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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 AZIм'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 should'st have the pain of this;

66

Though death, with thee thus tasted, is a bliss

"Thou would'st not rob me of, did'st thou but know "How oft I've pray'd to God I might die so! "But the Fiend's venom was too scant and slow;

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"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,

66 Angels will echo the blest words in heaven!
"But live, my AZIM;-oh! to call thee mine
“ Thus once again! AZIM
my

dream divine!

"Live, if thou ever lov'dst me, if to meet

66

، Thy ZELICA hereafter would be sweet,

"Oh live to pray for her

to bend the knee

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Morning and night before that Deity,

"To whom pure lips and hearts without a stain, "As thine are, Azım, never breath'd in vain,

"And pray that He may pardon her,

may

"Compassion on her soul for thy dear sake,

take

"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

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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 thou may'st feel again
For thy poor ZELICA as thou didst then.
"So shall thy orisons, like dew that flies
"To heav'n upon the morning's sunshine, rise
"With all love's earliest ardour to the skies!

"And should they but alas! my senses fail

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"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,

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"Oh Heaven-I die- dear love! farewel, farewel."

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
So 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.

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THE 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. In the next place the elephant, laden with his fine antique porcelain, 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 Koranbearer three whole days; not without much spiritual

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