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PARADISE AND THE PERI.

ONE

NE morn a Peri at the gate
Of Eden stood, disconsolate;
And as she listen'd to the Springs

Of Life within, like music flowing,
And caught the light upon her wings
Through the half-open portal glowing,

She wept to think her recreant race
Should e'er have lost that glorious place!

How happy," exclaim'd this child of air,

Are the holy Spirits who wander there,

.

Mid flowers that never shall fade or fall;

Though mine are the gardens of earth and sea,

And the stars themselves have flowers for me,

"One blossom of Heaven out-blooms them all!

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Though sunny the Lake of cool Cashmere, "With its plane-tree Isle reflected clear,'

"And sweetly the founts of that Valley fall; "Though bright are the waters of SING-SU-HAY, "And the golden floods, that thitherward stray," "Yet-oh 'tis only the Blest can say

"How the waters of Heaven outshine them all!

"Go, wing thy flight from star to star, "From world to luminous world, as far

"As the universe spreads its flaming wall; "Take all the pleasures of all the spheres, "And multiply each through endless years, "One minute of Heaven is worth them all!"

The glorious Angel, who was keeping
The gates of Light, beheld her weeping;

5 "Numerous small islands emerge from the Lake of Cashmere. One is called Char Chenaur, from the plane trees upon it."-Forster.

6 "The Altan Kol, or Golden River of Tibet, which runs into the Lakes of Sing-su-hay, has abundance of gold in its sands, which employs the inhabitants all the summer in gathering it." - Description of Tibet in Pinkerton.

And, as he nearer drew and listen'd
To her sad song, a tear-drop glisten'd
Within his eyelids, like the spray

From Eden's fountain, when it lies
On the blue flow'r, which— Bramins

Blooms no where but in Paradise!

Nymph of a fair, but erring line!" Gently he said" One hope is thine. ""Tis written in the Book of Fate,

"The Peri yet may be forgiven

say

"Who brings to this Eternal Gate
"The Gift that is most dear to Heaven!

"Go, seek it, and redeem thy sin;-
""Tis sweet to let the Pardon'd in !"

Rapidly as comets run

To th' embraces of the Sun:
Fleeter than the starry brands,
Flung at night from angel hands
At those dark and daring sprites,

Who would climb th' empyreal heights,

7 "The Mahometans suppose that falling stars are the firebrands wherewith the good angels drive away the bad, when they approach too near the empyreum or verge of the Heavens."- Fryer.

Down the blue vault the PERI flies,

And, lighted earthward by a glance
That just then broke from morning's eyes,
Hung hovering o'er our world's expanse.

But whither shall the Spirit go

8

To find this gift for heav'n? "I know
"The wealth," she cries, " of every urn,
"In which unnumber'd rubies burn,
"Beneath the pillars of CHILMINAR; —
"I know where the Isles of Perfume are
"Many a fathom down in the sea,
"To the south of sun-bright ARABY; '—
"I know too where the Genii hid

"The jewell'd cup of their King JAMSHID, '
"With Life's elixir sparkling high-

"But gifts like these are not for the sky.

8 The Forty Pillars; so the Persians call the ruins of Persepolis. It is imagined by them that this palace, and the edifices at Balbec, were built by Genii, for the purpose of hiding in their subterraneous caverns immense treasures, which still remain there. - D'Herbelot, Volney.

9 The Isles of Panchaia.

"The cup of Jamshid, discovered, they say, when digging for the foundations of Persepolis.". Richardson.

"Where was there ever a gem that shone

"Like the steps of ALLA's wonderful Throne?

"And the Drops of Life-oh! what would they be "In the boundless Deep of Eternity?"

While thus she mus'd, her pinions fann'd

The air of that sweet Indian land,

Whose air is balm; whose ocean spreads
O'er coral rocks and amber beds;
Whose mountains, pregnant by the beam
Of the warm sun, with diamonds teem;
Whose rivulets are like rich brides,
Lovely, with gold beneath their tides;

Whose sandal groves and bowers of spice
Might be a Peri's Paradise!

But crimson now her rivers ran

With human blood the smell of death

Came reeking from those spicy bowers,
And man, the sacrifice of man,

Mingled his taint with every breath

Upwafted from the innocent flowers!

Land of the Sun! what foot invades

Thy Pagods and thy pillar'd shades