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 extacy,)
To 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,
Th' Impostor, sure of his infatuate prize,

Had, more than once, thrown off his soul's disguise,
And utter'd such unheav’nly, monstrous things,
As ev'n across the desperate 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,

Ev'n purer than before, - as perfumes rise
Through flame and smoke, most welcome to the skies —

And that when Azım's fond, divine embrace

Should circle her in heav'n, no darkening 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 ev'n 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, pondering alone his impious schemes,
MOKANNA waited her too wrapt in dreams
Of the fair-ripening future's rich success,
To heed the sorrow, pale and spiritless,
That 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 th' unechoing ground,
From that wild ZELICA, whose every glance

Was thrilling fire, whose every thought a trance!

Upon his couch the Veiled MOKANNA lay,
While lamps around-not such as lend their ray,
Glimmering and cold, to those who nightly pray
In holy Koom', 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 mused on there,

2

Stood Vases, filled with KISHMEE's 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,

}

The cities of Com (or Koom) and Cashan are full of mosques, mausoleums, and sepulchres of the descendants of Ali, the Saints of Persia. Chardin.

2 An island in the Persian Gulf, celebrated for its white wine.

D

Like ZEMZEM's Spring of Holiness 3, had power

To freshen the soul's virtues into flower!

And still he drank and ponder'd-nor could see

Th' approaching maid, so deep his reverie;

At length, with fiendish laugh, like that which broke From EBLIS at the Fall of Man, he spoke:

"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;+-"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! "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! — "Soon, at the head of myriads, blind and fierce "As hooded falcons, through the universe

3 The miraculous well at Mecca; so called, says Sale, from the murmuring of its waters.

4 The god Hannaman,