"Swear that the burning death ye feel within,
"Is but the trance, with which heav'n's joys begin;
"That this foul visage, foul as e'er disgrac❜d

"Ev'n monstrous man, is - after God's own taste; "And that- but see!ere I have half-way said "My greetings through, th' 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;

66

Nay come-no shuddering—did'st 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?

"Hot lips have been before thee in the cup,

"Young bride,—yet stay-one precious drop remains,'

66

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, ev'n in death.

"Thou see'st yon cistern in the shade - 'tis fill'd

"With burning drugs, for this last hour distill'd; "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 Heav'n took back the Saint it gave; "That I've but vanish'd from this earth awhile, "To come again, with bright, unshrouded smile! "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 heav'n 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

66

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 3 dwell,

'

3/

3 They have all a great reverence for burial-grounds, which they sometimes call by the poetical name of Cities of the Silent, and which they people with the ghosts of the departed, who sit each at the head of his own grave, invisible to mortal eyes."— Elphinstone.

And 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 From high balistas, and the shielded throng Of soldiers swinging the huge ram along, — All speak th' 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
Th' 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

66

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
66 Right on that spot, and NEKSHEB is our own!".
'Tis done the battlements come crashing down,
And the huge wall, by that stroke riv'n 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?

A minute's pause suspends all hearts and eyes—
"In through the breach," impetuous Azım cries;
But the cool CALIPH, fearful of some wile

eyes

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 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."