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Yet now, the rush of fugitives, too strong
For human force, hurries ev'n him along;
In vain he struggles 'mid the wedg'd array
Of flying thousands, he is borne away;
And the sole joy his baffled spirit knows
In this forc'd flight is

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murdering, as he goes!

As a grim tiger, whom the torrent's might
Surprizes in some parch'd ravine at night,
Turns, ev'n in drowning, on the wretched flocks
Swept with him in that snow-flood from the rocks,
And, to the last, devouring on his way,

Bloodies the stream he hath not power to stay!

"Alla illa Alla !” the glad shout renew "Alla Akbar!"'—the Caliph's in MEROU. Hang out your gilded tapestry in the streets, And light your shrines and chaunt your ziraleets;' The Swords of God have triumph'd — on his throne

Your Caliph sits, and the Veil'd Chief hath flown.
Who does not envy that young warrior now,

To whom the Lord of Islam bends his brow,

1 The Tecbir, or cry of the Arabs. "Alla Acbar!" says Ockley,

66 means God is most mighty."

2 The ziraleet is a kind of chorus, which the women of the East sing upon joyful occasions. Russel.

In all the graceful gratitude of power,

For his throne's safety in that perilous hour?

Who doth not wonder, when, amidst the' acclaim
Of thousands, heralding to heaven his name
'Mid all those holier harmonies of fame,

Which sound along the path of virtuous souls,
Like music round a planet as it rolls! —
He turns away coldly, as if some gloom
Hung o'er his heart no triumphs can illume;
Some sightless grief, upon whose blasted gaze
Though glory's light may play, in vain it plays!
Yes, wretched Azım! thine is such a grief,
Beyond all hope, all terror, all relief;

A dark, cold calm, which nothing now can break,

Or warm or brighten, like that Syrian Lake,

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Upon whose surface morn and summer shed

Their smiles in vain, for all beneath is dead!

2

Hearts there have been, o'er which this weight of woe Came by long use of suffering, tame and slow;

But thine, lost youth! was sudden — over thee

It broke at once, when all seem'd extacy;

2 The Dead Sea, which contains neither animal nor vegetable life.

When Hope look'd up, and saw the gloomy Past
Melt into splendour, and Bliss dawn at last —
'Twas then, ev'n then, o'er joys so freshly blown,
This mortal blight of misery came down ;

Ev'n then, the full, warm gushings of thy heart

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Were check'd like fount-drops, frozen as they start!
And there, like them, cold, sunless relics hang,
Each fix'd and chill'd into a lasting pang!

One sole desire, one passion now remains,

To keep life's fever still within his veins,
Vengeance!-dire vengeance on the wretch who cast
O'er him and all he lov'd that ruinous blast.

For this, when rumours reach'd him in his flight

Far, far away, after that fatal night,

Rumours of armies, thronging to the' attack

Of the Veil❜d Chief, for this he wing'd him back,

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Fleet as the vulture speeds to flags unfurl'd,

And came when all seem'd lost, and wildly hurl'd
Himself into the scale, and sav'd a world!

For this he still lives on, careless of all
The wreaths that glory on his path lets fall;
For this alone exists—like lightning-fire
To speed one bolt of vengeance, and expire!

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But safe as yet that Spirit of Evil lives;
With a small band of desperate fugitives,

The last sole stubborn fragment, left unriven,
Of the proud host that late stood fronting heaven,
He gain'd MEROU - breath'd a short curse of blood
O'er his lost throne-then pass'd the JIHON's flood, 3
And gathering all, whose madness of belief

Still saw a Saviour in their down-fall'n Chief,

Rais'd the white banner within NEKSHEB's gates, 4 And there, untam'd, th' approaching conqueror waits.

Of all his Haram, all that busy hive,
With music and with sweets sparkling alive,
He took but one, the partner of his flight,
One, not for love-not for her beauty's light-
For ZELICA stood withering midst the gay,
Wan as the blossom that fell yesterday

From the' Alma tree and dies, while overhead
To-day's young flower is springing in its stead!'

3 The ancient Oxus.

4 A city of Transoxiania.

5 " You never can cast your eyes on this tree, but you meet there either blossoms or fruit; and as the blossom drops underneath on the ground, (which is frequently covered with these purple-coloured flowers,) others come forth in their stead," &c. &c.-Nieuhoff.

No, not for love the deepest Damn'd must be

Touch'd with heaven's glory, ere such fiends as he
Can feel one glimpse of love's divinity!

But no, she is his victim; - there lie all

Her charms for him - charms that can never pall,

As long as hell within his heart can stir,

Or one faint trace of heaven is left in her.

To work an angel's ruin, to behold

As white a page as Virtue e'er unroll'd
Blacken, beneath his touch, into a scroll

Of damning sins, seal'd with a burning soul
This is his triumph; this the joy accurst,
That ranks him among demons all but first!
This gives the victim, that before him lies
Blighted and lost, a glory in his eyes,
A light like that with which hell-fire illumes
The ghastly, writhing wretch whom it consumes!

But other tasks now wait him tasks that need All the deep daringness of thought and deed

6

With which the Dives have gifted him for mark, Over yon plains, which night had else made dark,

6 The Demons of the Persian mythology.

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