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A long death-groan comes with it—can this be
The place of mirth, the bower of revelry?

She enters

Holy ALLA, what a sight

Was there before her! By the glimmering light
Of the pale dawn, mix'd with the flare of brands
That round lay burning, dropp'd from lifeless hands,
She saw the board, in splendid mockery spread,
Rich censers breathing - garlands overhead, —
The urns, the cups, from which they late had quaff'd,
All gold and gems, but what had been the draught?
Oh! who need ask, that saw those livid guests,

With their swoll'n heads sunk blackening on their breasts,

Or looking pale to heav'n with glassy glare,

As if they sought but saw no mercy there;

As if they felt, though poison rack'd them through,
Remorse the deadlier torment of the two!
While some, the bravest, hardiest in the train

Of their false Chief, who on the battle-plain
Would have met death with transport by his side,
Here mute and helpless gasp'd; - but as they died,
Look'd horrible vengeance with their eyes' last strain,
And clench'd the slackening hand at him in vain.

I

Dreadful it was to see the ghastly stare, The stony look of horror and despair, Which some of these expiring victims cast Upon their souls' tormentor to the last;

Upon that mocking Fiend, whose Veil, now rais'd,
Show'd them, as in death's agony they gaz'd,

Not the long promis'd light, the brow, whose beaming
Was to come forth, all conquering, all redeeming,
But features horribler than Hell e'er trac'd

On its own brood; -no Demon of the Waste, 2
No church-yard Ghole, caught lingering in the light
Of the bless'd sun, e'er blasted human sight

With lineaments so foul, so fierce as those

Th' Impostor now, in grinning mockery, shows"There, ye wise Saints, behold your Light, your Star,"Ye would be dupes and victims, and ye are. "Is it enough? or must I, while a thrill

"Lives in your sapient bosoms, cheat you still?

2 "The Afghauns believe each of the numerous solitudes and deserts of their country, to be inhabited by a lonely demon, whom they call the Ghoolee Beeabau, or Spirit of the Waste. They often illustrate the wildness of any sequestered tribe, by saying, they are wild as the Demon of the Waste." - Elphinstone's Caubul.

"Swear that the burning death ye feel within,
"Is but the trance, with which heav'n's joys begin;
"That this foul visage, foul as e'er disgrac'd

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"Ev'n monstrous man, is after God's own taste; "And that- but see!ere I have half-way said "My greetings through, th' uncourteous souls are fled. "Farewell, sweet spirits! not in vain ye die, "If EBLIS loves you half so well as I.—

"Ha, my young bride!—'tis well-take thou thy seat;

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Nay come-no shuddering-did'st thou never meet "The Dead before?—they grac'd our wedding, sweet; "And these, my guests to-night, have brimm'd so true "Their parting cups, that thou shalt pledge one too. "But how is this?-all empty? all drunk up?

-

"Hot lips have been before thee in the cup,

"Young bride, yet stay-one precious drop remains,

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Enough to warm a gentle Priestess' veins ; ——

Here, drink and should thy lover's conquering arms "Speed hither, ere thy lip lose all its charms, "Give him but half this venom in thy kiss,

"And I'll forgive my haughty rival's bliss!

"For me

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I too must die but not like these

"Vile, rankling things, to fester in the breeze;

"To have this brow in ruffian triumph shown, "With all death's grimness added to its own, "And rot to dust beneath the taunting eyes

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"Of slaves, exclaiming There his Godship lies!'

"No-cursed race - since first my soul drew breath,

66

They've been my dupes, and shall be, ev'n in death. "Thou see'st yon cistern in the shade 'tis fill'd

"With burning drugs, for this last hour distill'd; — "There will I plunge me, in that liquid flame — "Fit bath to lave a dying Prophet's frame !

"There perish, all-ere pulse of thine shall fail —
"Nor leave one limb to tell mankind the tale.
"So shall my votaries, wheresoe'er they rave,
"Proclaim that Heav'n took back the Saint it
"That I've but vanish'd from this earth awhile,

gave;

"To come again, with bright, unshrouded smile! "So shall they build me altars in their zeal,

"Where knaves shall minister, and fools shall kneel; "Where Faith may mutter o'er her mystic spell, "Written in blood-and Bigotry may swell

"The sail he spreads for heav'n with blasts from hell! "So shall my banner, through long ages, be

"The rallying sign of fraud and anarchy; —

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"Kings yet unborn shall rue MOKANNA's name,
"And, though I die, my Spirit, still the same,
"Shall walk abroad in all the stormy strife,

"And guilt, and blood, that were its bliss in life!
"But, hark! their battering engine shakes the wall-
66 Why, let it shake-thus I can brave them all.
"No trace of me shall greet them, when they come,
"And I can trust thy faith, for thou❜lt be dumb.

"Now mark how readily a wretch like me,
"In one bold plunge, commences Deity !"—

He sprung and sunk, as the last words were said
Quick clos'd the burning waters o'er his head,
And ZELICA was left-within the ring

Of those wide walls the only living thing;

The only wretched one, still curs'd with breath,

In all that frightful wilderness of death!

More like some bloodless ghost, such as, they tell,

3

In the lone Cities of the Silent 3 dwell,

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3 They have all a great reverence for burial-grounds, which they sometimes call by the poetical name of Cities of the Silent, and which they people with the ghosts of the departed, who sit each at the head of his own grave, invisible to mortal eyes.”— Elphinstone.

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