Again, throughout th' assembly at these words, Thousands of voices rung; the warrior's swords, Were pointed up to heav'n; a sudden wind In th' open banners play'd, and from behind Those Persian hangings, that but ill could screen The Haram's loveliness, white hands were seen Waving embroider'd scarves, whose motion gave A perfume forth;-like those the Houris wave When beckoning to their bowers th' Immortal
“But these,” pursued the Chief, “are truths sub"lime,
"That claim a holier mood and calmer time
"Than earth allows us now;-this sword must "first
"The darkling prison-house of mankind burst,
"Ere Peace can visit them, or Truth let in
"Her wakening day-light on a world of sin!
"But then, celestial warriors, then, when all
Earth's shrines and thrones before our banner
"When the glad Slave shall at these feet lay down "His broken chain, the tyrant Lord his crown, "The Priest his book, the Conqueror his wreath, "And from the lips of Truth one mighty breath "Shall like a whirlwind, scatter in its breeze "That whole dark pile of human mockeries ;"Then shall the reign of Mind commence on "earth,
"And starting fresh, as from a second birth,— “Man, in the sunshine of the word's new spring, "Shall walk transparent, like some holy thing!
"Then, too, your prophet from his angel brow "Shall cast the Veil that hides its splendours now, "And gladden'd Earth shall, through her wide ex"panse,
"Bask in the glories of this countenance!
"For thee young warrior, welcome!-thou hast yet "Some task to learn, some frailties to forget, "Ere the white war-plume o'er thy brow can wave;
"But, once my own, mine all till in the grave !"
The Pomp is at an end,—the crowds are gone-
Each ear and heart still haunted by the tone
Of that deep voice, which thrill'd like ALLA's own!
The young all dazzled by the plumes and lances,
The glittering throne, and Haram's half-caught
glances;
The Old deep pondering on the promis'd reign
Of peace and truth; and all the female train
Ready to risk their eyes, could they but gaze
A moment on that brow's miraculous blaze!
But there was one, among the chosen maids
Who blush'd behind the gallery's silken shades,
One, to whose soul the pageant of to-day
Has been like death;~you saw her pale dismay,
Ye wondering sisterhood, and heard the burst
Of exclamation from her lips, when first
She saw that youth, too well, too dearly known,
Silently kneeling at the Prophet's throne.
Ah ZELIEA! there was a time, when bliss
Shone o'er thy heart from every look of his;
When but to see him, hear him, breathe the air
In which he dwelt, was thy soul's fondest prayer
When round him hung such a perpetual spell,
Whate'er he did, none ever did so well.
Too happy days! when, if he touch'd a flower
Or gem of thine, 'twas sacred from that hour;
When thou didst study him, till every tone
And gesture and dear look became thy own,----
Thy voice like his, the changes of his face
In thine reflected with still lovelier grace,
Like echo, sending back sweet music, fraught
With twice th' ærial sweetness it had brought!
Yet now he comes-brighter than even he
E'er beam'd before, but ah! not bright for thee;
No-dread, unlook'd for, like a visitant
From th' other world, he comes as if to haunt
Thy guilty soul with dreams of lost delight,
Long lost to all but memory's aching sight:-
Sad dreams! as when the Spirit of our Youth
Returns in sleep, sparkling with all the truth
And innocence once ours, and leads us back,
In mournful mockery, o'er the shining tract
Of our young life, and points out every ray
Of hope and peace we've lost upon the way!
Once happy pair!-in proud BOKHARA's groves,
Who had not heard of their first youthful loves?
Born by that ancient flood,* which from its spring
In the Dark Mountains swiftly wandering,
Enrich'd by every pilgrim brook that shines
With relics from BUCHARIA's ruby mines,
* The Amoo, which rises in the Belur Tag, or Dark Moun tains, and running nearly from east to west, splits into two branches, one of which falls into the Caspian sea, and the other into Aral Nahr, or the Lake of Eagles.
And, lending to the CASPIAN half its strength,
In the cold lake of Eagles sinks at length;—
There, on the banks of that bright river born,
The flowers, that hung above its wave at morn,
Bless'd not the waters, as they murmur'd by,
With holier scent and lustre, than the sigh
And virgin glance of first affection cast
Upon their youth's smooth current, as it pass'd!
But war disturb'd this vision-far away
From her fond eyes, summon'd to join th' array
Of PERSIA'S warriors on the hills of THRACE,
The youth exchang'd his sylvan dwelling place
For the rude tent and war-field's deathful clash;
His ZELICA's Sweet glances for the flash
Of Grecian wild-fire, and love's gentle chains
For bleeding bondage on BYZANTIUM's plains.
Month after month, in widowhood of soul
Drooping, the maiden saw two summers roll
Their sun's away--but, ah! how cold and dim
Ev'n summer suns, when not beheld with him!
From time to time ill-omen'd rumours came,
(Like spirit-tongues, muttering the sick-man's name,
Just ere he dies,-) at length those sounds of dread
Fell withering on her soul, "AZIM is dead!"
Oh grief, beyond all other griefs, when fate
First leaves the young heart lone and desolate
In the wide world, without that only tie
For which it lov'd to live or fear'd to die ;-
Lorn as the hung-up lute, that ne'er hath spoken,
Since the sad day its master-chord was broken!
Fond maid, the sorrow of her soul was such, Ev'n reason sunk blighted beneath its touch;
And though, ere long, her sanguine spirit rose
Above the first dead pressure of its woes,
Though health and bloom return'd, the delicate chain
Of thought, once tangled, never clear'd again.
Warm, lively, soft as in youth's happiest day,
The mind was still all there, but turn'd astray;—
A wandering bark, upon whose path-way shone
All stars of heav'n, except the guiding one!
Again she smil'd, nay, much and brightly smil'd,
But 'twas a lustre, strange, unreal, wild;
And when she sung to her lute's touching strain,
'Twas like the notes, half.extacy, half pain,
The bulbul utters, e'er her soul depart,
When, vanquish'd by some minstrel's powerful art, She dies upon the lute whose sweetness broke her heart!
Such was the mood in which that mission found
Young ZELICA,-that mission, which around
The Eastern world, in every region blest
With woman's smile, sought out its loveliest,
Το grace that galaxy of lips and eyes,
Which the Veil'd Prophet destin'd for the skies!-
And such quick welcome as a spark receives
Dropp'd on a bed of autumn's wither'd leaves,
Did every tale of these enthusiasts find
In the wild maiden's sorrow-blighted mind.
All fire at once the madd'ning zeal she caught;-
Elect of Paradise! blest, rapturous thought;
Predestin'd bride, in heaven's eternal dome,
Of some brave youth-ha! durst they say "of
some ?"
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