Though still, whene'er his eye by chance Fell on the boy's, its lurid glance

Met that unclouded, joyous gaze, As torches, that have burnt all night Through some impure and godless rite, Encounter morning's glorious rays.

But hark! the vesper call to prayer,
As slow the orb of day-light sets,
Is rising sweetly on the air,

From SYRIA's thousand minarets!

The boy has started from the bed

Of flowers, where he had laid his head, And down upon the fragrant sod

Kneels, with his forehead to the south,

Lisping th' eternal name of God

From purity's own cherub mouth,
And looking, while his hands and eyes
Are lifted to the glowing skies,
Like a stray babe of Paradise,
Just lighted on that flowery plain,

And seeking for its home again!

Oh 'twas a sight that Heav'n-that Child

A scene, which might have well beguil'd

Ev'n haughty EBLIS of a sigh

For glories lost and peace gone by!

And how felt he, the wretched Man
Reclining there while memory ran
O'er many a year of guilt and strife,
Flew o'er the dark flood of his life,
Nor found one sunny resting-place,

Nor brought him back one branch of grace!
"There was a time," he said in mild,
Heart-humbled tones" thou blessed child!
"When young and haply pure as thou,
"I look'd and pray'd like thee - but now -"
He hung his head each nobler aim

And hope and feeling, which had slept From boyhood's hour, that instant came Fresh o'er him, and he wept- he wept !

Blest tears of soul-felt penitence!

In whose benign, redeeming flow

Is felt the first, the only sense

Of guiltless joy that guilt can know.

"There's a drop," said the PERI," that down from

"the moon

"Falls through the withering airs of June

"Upon EGYPT's land, of so healing a power,
"So balmy a virtue, that ev'n in the hour
"That drop descends, contagion dies,
"And health reanimates earth and skies!

"Oh, is it not thus, thou man of sin,

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"The precious tears of repentance fall?

Though foul thy fiery plagues within,

-

"One heavenly drop hath dispell'd them all!"

And now behold him kneeling there

By the child's side, in humble prayer,

While the same sun-beam shines upon
The guilty and the guiltless one,

And hymns of joy proclaim through Heaven
The triumph of a Soul Forgiven!

'Twas when the golden orb had set,.

While on their knees they linger'd yet,

8 The Nucta, or Miraculous Drop, which falls in Egypt precisely on St. John's day, in June, and is supposed to have the effect of stopping the plague.

There fell a light, more lovely far
Than ever came from sun or star,
Upon the tear that, warm and meek,
Dew'd that repentant sinner's cheek:
To mortal eye this light might seem
A northern flash or meteor beam

But well the' enraptur'd PERI knew
'Twas a bright smile the Angel threw
From Heaven's gate, to hail that tear
Her harbinger of glory near!

"Joy, joy for ever! my task is done
"The Gates are pass'd, and Heaven is won!
"Oh! am I not happy? I am, I am

"To thee, sweet Eden! how dark and sad
"Are the diamond turrets of SHADUKIAM,9
"And the fragrant bowers of AMBERABAD !

"Farewel, ye odours of Earth, that die,

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Passing away like a lover's sigh ;

9 The Country of Delight, the name of a Province in the kingdom of Jinnistan, or Fairy Land, the capital of which is called the city of Jewels. Amberabad is another of the cities of Jinnistan.

"My feast is now of the Tooba Tree,
"Whose scent is the breath of Eternity!

"Farewel ye vanishing flowers, that shone

"In my fairy wreath, so bright and brief, – "Oh! what are the brightest that e'er have blown, "To the lote-tree, springing by ALLA's Throne,

"Whose flowers have a soul in every leaf!

"Joy, joy for ever! my task is done -
"The Gates are pass'd, and Heav'n is won!"

2

The tree Tooba, that stands in Paradise, in the palace of Mahomet. v. Sale's Prelim. Disc. - Touba, says D'Herbelot, signifies beatitude, or eternal happiness.

2 Mahomet is described, in the 53d Chapter of the Koran, as having seen the angel Gabriel" by the lote-tree, beyond which there is no passing: near it is the Garden of Eternal Abode." This tree, say the commentators, stands in the seventh Heaven, on the right hand of the Throne of God.