, they offer swords instead!

“But cheer thee, maid,—the wind that now

“Is blowing o’er thy feverish brow,

“To-day shall waft thee from the shore;

“And, ere a drop of this night’s gore

“Have time to chill in yonder towers,

“Thou’lt see thy own sweet Arab bowers!”

His bloody boast was all too true;

There lurk’d one wretch among the few

Whom Hafed’s eagle eye could count

213Around him on that Fiery Mount,—

One miscreant, who for gold betray’d

The pathway through the valley’s shade

To those high towers, where Freedom stood

In her last hold of flame and blood.

Left on the field last dreadful night,

When, sallying from their Sacred height,

The Ghebers fought hope’s farewell fight,

He lay—but died not with the brave;

That sun, which should have gilt his grave,

Saw him a traitor and a slave;—

And, while the few, who thence return’d

To their high rocky fortress mourn’d

For him among the matchless dead

They left behind on glory’s bed,

He liv’d, and, in the face of morn,

Laugh’d them and Faith and Heaven to scorn.

Oh for a tongue to curse the slave,

Whose treason, like a deadly blight,

Comes o’er the councils of the brave,

And blasts them in their hour of might!

May Life’s unblessed cup for him

Be drugg’d with treacheries to the brim,—

With hopes, that but allure to fly,

With joys, that vanish while he sips,

214Like Dead Sea fruits, that tempt the eye,

But turn to ashes on the lips!^[264]

His country’s curse, his children’s shame,

Outcast of virtue, peace, and fame,

May he, at last, with lips of flame

On the parch’d desert thirsting die,—

While lakes, that shone in mockery nigh,^[265]

Are fading off, untouch’d, untasted,

Like the once glorious hopes he blasted!

And, when from earth his spirit flies,

Just Prophet, let the damn’d one dwell

Full in the sight of Paradise,

Beholding heaven, and feeling hell!

---

215Lalla Rookh had, the night before, been visited by a dream which, in spite of the impending fate of poor Hafed, made her heart more than usually cheerful during the morning, and gave her cheeks all the freshened animation of a flower that the Bid-musk had just passed over.^[266] She fancied that she was sailing on that Eastern Ocean, where the sea-gipsies, who live for ever on the water,^[267] enjoy a perpetual summer in wandering from isle to isle, when she saw a small gilded bark approaching her. It was like one of those boats which the Maldivian islanders send adrift, at the mercy of winds and waves, loaded with perfumes, flowers, and odoriferous wood, as an offering to the Spirit whom they call King of the Sea. At first, this little bark appeared to be empty, but, on coming nearer⸺

She had proceeded thus far in relating the dream to her Ladies, when Feramorz appeared at the door of the pavilion. In his presence, of course, every thing else was forgotten, and the continuance of the story was instantly requested by all. Fresh wood of aloes was set to burn in the cassolets;—the violet sherbets^[268] were hastily handed round, and after a short prelude on his lute, in the pathetic measure of Nava,^[269] which is always used to express the lamentations of absent lovers, the Poet thus continued:—

---

216

The day is lowering—stilly black

Sleeps the grim wave, while heaven’s rack,

Dispers’d and wild, ’twixt earth and sky

Hangs like a shatter’d canopy.

There’s not a cloud in that blue plain

But tells of storm to come or past;—

Here, flying loosely as the mane

Of a young war-horse in the blast;—

There, roll’d in masses dark and swelling,

As proud to be the thunder’s dwelling!

217While some, already burst and riven,

Seem melting down the verge of heaven;

As though the infant storm had rent

The mighty womb that gave him birth,

And, having swept the firmament,

Was now in fierce career for earth.

On earth ’twas yet all calm around,

A pulseless silence, dread, profound,

More awful than the tempest’s sound.

The diver steer’d for Ormus’ bowers,

And moor’d his skiff till calmer hours;

The sea-birds, with portentous screech,

Flew fast to land;—upon the beach

The pilot oft had paus’d, with glance

Turn’d upward to that wild expanse;—

And all was boding, drear, and dark

As her own soul, when Hinda’s bark

Went slowly from the Persian shore.—

No music tim’d her parting oar,^[270]

Nor friends upon the lessening strand

Linger’d, to wave the unseen hand,

Or speak the farewell, heard no more;—

But lone, unheeded, from the bay

The vessel takes its mournful way,

Like some ill-destin’d bark that steers

In silence through the Gate of Tears.^[271]

218And where was stern Al Hassan then?

Could not that saintly scourge of men

From bloodshed and devotion spare

One minute for a farewell there?

No—close within, in changeful fits

Of cursing and of prayer, he sits

In savage loneliness to brood

Upon the coming night of blood,—

With that keen second-scent of death,

By which the vulture snuffs his food

In the still warm and living breath!^[272]

While o’er the wave his weeping daughter

Is wafted from these scenes of slaughter,—

As a young bird of Babylon,^[273]

Let loose to tell of victory won,

Flies home, with wing, ah! not unstain’d

By the red hands that held her chain’d.

And does the long-left home she seeks

Light up no gladness on her cheeks?

The flowers she nurs’d—the well-known groves,

Where oft in dreams her spirit roves—

Once more to see her dear gazelles

Come bounding with their silver bells;

Her birds’ new plumage to behold,

And the gay, gleaming fishes count,

219She left, all filleted with gold,

Shooting around their jasper fount;^[274]

Her little garden mosque to see,

And once again, at evening hour,

To tell her ruby rosary^[275]

In her own sweet acacia bower.—

Can these delights, that wait her now,

Call up no sunshine on her brow?

No,—silent, from her train apart,—

As if e’en now she felt at heart

The chill of her approaching doom,—

She sits, all lovely in her gloom

As a pale Angel of the Grave;

And o’er the wide, tempestuous wave,

Looks, with a shudder, to those towers,

Where, in a few short awful hours,

Blood, blood, in streaming tides shall run.

Foul incense for to-morrow’s sun!

“Where art thou, glorious stranger! thou,

“So loved, so lost, where art thou now?

“Foe—Gheber—infidel—whate’er

“The’ unhallow’d name thou’rt doom’d to bear,

“Still glorious—still to this fond heart

“Dear as its blood, whate’er thou art!

“Yes—Alla, dreadful Alla! yes—

“If there be wrong, be crime in this,

220“Let the black waves that round us roll,

“Whelm me this instant, ere my soul,

“Forgetting faith—home—father—all—

“Before its earthly idol fall,

“Nor worship e’en Thyself above him—

“For, oh, so wildly do I love him,

“Thy Paradise itself were dim

“And joyless, if not shared with him!”

Her hands were clasp’d—her eyes upturn’d,

Dropping their tears like moonlight rain;

And, though her lip, fond raver! burn’d

With words of passion, bold, profane,

Yet was there light around her brow,

A holiness in those dark eyes,

Which show’d, though wandering earthward now,

Her spirit’s home was in the skies.

Yes—for a spirit pure as hers

Is always pure, e’en while it errs;

As sunshine, broken in the rill,

Though turn’d astray, is sunshine still!

So wholly had her mind forgot

All thoughts but one, she heeded not

The rising storm—the wave that cast

A moment’s midnight, as it pass’d—

221Nor heard the frequent shout, the tread

Of gathering tumult o’er her head—

Clash’d swords, and tongues that seem’d to vie

With the rude riot of the sky.—

But, hark!—that war-whoop on the deck—

That crash, as if each engine there,

Masts, sails, and all, were gone to wreck,

Mid yells and stampings of despair!

Merciful Heaven! what can it be?

’Tis not the storm, though fearfully

The ship has shudder’d as she rode

O’er mountain-waves—“Forgive me, God!

“Forgive me”—shrieked the maid, and knelt,

Trembling all over—for she felt

As if her judgment-hour was near

While crouching round, half dead with fear,

Her handmaids clung, nor breath’d, nor stirr’d—

When, hark!—a second crash—a third—

And now, as if a bolt of thunder

Had riv’n the labouring planks asunder,

The deck falls in—what horrors then!

Blood, waves, and tackle, swords and men

Come mix’d together through the chasm,—

Some wretches in their dying spasm

Still fighting on—and some that call

“For God and Iran!” as they fall!

222

Whose was the hand that turn’d away

The perils of the’ infuriate fray,

And snatch’d her breathless from beneath

This wilderment of wreck and death?

She knew not—for a faintness came

Chill o’er her, and her sinking frame

223Amid the ruins of that hour

Lay, like a pale and scorched flower,

Beneath the red volcano’s shower.

But, oh! the sights and sounds of dread

That shock’d her ere her senses fled!

The yawning deck—the crowd that strove

Upon the tottering planks above—

The sail, whose fragments, shivering o’er

The strugglers’ heads, all dash’d with gore,

Flutter’d like bloody flags—the clash

Of sabres, and the lightning’s flash

Upon their blades, high toss’d about

Like meteor brands^[276]—as if throughout

The elements one fury ran,

One general rage, that left a doubt

Which was the fiercer, Heaven or Man!

Once too—but no—it could not be—

’Twas fancy all—yet once she thought,

While yet her fading eyes could see,

High on the ruin’d deck she caught

A glimpse of that unearthly form,

That glory of her soul,—e’en then,

Amid the whirl of wreck and storm,

Shining above his fellow-men,

As, on some black and troublous night,

224The Star of Egypt,^[277] whose proud light

Never hath beam’d on those who rest

In the White Islands of the West,^[278]

Burns through the storm with looks of flame

That put Heaven’s cloudier eyes to shame.

But no—’twas but the minute’s dream—

A fantasy—and ere the scream

Had half-way pass’d her pallid lips,

A death-like swoon, a chill eclipse

Of soul and sense its darkness spread

Around her, and she sunk, as dead.

How calm, how beautiful comes on

The stilly hour, when storms are gone;

When warring winds have died away,

And clouds, beneath the glancing ray,

Melt off, and leave the land and sea

Sleeping in bright tranquillity,—

Fresh as if Day again were born,

Again upon the lap of Morn!—

When the light blossoms, rudely torn

And scatter’d at the whirlwind’s will,

Hang floating in the pure air still,

Filling it all with precious balm,

In gratitude for this sweet calm;—

And every drop the thunder-showers

225Have left upon the grass and flowers

Sparkles, as ’twere that lightning-gem^[279]

Whose liquid flame is born of them!

When, ’stead of one unchanging breeze,

There blow a thousand gentle airs,

And each a different perfume bears,—

As if the loveliest plants and trees

Had vassal breezes of their own

To watch and wait on them alone,

And waft no other breath than theirs:

When the blue waters rise and fall,

In sleepy sunshine mantling all;

And e’en that swell the tempest leaves

Is like the full and silent heaves

Of lovers’ hearts, when newly blest,

Too newly to be quite at rest.

Such was the golden hour that broke

Upon the world, when Hinda woke

From her long trance, and heard around

No motion but the water’s sound

Rippling against the vessel’s side,

As slow it mounted o’er the tide.—

But where is she?—her eyes are dark,

Are wilder’d still—is this the bark,

The same, that from Harmozia’s bay

226Bore her at morn—whose bloody way

The sea-dog track’d?—no—strange and new

Is all that meets her wondering view.

Upon a galliot’s deck she lies,

Beneath no rich pavilion’s shade,—

No plumes to fan her sleeping eyes,

Nor jasmine on her pillow laid.

But the rude litter, roughly spread

With war-cloaks, is her homely bed,

And shawl and sash, on javelins hung,

For awning o’er her head are flung.

Shuddering she look’d around—there lay

A group of warriors in the sun,

Resting their limbs, as for that day

Their ministry of death were done.

Some gazing on the drowsy sea,

Lost in unconscious reverie;

And some, who seem’d but ill to brook

That sluggish calm, with many a look

To the slack sail impatient cast,

As loose it flagg’d around the mast.

Blest Alla! who shall save her now?

There’s not in all that warrior band

One Arab sword, one turban’d brow

From her own Faithful Moslem land.

227Their garb—the leathern belt^[280] that wraps

Each yellow vest^[281]—that rebel hue—

The Tartar fleece upon their caps^[282]—

Yes—yes—her fears are all too true,

And Heaven hath, in this dreadful hour,

Abandon’d her to Hafed’s power;—

Hafed, the Gheber!—at the thought

Her very heart’s blood chills within;

He, whom her soul was hourly taught

To loathe, as some foul fiend of sin,

Some minister, whom Hell had sent

To spread its blast, where’er he went,

228And fling, as o’er our earth he trod,

His shadow betwixt man and God!

And she is now his captive,—thrown

In his fierce hands, alive, alone;

His the infuriate band she sees,

All infidels—all enemies!

What was the daring hope that then

Cross’d her like lightning, as again,

With boldness that despair had lent,

She darted through that armed crowd

A look so searching, so intent,

That e’en the sternest warrior bow’d

Abash’d, when he her glances caught,

As if he guess’d whose form they sought.

But no—she sees him not—’tis gone,

The vision that before her shone

Through all the maze of blood and storm,

Is fled—’twas but a phantom form—

One of those passing, rainbow dreams,

Half light, half shade, which Fancy’s beams

Paint on the fleeting mists that roll

In trance or slumber round the soul.

But now the bark, with livelier bound,

Scales the blue wave—the crew’s in motion,

The oars are out, and with light sound

229Break the bright mirror of the ocean,

Scattering its brilliant fragments round.

And now she sees—with horror sees,

Their course is tow’rd that mountain-hold,—

Those towers, that make her life-blood freeze,

Where Mecca’s godless enemies

Lie, like beleaguer’d scorpions, roll’d

In their last deadly, venomous fold!

Amid the’ illumin’d land and flood

Sunless that mighty mountain stood;

Save where, above its awful head,

There shone a flaming cloud, blood-red,

As ’twere the flag of destiny

Hung out to mark where death would be!

Had her bewilder’d mind the power

Of thought in this terrific hour,

She well might marvel where or how

Man’s foot could scale that mountain’s brow,

Since ne’er had Arab heard or known

Of path but through the glen alone.—

But every thought was lost in fear,

When, as their bounding bark drew near

The craggy base, she felt the waves

Hurry them tow’rd those dismal caves,

That from the Deep in windings pass

230Beneath that Mount’s volcanic mass;—

And loud a voice on deck commands

To lower the mast and light the brands!—

Instantly o’er the dashing tide

Within a cavern’s mouth they glide,

Gloomy as that eternal Porch

Through which departed spirits go:—

Not e’en the flare of brand and torch

Its flickering light could further throw

Than the thick flood that boil’d below.

Silent they floated—as if each

Sat breathless, and too aw’d for speech

In that dark chasm, where even sound

Seem’d dark,—so sullenly around

The goblin echoes of the cave

Mutter’d it o’er the long black wave,

As ’twere some secret of the grave!

But soft—they pause—the current turns

Beneath them from its onward track;—

Some mighty, unseen barrier spurns

The vexed tide, all foaming, back,

And scarce the oars’ redoubled force

Can stem the eddy’s whirling force;

When, hark!—some desperate foot has sprung

Among the rocks—the chain is flung—

231The oars are up—the grapple clings,

And the toss’d bark in moorings swings.

Just then, a day-beam through the shade

Broke tremulous—but, ere the maid

Can see from whence the brightness steals,

Upon her brow she shuddering feels

A viewless hand, that promptly ties

A bandage round her burning eyes;

While the rude litter where she lies,

Uplifted by the warrior throng,

O’er the steep rocks is borne along.

Blest power of sunshine!—genial Day,

What balm, what life is in thy ray!

To feel thee is such real bliss,

That had the world no joy but this,

To sit in sunshine calm and sweet,—

It were a world too exquisite

For man to leave it for the gloom,

The deep, cold shadow of the tomb.

E’en Hinda, though she saw not where

Or whither wound the perilous road,

Yet knew by that awakening air,

Which suddenly around her glow’d,

That they had risen from darkness then,

And breath’d the sunny world again!

232But soon this balmy freshness fled—

For now the steepy labyrinth led

Through damp and gloom—’mid crash of boughs,

And fall of loosen’d crags that rouse

The leopard from his hungry sleep,

Who, starting, thinks each crag a prey,

And long is heard, from steep to steep,

Chasing them down their thundering way!

The jackal’s cry—the distant moan

Of the hyæna, fierce and lone—

And that eternal saddening sound

Of torrents in the glen beneath,

As ’twere the ever-dark Profound

That rolls beneath the Bridge of Death!

All, all is fearful—e’en to see,

To gaze on those terrific things

She now but blindly hears, would be

Relief to her imaginings;

Since never yet was shape so dread,

But Fancy, thus in darkness thrown

And by such sounds of horror fed,

Could frame more dreadful of her own.

But does she dream? has Fear again

Perplex’d the workings of her brain,

Or did a voice, all music, then

233Come from the gloom, low whispering near—

“Tremble not, love, thy Gheber’s here!”

She does not dream—all sense, all ear,

She drinks the words, “Thy Gheber’s here.”

’Twas his own voice—she could not err—

Throughout the breathing world’s extent

234There was but one such voice for her,

So kind, so soft, so eloquent!

Oh, sooner shall the rose of May

Mistake her own sweet nightingale,

And to some meaner minstrel’s lay

Open her bosom’s glowing veil,^[283]

Than Love shall ever doubt a tone,

A breath of the beloved one!

Though blest, ’mid all her ills, to think

She has that one beloved near,

Whose smile, though met on ruin’s brink,

Hath power to make e’en ruin dear,—

Yet soon this gleam of rapture, crost

By fears for him, is chill’d and lost.

How shall the ruthless Hafed brook

That one of Gheber blood should look,

With aught but curses in his eye,

On her—a maid of Araby—

A Moslem maid—the child of him,

Whose bloody banner’s dire success

Hath left their altars cold and dim,

And their fair land a wilderness!

And, worse than all, that night of blood

Which comes so fast—oh! who shall stay

The sword, that once hath tasted food

235Of Persian hearts, or turn its way?

What arm shall then the victim cover,

Or from her father shield her lover?

“Save him, my God!” she inly cries—

“Save him this night—and if thine eyes

“Have ever welcom’d with delight

“The sinner’s tears, the sacrifice

“Of sinners’ hearts—guard him this night,

“And here, before thy throne, I swear

“From my heart’s inmost core to tear

“Love, hope, remembrance, though they be

“Link’d with each quivering life-string there,

“And give it bleeding all to Thee!

“Let him but live,—the burning tear,

“The sighs, so sinful, yet so dear,

“Which have been all too much his own,

“Shall from this hour be Heaven’s alone.

“Youth pass’d in penitence, and age

“In long and painful pilgrimage,

“Shall leave no traces of the flame

“That wastes me now—nor shall his name

“E’er bless my lips, but when I pray

“For his dear spirit, that away

“Casting from its angelic ray

“The’ eclipse of earth, he, too, may shine

236“Redeem’d, all glorious and all Thine!

“Think—think what victory to win

“One radiant soul like his from sin,—

“One wandering star of virtue back

“To its own native, heaven-ward track!

“Let him but live, and both are Thine,

“Together Thine—for, blest or crost,

“Living or dead, his doom is mine,

“And, if he perish, both are lost!”

---

237The next evening Lalla Rookh was entreated by her Ladies to continue the relation of her wonderful dream; but the fearful interest that hung round the fate of Hinda and her lover had completely removed every trace of it from her mind;—much to the disappointment of a fair seer or two in her train, who prided themselves on their skill in interpreting visions, and who had already remarked, as an unlucky omen, that the Princess, on the very morning after the dream, had worn a silk dyed with the blossoms of the sorrowful tree, Nilica.^[284]

Fadladeen, whose indignation had more than once broken out during the recital of some parts of this heterodox poem, seemed at length to have made up his mind to the infliction; and took his seat this evening with all the patience of a martyr, while the Poet resumed his profane and seditious story as follows:—

---

238

To tearless eyes and hearts at ease

The leafy shores and sun-bright seas,

That lay beneath that mountain’s height,

Had been a fair enchanting sight.

’Twas one of those ambrosial eves

A day of storm so often leaves

239At its calm setting—when the West

Opens her golden bowers of rest,

And a moist radiance from the skies

Shoots trembling down, as from the eyes

Of some meek penitent, whose last

Bright hours atone for dark ones past,

And whose sweet tears, o’er wrong forgiven,

Shine, as they fall, with light from heaven!

’Twas stillness all—the winds that late

Had rush’d through Kerman’s almond groves,

And shaken from her bowers of date

That cooling feast the traveller loves,^[285]

Now, lull’d to languor, scarcely curl

The Green Sea wave, whose waters gleam

Limpid, as if her mines of pearl

Were melted all to form the stream:

And her fair islets, small and bright,

With their green shores reflected there,

Look like those Peri isles of light,

That hang by spell-work in the air.

But vainly did those glories burst

On Hinda’s dazzled eyes, when first

The bandage from her brow was taken,

And, pale and aw’d as those who waken

240In their dark tombs—when, scowling near,

The Searchers of the Grave^[286] appear,—

She shuddering turn’d to read her fate

In the fierce eyes that flash’d around;

And saw those towers all desolate,

That o’er her head terrific frown’d,

As if defying e’en the smile

Of that soft heaven to gild their pile.

In vain, with mingled hope and fear,

She looks for him whose voice so dear

Had come, like music, to her ear—

Strange, mocking dream! again ’tis fled.

And oh, the shoots, the pangs of dread

That through her inmost bosom run,

When voices from without proclaim

“Hafed, the Chief”—and, one by one,

The warriors shout that fearful name!

He comes—the rock resounds his tread—

How shall she dare to lift her head,

Or meet those eyes whose scorching glare

Not Yemen’s boldest sons can bear?

In whose red beam, the Moslem tells,

Such rank and deadly lustre dwells,

As in those hellish fires that light

The mandrake’s charnel leaves at night.^[287]

How shall she bear that voice’s tone,

241At whose loud battle-cry alone

Whole squadrons oft in panic ran,

Scatter’d like some vast caravan,

When, stretch’d at evening round the well,

They hear the thirsting tiger’s yell!

Breathless she stands, with eyes cast down,

Shrinking beneath the fiery frown,

242Which, fancy tells her, from that brow

Is flashing o’er her fiercely now:

And shuddering as she hears the tread

Of his retiring warrior band.—

Never was pause so full of dread;

Till Hafed with a trembling hand

Took hers, and, leaning o’er her, said,

“Hinda;”—that word was all he spoke,

And ’twas enough—the shriek that broke

From her full bosom, told the rest.—

Panting with terror, joy, surprise,

The maid but lifts her wondering eyes,

To hide them on her Gheber’s breast!

’Tis he, ’tis he—the man of blood,

The fellest of the Fire-fiend’s brood,

Hafed, the demon of the fight,

Whose voice unnerves, whose glances blight,—

Is her own loved Gheber, mild

And glorious as when first he smil’d

In her lone tower, and left such beams

Of his pure eye to light her dreams,

That she believ’d her bower had given

Rest to some wanderer from heaven!

Moments there are, and this was one,

Snatch’d like a minute’s gleam of sun

243Amid the black Simoom’s eclipse—

Or, like those verdant spots that bloom

Around the crater’s burning lips,

Sweetening the very edge of doom!

The past—the future—all that Fate

Can bring of dark or desperate

Around such hours, but makes them cast

Intenser radiance while they last!

Even he, this youth—though dimm’d and gone

Each star of Hope that cheer’d him on—

His glories lost—his cause betray’d—

Iran, his dear-lov’d country made

A land of carcasses and slaves,

One dreary waste of chains and graves!—

Himself but lingering, dead at heart,

To see the last, long struggling breath

Of Liberty’s great soul depart,

Then lay him down and share her death—

Even he, so sunk in wretchedness,

With doom still darker gathering o’er him,

Yet, in this moment’s pure caress,

In the mild eyes that shone before him,

Beaming that blest assurance, worth

All other transports known on earth,

That he was lov’d—well, warmly lov’d—

244Oh! in this precious hour he prov’d

How deep, how thorough-felt the glow

Of rapture, kindling out of woe;—

How exquisite one single drop

Of bliss, thus sparkling to the top

Of misery’s cup—how keenly quaff’d,

Though death must follow on the draught!

She, too, while gazing on those eyes

That sink into her soul so deep,

Forgets all fears, all miseries,

Or feels them like a wretch in sleep,

Whom fancy cheats into a smile,

Who dreams of joy, and sobs the while!

The mighty Ruins where they stood,

Upon the mount’s high, rocky verge,

Lay open tow’rds the ocean flood,

Where lightly o’er the illumin’d surge

Many a fair bark that, all the day,

Had lurk’d in sheltering creek or bay,

Now bounded on, and gave their sails,

Yet dripping, to the evening gales;

Like eagles, when the storm is done,

Spreading their wet wings in the sun.

The beauteous clouds, though daylight’s Star

Had sunk behind the hills of Lar,

245Were still with lingering glories bright,—

As if, to grace the gorgeous West,

The Spirit of departing Light

That eve had left his sunny vest

Behind him, ere he wing’d his flight.

Never was scene so form’d for love!

Beneath them waves of crystal move

In silent swell—Heaven glows above,

And their pure hearts, to transport given,

Swell like the wave, and glow like Heaven.

But, ah! too soon that dream is past—

Again, again her fear returns;—

Night, dreadful night, is gathering last,

More faintly the horizon burns,

And every rosy tint that lay

On the smooth sea hath died away.

Hastily to the darkening skies

A glance she casts—then wildly cries

“At night, he said—and, look, ’tis near—

“Fly, fly—if yet thou lov’st me, fly—

“Soon will his murderous band be here,

“And I shall see thee bleed and die.—

“Hush! heard’st thou not the tramp of men

“Sounding from yonder fearful glen?—

“Perhaps e’en now they climb the wood—

246“Fly, fly—though still the West is bright,

“He’ll come—oh! yes—he wants thy blood—

“I know him—he’ll not wait for night!”

In terrors e’en to agony

She clings around the wondering Chief;—

“Alas, poor wilder’d maid! to me

“Thou ow’st this raving trance of grief.

“Lost as I am, nought ever grew

“Beneath my shade but perish’d too—

“My doom is like the Dead Sea air,

“And nothing lives that enters there!

“Why were our barks together driven

“Beneath this morning’s furious heaven?

“Why, when I saw the prize that chance

“Had thrown into my desperate arms,—

“When, casting but a single glance

“Upon thy pale and prostrate charms,

“I vow’d (though watching viewless o’er

“Thy safety through that hour’s alarms)

“To meet the’ unmanning sight no more—

“Why have I broke that heart-wrung vow?

“Why weakly, madly met thee now?—

“Start not—that noise is but the shock

“Of torrents through yon valley hurl’d—

“Dread nothing here—upon this rock

247“We stand above the jarring world,

“Alike beyond its hope—its dread—

“In gloomy safety, like the Dead!

“Or, could e’en earth and hell unite

“In league to storm this Sacred Height,

“Fear nothing thou—myself, to-night,

“And each o’erlooking star that dwells

“Near God will be thy sentinels;—

“And, ere to-morrow’s dawn shall glow,

“Back to thy sire⸺”

“Back to thy sire⸺”“To-morrow!—no—”

The maiden scream’d—“thou’lt never see

“To-morrow’s sun—death, death will be

“The night-cry through each reeking tower,

“Unless we fly, ay, fly this hour!

“Thou art betray’d—some wretch who knew

“That dreadful glen’s mysterious clew—

“Nay, doubt not—by yon stars, ’tis true—

“Hath sold thee to my vengeful sire;

“This morning, with that smile so dire

“He wears in joy, he told me all,

“And stamp’d in triumph through our hall,

“As though thy heart already beat

“Its last life-throb beneath his feet!

“Good Heaven, how little dream’d I then

“His victim was my own lov’d youth!—

248“Fly—send—let some one watch the glen—

“By all my hopes of heaven ’tis truth!”

Oh! colder than the wind that freezes

Founts, that but now in sunshine play’d,

Is that congealing pang which seizes

The trusting bosom, when betray’d.

He felt it—deeply felt—and stood,

As if the tale had frozen his blood,

So maz’d and motionless was he;—

Like one whom sudden spells enchant,

249Or some mute, marble habitant

Of the still Halls of Ishmonie!^[288]

But soon the painful chill was o’er,

And his great soul, herself once more,

Look’d from his brow in all the rays

Of her best, happiest, grandest days.

Never, in moment most elate,

Did that high spirit loftier rise;—

While bright, serene, determinate,

His looks are lifted to the skies,

As if the signal lights of Fate

Were shining in those awful eyes!

’Tis come—his hour of martyrdom

In Iran’s sacred cause is come;

And, though his life hath pass’d away

Like lightning on a stormy day,

Yet shall his death-hour leave a track

Of glory, permanent and bright,

To which the brave of after-times,

The suffering brave, shall long look back

With proud regret,—and by its light

Watch through the hours of slavery’s night

For vengeance on the’ oppressor’s crimes.

This rock, his monument aloft,

Shall speak the tale to many an age;

250And hither bards and heroes oft

Shall come in secret pilgrimage,

And bring their warrior sons, and tell

The wondering boys where Hafed fell;

And swear them on those lone remains

Of their lost country’s ancient fanes,

Never—while breath of life shall live

Within them—never to forgive

The’ accursed race, whose ruthless chain

Hath left on Iran’s neck a stain

Blood, blood alone can cleanse again!

Such are the swelling thoughts that now

Enthrone themselves on Hafed’s brow;

And ne’er did saint of Issa^[289] gaze

On the red wreath, for martyrs twin’d,

More proudly than the youth surveys

That pile, which through the gloom behind,

Half lighted by the altar’s fire,

Glimmers—his destin’d funeral pyre!

Heap’d by his own, his comrades’ hands,

Of every wood of odorous breath,

There, by the Fire-God’s shrine it stands,

Ready to fold in radiant death

The few still left of those who swore

To perish there, when hope was o’er—

251The few, to whom that couch of flame,

Which rescues them from bonds and shame,

Is sweet and welcome as the bed

For their own infant Prophet spread,

When pitying Heaven to roses turn’d

The death-flames that beneath him burn’d!^[290]

With watchfulness the maid attends

His rapid glance, where’er it bends—

Why shoot his eyes such awful beams?

What plans he now? what thinks or dreams?

Alas! why stands he musing here,

When every moment teems with fear?

“Hafed, my own beloved Lord,”

She kneeling cries—“first, last ador’d!

“If in that soul thou’st ever felt

“Half what thy lips impassioned swore,

“Here, on my knees that never knelt

“To any but their God before,

“I pray thee, as thou lov’st me, fly—

“Now, now—ere yet their blades are nigh.

“Oh haste—the bark that bore me hither

“Can waft us o’er yon darkening sea

“East—west—alas, I care not whither,

“So thou art safe, and I with thee!

“Go where we will, this hand is thine,

252“Those eyes before me smiling thus,

“Through good and ill, through storm and shine,

“The world’s a world of love for us!

“On some calm, blessed shore we’ll dwell,

“Where ’tis no crime to love too well;—

“Where thus to worship tenderly

“An erring child of light like thee

“Will not be sin—or, if it be,

“Where we may weep our faults away,

“Together kneeling, night and day,

“Thou, for my sake, at Alla’s shrine,

“And I—at any God’s, for thine!”

Wildly these passionate words she spoke—

Then hung her head, and wept for shame;

Sobbing, as if her heart-string broke

With every deep-heav’d sob that came.

While he, young, warm—oh! wonder not

If, for a moment, pride and fame,

His oath—his cause—that shrine of flame,

And Iran’s self are all forgot

For her whom at his feet he sees

Kneeling in speechless agonies.

No, blame him not, if Hope awhile

Dawn’d in his soul, and threw her smile

O’er hours to come—o’er days and nights,

253Wing’d with those precious, pure delights

Which she, who bends all beauteous there,

Was born to kindle and to share.

A tear or two, which, as he bow’d

To raise the suppliant, trembling stole,

First warn’d him of this dangerous cloud

Of softness passing o’er his soul.

Starting, he brush’d the drops away,

Unworthy o’er that cheek to stray;—

Like one who, on the morn of fight,

Shakes from his sword the dews of night,

That had but dimm’d, not stain’d its light.

Yet, though subdued the’ unnerving thrill,

Its warmth, its weakness linger’d still

So touching in each look and tone,

That the fond, fearing, hoping maid

Half counted on the flight she pray’d,

Half thought the hero’s soul was grown

As soft, as yielding as her own,

And smil’d and bless’d him, while he said,—

“Yes—if there be some happier sphere,

“Where fadeless truth like ours is dear,—

“If there be any land of rest

“For those who love and ne’er forget,

“Oh! comfort thee—for safe and blest

“We’ll meet in that calm region yet!”

254Scarce had she time to ask her heart

If good or ill these words impart,

When the rous’d youth impatient flew

To the tower-wall, where, high in view,

A ponderous sea-horn^[291] hung, and blew

A signal, deep and dread as those

The storm-fiend at his rising blows.—

Full well his Chieftains, sworn and true

Through life and death, that signal knew;

For ’twas the’ appointed warring-blast,

The’ alarm, to tell when hope was past,

And the tremendous death-die cast!

255And there, upon the mouldering tower,

Hath hung this sea-horn many an hour,

Ready to sound o’er land and sea

That dirge-note of the brave and free.

They came—his Chieftains at the call

Came slowly round, and with them all—

Alas, how few!—the worn remains

Of those who late o’er Kerman’s plains

Went gaily prancing to the clash

Of Moorish zel and tymbalon,

Catching new hope from every flash

Of their long lances in the sun,

And, as their coursers charg’d the wind,

And the white ox-tails stream’d behind,^[292]

Looking, as if the steeds they rode

Were wing’d, and every Chief a God!

How fallen, how alter’d now! how wan

Each scarr’d and faded visage shone,

As round the burning shrine they came!—

How deadly was the glare it cast,

As mute they pass’d before the flame

To light their torches as they pass’d!

’Twas silence all—the youth had plann’d

The duties of his soldier-band;

And each determin’d brow declares

His faithful Chieftains well know theirs.

256

But minutes speed—night gems the skies—

And oh, how soon, ye blessed eyes,

That look from heaven, ye may behold

Sights that will turn your star-fires cold!

Breathless with awe, impatience, hope,

The maiden sees the veteran group

Her litter silently prepare,

257And lay it at her trembling feet;—

And now the youth, with gentle care,

Hath placed her in the shelter’d seat,

And press’d her hand—that lingering press

Of hands, that for the last time sever;

Of hearts, whose pulse of happiness,

When that hold breaks, is dead for ever.

And yet to her this sad caress

Gives hope—so fondly hope can err!

’Twas joy, she thought, joy’s mute excess—

Their happy flight’s dear harbinger;

’Twas warmth—assurance—tenderness—

’Twas any thing but leaving her.

“Haste, haste!” she cried, “the clouds grow dark,

“But still, ere night, we’ll reach the bark;

“And by to-morrow’s dawn—oh bliss!

“With thee upon the sun-bright deep,

“Far off, I’ll but remember this,

“As some dark vanish’d dream of sleep;

“And thou⸺” but ah!—he answers not—

Good Heaven!—and does she go alone?

She now has reach’d that dismal spot,

Where, some hours since, his voice’s tone

Had come to soothe her fears and ills,

Sweet as the angel Israfil’s,^[293]

258When every leaf on Eden’s tree

Is trembling to his minstrelsy—

Yet now—oh, now, he is not nigh.—

“Hafed! my Hafed!—if it be

“Thy will, thy doom this night to die,

“Let me but stay to die with thee,

“And I will bless thy lovèd name,

“Till the last life-breath leave this frame.

“Oh! let our lips, our cheeks be laid

“But near each other while they fade;

“Let us but mix our parting breaths,

“And I can die ten thousand deaths!

“You too, who hurry me away

“So cruelly, one moment stay—

“Oh! stay—one moment is not much—

“He yet may come—for him I pray—

“Hafed! dear Hafed!—” all the way

In wild lamentings, that would touch

A heart of stone, she shriek’d his name

To the dark woods—no Hafed came:—

No—hapless pair—you’ve look’d your last:—

Your hearts should both have broken then:

The dream is o’er—your doom is cast—

You’ll never meet on earth again!

259Alas for him, who hears her cries!

Still half-way down the steep he stands,

Watching with fix’d and feverish eyes

The glimmer of those burning brands,

That down the rocks, with mournful ray,

Light all he loves on earth away!

Hopeless as they who, far at sea,

By the cold moon have just consign’d

The corse of one, lov’d tenderly,

To the bleak flood they leave behind;

And on the deck still lingering stay,

And long look back, with sad delay,

To watch the moonlight on the wave,

That ripples o’er that cheerless grave.

But see—he starts—what heard he then?

That dreadful shout!—across the glen

From the land-side it comes, and loud

Rings through the chasm; as if the crowd

Of fearful things, that haunt that dell,

Its Gholes and Dives and shapes of hell,

Had all in one dread howl broke out,

So loud, so terrible that shout!

“They come—the Moslems come!” he cries,

His proud soul mounting to his eyes,—

“Now, Spirits of the Brave, who roam

260“Enfranchis’d through yon starry dome,

“Rejoice—for souls of kindred fire

“Are on the wing to join your choir!”

He said—and, light as bridegrooms bound

To their young loves, reclimb’d the steep

And gain’d the Shrine—his Chiefs stood round—

Their swords, as with instinctive leap,

Together, at that cry accurst,

Had from their sheaths, like sunbeams, burst.

And hark!—again—again it rings;

Near and more near its echoings

Peal through the chasm—oh! who that then

Had seen those listening warrior-men,

With their swords grasp’d, their eyes of flame

Turn’d on their Chief—could doubt the shame,

The’ indignant shame with which they thrill

To hear those shouts and yet stand still?

He read their thoughts—they were his own—

“What! while our arms can wield these blades,

“Shall we die tamely? die alone?

“Without one victim to our shades,

“One Moslem heart, where, buried deep,

“The sabre from its toil may sleep?

“No—God of Iran’s burning skies!

“Thou scorn’st the’ inglorious sacrifice.

261“No—though of all earth’s hope bereft,

“Life, swords, and vengeance still are left.

“We’ll make yon valley’s reeking caves

“Live in the awe-struck minds of men,

“Till tyrants shudder, when their slaves

“Tell of the Ghebers’ bloody glen.

“Follow, brave hearts!—this pile remains

“Our refuge still from life and chains;

“But his the best, the holiest bed,

“Who sinks entomb’d in Moslem dead!”

Down the precipitous rocks they sprung,

While vigour, more than human, strung

Each arm and heart.—The’ exulting foe

Still through the dark defiles below,

Track’d by his torches’ lurid fire,

Wound slow, as through Golconda’s vale^[294]

The mighty serpent, in his ire,

Glides on with glittering, deadly trail.

No torch the Ghebers need—so well

They know each mystery of the dell,

So oft have, in their wanderings,

Cross’d the wild race that round them dwell,

The very tigers from their delves

Look out, and let them pass, as things

Untam’d and fearless like themselves!

262There was a deep ravine, that lay

Yet darkling in the Moslem’s way;

Fit spot to make invaders rue

The many fallen before the few.

The torrents from that morning’s sky

Had fill’d the narrow chasm breast high,

And, on each side, aloft and wild,

Huge cliffs and toppling crags were pil’d,—

The guards with which young Freedom lines

The pathways to her mountain-shrines.

Here, at this pass, the scanty band

Of Iran’s last avengers stand;

Here wait, in silence like the dead,

And listen for the Moslem’s tread

So anxiously, the carrion-bird

Above them flaps his wing unheard!

They come—that plunge into the water

Gives signal for the work of slaughter.

Now, Ghebers, now—if e’er your blades

Had point or prowess, prove them now—

Woe to the file that foremost wades!

They come—a falchion greets each brow,

And, as they tumble, trunk on trunk,

Beneath the gory waters sunk,

Still o’er their drowning bodies press

263New victims quick and numberless;

Till scarce an arm in Hafed’s band,

So fierce their toil, hath power to stir,

But listless from each crimson hand

The sword hangs, clogg’d with massacre.

Never was horde of tyrants met

With bloodier welcome—never yet

To patriot vengeance hath the sword

More terrible libations pour’d!

All up the dreary, long ravine,

By the red, murky glimmer seen

264Of half-quench’d brands that o’er the flood

Lie scatter’d round and burn in blood,

What ruin glares! what carnage swims!

Heads, blazing turbans, quivering limbs,

Lost swords that, dropp’d from many a hand,

In that thick pool of slaughter stand;—

Wretches who wading, half on fire

From the toss’d brands that round them fly,

’Twixt flood and flame in shrieks expire;—

And some who, grasp’d by those that die,

Sink woundless with them, smother’d o’er

In their dead brethren’s gushing gore!

But vainly hundreds, thousands bleed,

Still hundreds, thousands more succeed;

Countless as tow’rds some flame at night

The North’s dark insects wing their flight,

And quench or perish in its light,

To this terrific spot they pour—

Till, bridg’d with Moslem bodies o’er,

It bears aloft their slippery tread,

And o’er the dying and the dead,

Tremendous causeway! on they pass.

Then, hapless Ghebers, then, alas,

What hope was left for you? for you,

Whose yet warm pile of sacrifice

265Is smoking in their vengeful eyes?—

Whose swords how keen, how fierce they knew,

And burn with shame to find how few?

Crush’d down by that vast multitude,

Some found their graves where first they stood;

While some with hardier struggle died,

And still fought on by Hafed’s side,

Who, fronting to the foe, trod back

Tow’rds the high towers his gory track;

And, as a lion swept away

By sudden swell of Jordan’s pride

From the wild covert where he lay,^[295]

Long battles with the o’erwhelming tide,

So fought he back with fierce delay,

And kept both foes and fate at bay.

But whither now? their track is lost,

Their prey escap’d—guide, torches gone—

By torrent-beds and labyrinths crost,

The scatter’d crowd rush blindly on—

“Curse on those tardy lights that wind,”

They panting cry, “so far behind;

“Oh for a bloodhound’s precious scent,

“To track the way the Gheber went!”

Vain wish—confusedly along

266They rush, more desperate as more wrong:

Till, wilder’d by the far-off lights,

Yet glittering up those gloomy heights,

Their footing, maz’d and lost, they miss,

And down the darkling precipice

Are dash’d into the deep abyss;

Or midway hang, impal’d on rocks,

A banquet, yet alive, for flocks

Of ravening vultures,—while the dell

Re-echoes with each horrible yell.

Those sounds—the last to vengeance dear,

That e’er shall ring in Hafed’s ear,—

Now reached him, as aloft, alone,

Upon the steep way breathless thrown,

He lay beside his reeking blade,

Resign’d, as if life’s task were o’er,

Its last blood-offering amply paid,

And Iran’s self could claim no more.

One only thought, one lingering beam

Now broke across his dizzy dream

Of pain and weariness—’twas she,

His heart’s pure planet, shining yet

Above the waste of memory,

When all life’s other lights were set.

And never to his mind before

267Her image such enchantment wore.

It seem’d as if each thought that stain’d,

Each fear that chill’d their loves was past,

And not one cloud of earth remain’d

Between him and her radiance cast;—

As if to charms, before so bright,

New grace from other worlds was given,

And his soul saw her by the light

Now breaking o’er itself from heaven!

A voice spoke near him—’twas the tone

Of a lov’d friend, the only one

Of all his warriors, left with life

From that short night’s tremendous strife.—

“And must we then, my Chief, die here?

“Foes round us, and the Shrine so near!”

These words have rous’d the last remains

Of life within him—“what! not yet

“Beyond the reach of Moslem chains!”

The thought could make e’en Death forget

His icy bondage—with a bound

He springs, all bleeding, from the ground,

And grasps his comrade’s arm, now grown

E’en feebler, heavier than his own,

And up the painful pathway leads,

Death gaining on each step he treads.

268Speed them, thou God, who heard’st their vow!

They mount—they bleed—oh, save them now!—

The crags are red they’ve clamber’d o’er,

The rock-weeds dripping with their gore;—

Thy blade too, Hafed, false at length,

Now breaks beneath thy tottering strength!

Haste, haste—the voices of the Foe

Come near and nearer from below—

One effort more—thank Heaven! ’tis past,

They’ve gain’d the topmost steep at last.

And now they touch the temple’s walls,

Now Hafed sees the Fire divine—

When, lo!—his weak, worn comrade falls

Dead on the threshold of the Shrine.

“Alas, brave soul, too quickly fled!

“And must I leave thee withering here,

“The sport of every ruffian’s tread,

“The mark for every coward’s spear?

“No, by yon altar’s sacred beams!”

He cries, and, with a strength that seems

Not of this world, uplifts the frame

Of the fallen Chief, and tow’rds the flame

Bears him along;—with death-damp hand

The corpse upon the pyre he lays,

Then lights the consecrated brand,

And fires the pile, whose sudden blaze

269Like lightning bursts o’er Oman’s Sea.—

“Now, Freedom’s God! I come to Thee,”

The youth exclaims, and with a smile

Of triumph vaulting on the pile

In that last effort, ere the fires

Have harm’d one glorious limb, expires!

270

What shriek was that on Oman’s tide?

It came from yonder drifting bark,

That just hath caught upon her side

The death-light—and again is dark.

It is the boat—ah, why delay’d?—

That bears the wretched Moslem maid;

Confided to the watchful care

Of a small veteran band, with whom

Their generous Chieftain would not share

The secret of his final doom,

But hop’d when Hinda, safe and free,

Was render’d to her father’s eyes,

Their pardon, full and prompt, would be

The ransom of so dear a prize.—

Unconscious, thus, of Hafed’s fate,

And proud to guard their beauteous freight,

Scarce had they clear’d the surfy waves

That foam around those frightful caves,

When the curst war-whoops, known so well,

Came echoing from the distant dell—

Sudden each oar, upheld and still,

Hung dripping o’er the vessel’s side,

And, driving at the current’s will,

They rock’d along the whispering tide;

While every eye, in mute dismay,

Was tow’rd that fatal mountain turn’d,

271Where the dim altar’s quivering ray

As yet all lone and tranquil burn’d.

Oh! ’tis not, Hinda, in the power

Of Fancy’s most terrific touch

To paint thy pangs in that dread hour—

Thy silent agony—’twas such

As those who feel could paint too well,

But none e’er felt and lived to tell!

’Twas not alone the dreary state

Of a lorn spirit crush’d by fate,

When, though no more remains to dread,

The panic chill will not depart;—

When, though the inmate Hope be dead,

Her ghost still haunts the mouldering heart.

No—pleasures, hopes, affections gone,

The wretch may bear, and yet live on,

Like things, within the cold rock found

Alive, when all’s congeal’d around.

But there’s a blank repose in this,

A calm stagnation, that were bliss

To the keen, burning, harrowing pain,

Now felt through all thy breast and brain;—

That spasm of terror, mute, intense,

That breathless, agonis’d suspense,

272From whose hot throb, whose deadly aching,

The heart hath no relief but breaking!

Calm is the wave—heaven’s brilliant lights

Reflected dance beneath the prow;—

Time was when, on such lovely nights,

She who is there, so desolate now,

Could sit all cheerful, though alone,

And ask no happier joy than seeing

That starlight o’er the waters thrown—

No joy but that, to make her blest,

And the fresh, buoyant sense of Being,

Which bounds in youth’s yet careless breast,—

Itself a star, not borrowing light,

But in its own glad essence bright.

How different now!—but, hark, again

The yell of havoc rings—brave men!

In vain, with beating hearts, ye stand

On the bark’s edge—in vain each hand

Half draws the falchion from its sheath;

All’s o’er—in rust your blades may lie:—

He, at whose word they’ve scatter’d death,

E’en now, this night, himself must die!

Well may ye look to yon dim tower,

And ask, and wondering guess what means

The battle-cry at this dead hour—

273Ah! she could tell you—she, who leans

Unheeded there, pale, sunk, aghast,

With brow against the dew-cold mast;—

Too well she knows—her more than life,

Her soul’s first idol and its last,

Lies bleeding in that murderous strife.

But see—what moves upon the height?

Some signal!—’tis a torch’s light.

What bodes its solitary glare?

In gasping silence tow’rd the Shrine

All eyes are turn’d—thine, Hinda, thine

Fix their last fading life-beams there.

’Twas but a moment—fierce and high

The death-pile blaz’d into the sky,

And far away, o’er rock and flood

Its melancholy radiance sent;

While Hafed, like a vision, stood

Reveal’d before the burning pyre,

Tall, shadowy, like a Spirit of Fire

Shrin’d in its own grand element!

“’Tis he!”—the shuddering maid exclaims,—

But, while she speaks, he’s seen no more;

High burst in air the funeral flames,

And Iran’s hopes and hers are o’er!

274One wild, heart-broken shriek she gave;

Then sprung, as if to reach that blaze,

Where still she fix’d her dying gaze,—

And, gazing, sunk into the wave,

Deep, deep,—where never care or pain

Shall reach her innocent heart again!

275

---

Farewell—farewell to thee, Araby’s daughter!

(Thus warbled a Peri beneath the dark sea,)

No pearl ever lay, under Oman’s green water,

More pure in its shell than thy Spirit in thee.

Oh! fair as the sea-flower close to thee growing,

How light was thy heart till Love’s witchery came,

Like the wind of the south^[296] o’er a summer lute blowing,

And hush’d all its music, and withered its frame!

But long, upon Araby’s green sunny highlands,

Shall maids and their lovers remember the doom

Of her, who lies sleeping among the Pearl Islands,

With nought but the sea-star^[297] to light up her tomb.

And still, when the merry date-season is burning,^[298]

And calls to the palm-groves the young and the old,

The happiest there, from their pastime returning

At sunset, will weep when thy story is told.

276The young village-maid, when with flowers she dresses

Her dark flowing hair for some festival day,

Will think of thy fate till, neglecting her tresses,

She mournfully turns from the mirror away.

Nor shall Iran, belov’d of her Hero! forget thee—

Though tyrants watch over her tears as they start,

Close, close by the side of that Hero she’ll set thee,

Embalm’d in the innermost shrine of her heart.

Farewell—be it ours to embellish thy pillow

With every thing beauteous that grows in the deep;

Each flower of the rock and each gem of the billow

Shall sweeten thy bed and illumine thy sleep.

Around thee shall glisten the loveliest amber

That ever the sorrowing sea-bird has wept;^[299]

With many a shell, in whose hollow-wreath’d chamber

We, Peris of Ocean, by moonlight have slept.

We’ll dive where the gardens of coral lie darkling,

And plant all the rosiest stems at thy head;

We’ll seek where the sands of the Caspian^[300] are sparkling,

And gather their gold to strew over thy bed.

277Farewell—farewell—until Pity’s sweet fountain

Is lost in the hearts of the fair and the brave,

They’ll weep for the Chieftain who died on that mountain,

They’ll weep for the Maiden who sleeps in this wave.

---