Is IRAN's pride then gone for ever, Quench'd with the flame in MITHRA'S caves? Will stoop to be the Moslem's slaves, While heav'n has light or earth has graves. Spirits of fire, that brood not long, But flash resentment back for wrong; And hearts where, slow but deep, the seeds Till, in some treacherous hour of calm, Yes, EMIR! he, who scal'd that tower, 7 And, had he reach'd thy slumbering breast, Had taught thee, in a Gheber's power How safe ev'n tyrant heads may rest 7 The Talpot or Talipot tree." This beautiful palm-tree, which grows in the heart of the forests, may be classed among the loftiest trees, and becomes still higher when on the point of bursting forth from its leafy summit. The sheath which then envelopes the flower is very large, and, when it bursts, makes an explosion like the report of a cannon." Thunberg. Is one of many, braye as he, Who loathe thy haughty race and thee; Of him who rends its links apart, Yet dare the issue, blest to be Ev'n for one bleeding moment free, And die in pangs of liberty! Thou know'st them well-'tis some moons since Thy turban'd troops and blood-red flags, Thou satrap of a bigot Prince! Have swarm'd among these Green Sea crags; Yet here, ev'n here, a sacred band, Ay, in the portal of that land Thou, Arab, dar'st to call thy own, Their spears across thy path have thrown; Here ere the winds half wing'd thee o'er Rebellion! foul, dishonouring word, Of mortal ever lost or gain'd. How many a spirit, born to bless, Hath sunk beneath that withering name, Whom but a day's, an hour's success Had wafted to eternal fame! As exhalations, when they burst From the warm earth, if chill'd at first, And turn to sun-bright glories there! And who is he, that wields the might Of Freedom on the Green Sea brink, Before whose sabre's dazzling light The eyes of YEMEN's warriors wink? Who comes embower'd in the spears Of KERMAN's hardy mountaineers? Those mountaineers that truest, last, Cling to their country's ancient rites, As if that God, whose eyelids cast Their closing gleam on IRAN's heights, Among her snowy mountains threw 'Tis HAFED name of fear, whose sound Chills like the muttering of a charm; Shout but that awful name around, And palsy shakes the manliest arm. Of whose malign, tremendous power Pulls down his cowl upon his eyes, Lest HAFED in the midst should rise! A man, they say, of monstrous birth, A mingled race of flame and earth, 8 8 Tahmuras, and other ancient Kings of Persia; whose adventures in Fairy-Land among the Peris and Dives may be found in Richardson's curious Dissertation. The griffin Simoorgh, they say, took some feathers from her breast for Tahmuras, with which he adorned his helmet, and transmitted them afterwards to his descendants. A feather from the mystic wings Of the Simoorgh resistless wore; Such were the tales, that won belief, For happy homes and altars free, — His only spell-word, Liberty! One of that ancient hero line, Names, that have sanctified their blood; . Is render'd holy by the ranks Of sainted cedars on its banks ! ? 9 9 This rivulet, says Dandini, is called the Holy River from the "cedar-saints" among which it rises. |