"Oh! curse me not," she cried, as wild he tossed His desperate hand towards heaven am lost, 66 though I "Think not that guilt, that falsehood made me fall, 't was grief, 't was madness did it all! "No, no "I know it hath yet, yet believe, at least, "That every spark of reason's light must be 66 Quenched in this brain, ere I could stray from "Did we not, both of us, that instant die "When we were parted? oh! could'st thou but know "With what a deep devotedness of woe "I wept thy absence - o'er and o'er again "Thinking of thee, still thee, till thought grew pain "And memory, like a drop that, night and day, "Falls cold and ceaseless, wore my heart away. "Did'st thou but know how pale I sat at home, 66 My eyes still turned the way thou wert to come, "And, all the long, long night of hope and fear, "Thy voice and step still sounding in my ear"O God! thou would'st not wonder that, at last, "When every hope was all at once o'ercast, "When I heard frightful voices round me say "Azim is dead! this wretched brain gave way, "And I became a wreck, at random driven, "Without one glimpse of reason or of Heaven "All wild — and even this quenchless love within "Turned to foul fires to light me into sin! "Thou pitiest me I knew thou would'st- that sky "Hath nought beneath it half so lorn as I. "The fiend, who lured me hither-hist! come near, "Or thou too, thou art lost, if he should hear "Told me such things-oh! with such devilish art, "As would have ruined even a holier heart"Of thee, and of that ever-radiant sphere, "Where blessed at length, if I but served him here, "I should forever live in thy dear sight, "And drink from those pure eyes eternal light. "Think, think how lost, how maddened I must be, "To hope that guilt could lead to God or thee! "Thou weepest for me durst "Kiss off that tear! but, no do weep - oh, that I - these lips are curst, "They must not touch thee; one divine caress, "One blessed moment of forgetfulness "I've had within those arms, and that shall lie, "This place is not for thee for thee! oh no, "Did I but tell thee half, thy tortured brain "Would burn like mine, and mine go wild again! "Enough, that Guilt reigns here that hearts, once good, "Now tainted, chilled, and broken, are his food. 66 Enough, that we are parted that there rolls "A flood of headlong fate between our souls, "Whose darkness severs me as wide from thee "As hell from heaven, to all eternity!" "ZELICA, ZELICA!" the youth exclaimed, In all the tortures of a mind inflamed "Where yet, if prayers can move, thou 'lt be for "All sinful, wild, and ruined as thou art! "By the remembrance of our once pure love, "Which, like a church-yard light, still burns above "The grave of our lost souls which guilt in thee "Cannot extinguish, nor despair in me! 66 "With thee! oh bliss! "T is worth whole years of torment to hear this. "What! take the lost one with thee?— let her rove "By thy dear side, as in those days of love, "When we were both so happy, both so pure"Too heavenly dream! if there's on earth a cure "For the sunk heart, 't is this day after day "To be the blest companion of thy way; "To hear thy angel eloquence - to see "Those virtuous eyes forever turned on me ; 66 And, in their light re-chastened silently, "Like the stained web that whitens in the sun, "Grow pure by being purely shone upon! "And thou wilt pray for me - I know thou wilt "At the dim vesper hour, when thoughts of guilt "Come heaviest o'er the heart, thou 'lt lift thine eyes "Full of sweet tears, unto the dark'ning skies, "And plead for me with Heaven, till I can dare "To fix my own weak, sinful glances there; "Till the good angels, when they see me cling "Forever near thee, pale and sorrowing, "Shall for thy sake pronounce my soul forgiven, "And bid thee take thy weeping slave to Heaven! "Oh, yes, I'll fly with thee Scarce had she said These breathless words, when a voice deep and dread As that of MONKER, waking up the dead From their first sleep so startling 't was to both -- Rung through the casement near, "Thy oath thy oath!" O Heaven, the ghastliness of that Maid's look! 'Tis he," faintly she cried, while terror shook Her inmost core, nor durst she lift her eyes, Though through the casement, now, nought but the skies And moonlight fields were seen, calm as before ""Tis he, and I am his "Go - all, all is o'er fly this instant, or thou 'rt ruined too "My oath, my oath, O God! 't is all too true, |