On 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[53] 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 were erected, representing arches,
minarets, 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 splendor 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 up the shores of the lake, where his beloved
daughter had wandered and been lost, was the origin of these fantastic
Chinese illuminations.[54]
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:--
Prepare thy soul, young AZIM! --thou
hast braved
The bands of GREECE, still mighty
tho' enslaved;
Hast faced her phalanx armed with
all its fame,--
Her Macedonian pikes and globes
of fame,
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 thro' the shadowy
lash,
To the sly, stealing splendors almost
hid
Like swords half-sheathed 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, thro' the Haram chambers, moving
lights
And busy shapes proclaim the toilet's
rites;--
From room to room the ready handmaids
hie,
Some skilled 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:[55]--
While some bring leaves of Henna
to imbue
The fingers' ends with a bright
roseate hue,[56]
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,[57]
Which makes the maids whom kings
are proud to call
From fair Circassia's vales, so
beautiful.
All is in motion; rings and plumes
and pearls
Are shining everywhere: --some younger
girls
Are gone by moonlight to the garden-beds,
To gather fresh, cool chaplets for
their heads;--
Gay creatures! sweet, tho' 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,[58]
Thinks of the time when, by the
GANGES' flood,
Her little playmates scattered 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 Alcaya[59]
and that courteous tree
Which bows to all who seek its canopy,[60]
Sees called 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 sorrow back
again!
Meanwhile thro' 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,
Young AZIM roams bewildered, --nor
can guess
What means this maze of light and
loneliness.
Here the way leads o'er tesselated
floors
Or mats of CAIRO thro' long corridors,
Where ranged 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[61]
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;
Where in the midst reflecting back
the rays
In broken rainbows a fresh fountain
plays
High as the enamelled cupola which
towers
All rich with Arabesques of gold
and flowers:
And the mosaic floor beneath shines
thro'
The sprinkling of that fountain's
silvery 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
Thro' 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,
Each brilliant bird that wings the
air is seen;--
Gay, sparkling loories such as gleam
between
The crimson blossoms of the coral-tree[62]
In the warm isles of India's sunny
sea:
Mecca's blue sacred pigeon,[63]
and the thrush
Of Hindostan[64]
whose holy warblings gush
At evening from the tall pagoda's
top;--
Those golden birds that in the spice
time drop
About the gardens, drunk with that
sweet food[65]
Whose scent hath lured them o'er
the summer flood;[66]
And those that under Araby's soft
sun
Build their high nests of budding
cinnamon;[67]
In short, all rare and beauteous
things that fly
Thro' the pure element here calmly
lie
Sleeping in light, like the green
birds[68] that dwell
In Eden's radiant fields of asphodel!
So on, thro' scenes past all imagining,
More like the luxuries of that impious
King,[69]
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
Armed with Heaven's sword for man's
enfranchisement--
Young AZIM wandered, 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 deadening
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
"A light, a landmark on the cliffs
of fame?
"It was not so, Land of the generous
thought
"And daring deed, thy god-like sages
taught;
"It was not thus in bowers of wanton
ease
"Thy Freedom nurst her sacred energies;
"Oh! not beneath the enfeebling,
withering glow
"Of such dull luxury did those myrtles
grow
"With which she wreathed 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
"Has 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
"Is but to tempt, to try the eaglet
gaze
"Of my young soul-- shine on, 'twill
stand the blaze!"
So thought the youth; --but even
while he defied
This witching scene he felt its
witchery glide
Thro' every 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;[70]
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;
Softened he sunk upon a couch and
gave
His soul up to sweet thoughts like
wave on wave
Succeeding in 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 lookt into each other's
eyes,
Silent and happy-- as if God had
given
Naught else worth looking at on
this side heaven.
"Oh, my loved 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
restored
"To that young heart where I alone
am Lord.
"Tho' of such bliss unworthy, --since
the best
"Alone deserve to be the happiest:--
"When from those lips unbreathed
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 toward the sound, and
far away
Thro' a long vista sparkling with
the play
Of countless lamps,--like the rich
track which Day
Leaves 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 chained together in the mazy
dance
By fetters forged in the green sunny
bowers,
As they were captives to the King
of Flowers;[71]
And some disporting round, unlinkt
and free,
Who seemed 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 waked, 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 eventide
Around the rich pavilion of the
sun,--
Till silently dispersing, one by
one,
Thro' 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,--
Beckoning 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,[72]
Such as the maids of YEZD and SHIRAS
wear,[73]
From 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 touched
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 thro' all his features calmed
her fear,
And like a half-tamed antelope more
near,
Tho' shrinking still, she came;--then
sat her down
Upon a musnud's[74]
edge, and, bolder grown.
In the pathetic mode of ISFAHAN[75]
Touched a preluding strain and thus
began:--
There's a bower of roses
by BENDEMEER's[76] 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?
No, the roses soon withered that
hung o'er the wave,
But some blossoms were gathered
while freshly they shone.
And a dew was distilled 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!
"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 tho' thy lips should sweetly
counsel wrong,
"Those vestal eyes would disavow
its song.
"But thou hast breathed such purity,
thy lay
"Returns so fondly to youth's virtuous
day,
"And leads thy soul-- if e'er it
wandered 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 past, when
sparkling thro'
The gently open'd curtains of light
blue
That veiled the breezy casement,
countless eyes
Peeping like stars thro' the blue
evening skies,
Looked 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 odors, --and
around
The 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 danced
Hung carcanets of orient gems that
glanced
More brilliant than the sea-glass
glittering o'er
The hills of crystal on the Caspian
shore;[77]
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,[78]
Rung round their steps, at every
bound more sweet.
As 'twere the ecstatic language
of their feet.
At length the chase was o'er, and
they stood wreathed
Within each other's arms; while
soft there breathed
Thro' the cool casement, mingled
with the sighs
Of moonlight flowers, music that
seemed to rise
From some still lake, so liquidly
it rose;
And as it swelled again at each
faint close
The ear could track thro' all that
maze of chords
And young sweet voices these impassioned
words:--
A SPIRIT there is whose
fragrant sigh
Is burning now thro' 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[79]
Blue water-lilies,[80]
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;
By 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 thither, 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,
The youth had started up and turned
away
From the light nymphs and their
luxurious lay
To muse upon the pictures that hung
round, [81]--
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-veiled
is best,--
Like her own radiant planet of the
west,
Whose orb when half retired looks
loveliest.[82]
There hung the history of
the Genii-King,
Traced thro' each gay, voluptuous
wandering
With her from SABA'S bowers, in
whose bright eyes
He read that to be blest is to be
wise;--
Here fond ZULEIKA woos with
open arms[83]
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.[84]
With rapid step, yet pleased and
lingering eye,
Did the youth pass these pictured
stories by,
And hastened 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 remained in breeze
or rill.
Here paused he while the music now
less near
Breathed with a holier language
on his ear,
As tho' the distance and that heavenly
ray
Thro' which the sounds came floating
took away
All that had been too earthly in
the lay.
Oh! could he listen to such sounds
unmoved,
And by that light-- nor dream of
her he loved?
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 naught 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 shrined in solitude-- thine
all, thine only,
Like the one star above thee, bright
and lonely.
Oh! that a dream so sweet, so long
enjoyed,
Should be so sadly, cruelly destroyed!
The song is husht, 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 veiled,
Leaning, as if both heart and strength
had failed,
Against a pillar near; --not glittering
o'er
With gems and wreaths such as the
others wore,
But in that deep-blue, melancholy
dress.[85]
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 waked
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! --it is ZELICA
he sees!
But, ah, so pale, so changed-- none
but a lover
Could in that wreck of beauty's
shrine discover
The once adorned divinity-- even
he
Stood for some moments mute, and
doubtingly
Put back the ringlets from her brow,
and gazed
Upon those lids where once such
lustre blazed,
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 loath
He left her for the wars-- in that
worst hour
Sat in her sorrow like the sweet
night-flower,[86]
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
"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 loved lips-- they move--
that kiss hath run
"Like the first shoot of life thro'
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 chased their
short eclipse.
And gradual as the snow at Heaven's
breath
Melts off and shows the azure flowers
beneath,
Her lids unclosed 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 beloved
caress
Took from her soul one half its
wretchedness.
But, when she heard him call her
good and pure,
Oh! 'twas too much-- too dreadful
to endure!
Shuddering 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 changed--
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,[87]--
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
Could 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 tost
His desperate hand towards Heav'n--
"tho' 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-- tho' all thy
love hath ceased--
"I know it hath-- yet, yet believe,
at least,
"That every spark of reason's light
must be
"Quenched 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! couldst
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 turned 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 wouldst not wonder
that at last,
"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
"Turned to foul fires to light me
into sin!--
"Thou pitiest me-- I knew thou wouldst--
that sky
"Hath naught beneath it half so
lorn as I.
"The fiend, who lured 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 ruined even a holier
heart--
"Of thee, and of that ever-radiant
sphere,
"Where blest at length, if I but
served him here,
"I should for ever live in thy dear
sight.
"And drink from those pure eyes
eternal light.
"Think, think how lost, how maddened
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
"Shrined 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 treasured 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 tortured
brain
"Would burn like mine, and mine
go wild again!
"Enough that Guilt reigns here--
that hearts once good
"Now tainted, chilled 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 exclaimed.
In all the tortures of a mind inflamed
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 ruined 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"--
"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--
"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 turned
on me;
"And in their light re-chastened
silently,
"Like the stained 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 darkening
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" --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--
Rang thro' the casement near, "Thy
oath! thy oath!"
Oh Heaven, the ghastliness of that
Maid's look!--
"'Tis he," faintly she cried, while
terror shook
Her inmost core, nor durst she lift
her eyes,
Tho' thro' the casement, now naught
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 echoed it-- I hear
them now!
"Their eyes glared on me, while
I pledged that bowl,
"'Twas burning blood-- I feel it
in my soul!
"And the Veiled 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 tho' be should linger
out more years
Than wretch e'er told can never
leave his ears--
Flew up thro' that long avenue of
light,
Fleetly as some dark, ominous bird
of night,
Across the sun; and soon was out
of sight!
-- On to Part
Three --
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xxx |
[53] "The feast of Lanterns celebrated at Yamtcheou
with more magnificence than anywhere else! and the report goes that the
illuminations there are so splendid, that an Emperor once, not daring openly
to leave his Court to go thither, committed himself with the Queen and
several Princesses of his family into the hands of a magician, who promised
to transport them thither in a trice. He made them in the night to ascend
magnificent thrones that were borne up by swans, which in a moment arrived
at Yamtcheou. The Emperor saw at his leisure all the solemnity, being carried
upon a cloud that hovered over the city and descended by degrees; and came
back again with the same speed and equipage, nobody at court perceiving
his absence." --The Present State of China, p. 156.
[54] "The vulgar ascribe it to an accident that
happened in the family of a famous mandarin, whose daughter, walking one
evening upon the shore of a lake, fell in and was drowned: this afflicted
father, with his family, ran thither, and the better to find her, he caused
a great company of lanterns to be lighted. All the inhabitants of the place
thronged after him with torches. The year ensuing they made fires upon
the shores the same day; they continued the ceremony every year, every
one lighted his lantern, and by degrees it commenced into a custom." --The
Present State of China.
[55] "Thou hast ravished my heart with one of
thine eyes." --"Sol. Song."
[56] "They tinged the ends of her fingers scarlet
with Henna, so that they resembled branches of coral." --Story of Prince
Futtun in Bahardanush.
[57] "The women blacken the inside of their eyelids
with a powder named the black Kohol." --Russell.
"None of these ladies," says Shaw, "take themselves
to be completelydressed, till they have tinged their hair and edges of
their eyelids with the powder of lead ore. Now, as this operation is performed
by dipping first into the powder a small wooden bodkin of the thickness
of a quill, and then drawing it afterwards through the eyelids over the
ball of the eye, we shall have a lively image of what the Prophet (Jer.
iv. 30) may be supposed to mean by 'rending the eyes with painting'. This
practice is no doubt of great antiquity; for besides the instance already
taken notice of, we find that where Jezebel is said (2 Kings ix. 30.) 'to
have painted
her face', the original words are, 'she adjusted
her eyes with the powder
of lead-ore.'" --Shaw's Travels.
[58] "The appearance of the blossoms of the gold-colored
Campac on the black hair of the Indian women has supplied the Sanscrit
Poets with many elegant allusions." --See Asiatic Researches, vol.
iv.
[59] A tree famous for its perfume, and common
on the hills of Yemen. --Niebuhr.
[60] Of the genus mimosa "which droops its branches
whenever any person approaches it, seeming as if it saluted those who retire
under its shade." --Niebuhr.
[61] Cloves are a principal ingredient in the
composition of the perfumed rods, which men of rank keep constantly burning
in their presence. --Turner's
Tibet.
[62] "Thousands of variegated loories visit the
coral-trees."--Barrow.
[63] "In Mecca there are quantities of blue pigeons,
which none will affright or abuse, much less kill."--Pitt's Account
of the Mahometans.
[64] "The Pagoda Thrush is esteemed among the
first choristers of India. It sits perched on the sacred pagodas, and from
thence delivers its melodious song." --Pennant's Hindostan.
[65] Tavernier adds, that while the Birds of Paradise
lie in this intoxicated state, the emmets come and eat off their legs;
and that hence it is they are said to have no feet.
[66] Birds of Paradise, which, at the nutmeg season,
come in flights from the southern isles to India; and "the strength of
the nutmeg," says Tavernier, "so intoxicates them that they fall dead drunk
to the earth."
[67] "That bird which liveth in Arabia, and buildeth
its nest with cinnamon."--Brown's Vulgar Errors.
[68] "The spirits of the martyrs will be lodged
in the crops of green birds."--Gibbon, vol. ix. p. 421.
[69] Shedad, who made the delicious gardens of
Irim, in imitation of Paradise, and was destroyed by lightning the first
time he attempted to enter them.
[70] "My Pandits assure me that the plant before
us (the Nilica) is their Sephalica, thus named because the bees are supposed
to sleep on its blossoms." --Sir W. Jones.
[71] They deterred it till the King of Flowers
should ascend his throne of enamelled foliage." --The Bahardanush.
[72] "One of the head-dresses of the Persian women
is composed of a light golden chain-work, set with small pearls, with a
thin gold plate pendant, about the bigness of a crown-piece, on which is
impressed an Arabian prayer, and which hangs upon the cheek below the ear."
--Hanway's Travels.
[73] "Certainly the women of Yezd are the handsomest
women in Persia. The proverb is, that to live happy a man must have a wife
of Yezd, eat the bread of Yezdecas, and drink the wine of Shiraz." --Tavernier.
[74] Musnuds are cushioned seats, usually reserved
for persons of distinction.
[75] The Persians, like the ancient Greeks call
their musical modes or Perdas by the names of different countries or cities,
as the mode of Isfahan, the mode of Irak, etc.
[76] A river which flows near the ruins of Chilminar.
[77] "To the north of us (on the coast of the
Caspian, near Badku,) was a mountain, which sparkled like diamonds, arising
from the sea-glass and crystals with which it abounds." --Journey of
the Russian Ambassador to Persia, 1746.
[78] "To which will be added, the sound of the
bells, hanging on the trees, which will be put in motion by the wind proceeding
from the throne of God, as often as the blessed wish for music." --Sale.
[79] "Whose wanton eyes resemble blue water-lilies,
agitated by the breeze." --Jayadeva.
[80] The blue lotos, which grows in Cashmere and
in Persia.
[81] It has been generally supposed that the Mahometans
prohibit all pictures of animals; but Toderini shows that, though the practice
is forbidden by the Koran, they are not more averse to painted figures
and images than other people. From Mr. Murphy's work, too, we find that
the Arabs of Spain had no objection to the introduction of figures into
Painting.
[82] This is not quite astronomically true. "Dr.
Hadley [says Keil] has shown that Venus is brightest when she is about
forty degrees removed from the sun; and that then but only a fourth
part of her lucid disk is to be seen from the earth."
[83] The wife of Potiphar, thus named by the Orientals.
The passion which this frail beauty of antiquity conceived for her young
Hebrew slave has given rise to a much esteemed poem in the Persian language,
entitled "Yusef vau Zelikha," by Noureddin Jami; the manuscript copy of
which, in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, is supposed to be the finest
in the whole world.--Note upon Nott's Translation of Hafez.
[84] The particulars of Mahomet's amour with Mary,
the Coptic girl, in justification of which he added a new chapter to the
Koran, may be found in Gagnier's Notes upon Abulfeda, p. 151.
[85] "Deep blue is their mourning color." Hanway.
[86] The sorrowful nyctanthes, which begins to
spread its rich odor after sunset.
[87] "Concerning the vipers, which Pliny says
were frequent among the balsam-trees, I made very particular inquiry; several
were brought me alive both to Yambo and Jidda." --Bruce. |