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!?

With rapid step, yet pleas'd and lingering 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 All that had been too earthly in the lay. Oh! 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.

away

}

7 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.

Clasp yet awhile her image to thy heart,

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

Think of her smiles as when thou saws't them last,
Clear, beautiful, by nought of earth o'ercast;
Recal 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

With gems and wreaths, such as the others wore,

But in that deep-blue, melancholy dress,
BOKHARA's maidens wear in mindfulness

8

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; — r
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! ev'n 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,

8" Deep blue is their mourning colour."-Hanway.

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, ev'n when grief was heaviest when loth

He left her for the wars - in that worst hour
Sat in her sorrow like the sweet night-flower,'
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 AZIм-one dear glance, "Like those of old, were heav'n! whatever chance "Hath brought thee here, oh! 'twas a blessed one! they move that kiss hath

"There

66 run

my sweet lids

"Like the first shoot of life through every vein, "And now I clasp her, mine, all mine again

9 The sorrowful nyctanthes, which begins to spread its rich odour after sun-set.

"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 !”—

66

It was indeed the touch of those lov'd lips
Upon her
eyes that chas'd their short eclipse,
And, gradual as the
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, ev'n 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.
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,