"Are all my dreams, my hopes of heavenly bliss,

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'My purity, my pride, then come to this,―
"To live, the wanton of a fiend! to be
"The pander of his guilt-oh infamy!
"And sunk, myself, as low as hell can steep
"In its hot flood, drag others down as deep!
"Others-ha! yes-that youth who came to-day-
"Not him I lov'd-not him-oh! do but say,
"But swear to me this moment 'tis not he,

"And I will serve, dark fiend, will worship even thee!"

Beware, young raving thing!—in time beware,
"Nor utter what I cannot, must not bear,
"Even from thy lips. Go-try thy lute, thy voice,
"The boy must feel their magic ;—I rejoice

"To see those fires, no matter whence they rise,

"Once more illuming my fair Priestess' eyes;
"And should the youth, whom soon those eyes shall

warm,

"Indeed resemble thy dead lover's form,

"So much the happier wilt thou find thy doom,
"As one warm lover, full of life and bloom,

"Excels ten thousand cold ones in the tomb.

Nay, nay, no frowning, sweet!-those eyes were made

"For love, not anger-I must be obey'd."

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Obey'd!-'tis well-yes, I deserve it all-
"On me, on me Heaven's vengeance cannot fall
"Too heavily--but AZIM, brave and true

"And beautiful-must he be ruin'd too?
"Must he too, glorious as he is, be driven
"A renegade like me from Love and Heaven?

"Like me?-weak wretch, I wrong him—not like me ; "No-he's all truth and strength and purity! "Fill up your madd'ning hell-cup to the brim, "Its witch'ry, fiends, will have no charm for him. "Let loose your glowing wantons from their bowers, "He loves, he loves, and can defy their powers! "Wretch as I am, in his heart still I reign "Pure as when first we met, without a stain ! "Though ruin'd-lost-my memory, like a charm "Left by the dead, still keeps his soul from harm. "Oh! never let him know how deep the brow "He kiss'd at parting is dishonour'd now ;"Ne'er tell him how debas'd, how sunk is she, "Whom once he lov'd-once !—still loves dotingly. "Thou laugh'st, tormentor,-what! thou'lt brand my name?

"Do, do-in vain-he'll not believe my shame"He thinks me true; that nought beneath God's sky "Could tempt or change me, and-so once thought I. "But this is past-though worse than death my lot, "Than hell-'tis nothing while he knows it not. "Far off to some benighted land I'll fly, "Where sunbeam ne'er shall enter till I die; "Where none will ask the lost one whence she came, "But I may fade and fall without a name.

"And thou-curst man or fiend, whate'er thou art, "Who found'st this burning plague-spot in my heart, "And spread'st it-oh, so quick!-through soul and

frame,

"With more than demon's art, till I became

"A loathsome thing, all pestilence, all flame !--"If when I'm gone

"Hold, fearless maniac, hold,

"Nor tempt my rage-by Heaven, not half so bold
"The puny bird, that dares with teasing hum
"Within the crocodile's stretch'd jaws to come ! 56
"And so thou'lt fly, forsooth ?-what !-give up all
Thy chaste dominion in the Haram Hall,
"Where now to Love and now to ALLA given,
"Half mistress and half saint, thou hang'st as even
"As doth MEDINA's tomb, 'twixt hell and heaven!
"Thou'lt fly-as easily may reptiles run,
"The gaunt snake once hath fix'd his eyes upon;
"As easily, when caught, the prey may be
"Pluck'd from his loving folds, as thou from me.
"No, no, 'tis fix'd-let good or ill betide,

"Thou'rt mine till death, till death MOKANNA'S bride!
"Hast thou forgot thy oath?"-

At this dread word,
The Maid, whose spirit his rude taunts had stirr'd
Through all its depth, and rous'd an anger there,
That burst and lighten'd ev'n through her despair-
Shrunk back, as if a blight were in the breath
That spoke that word, and stagger'd, pale as death.

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Yes, my sworn bride, let others seek in bowers "Their bridal place-the charnel vault was ours! "Instead of scents and balms, for thee and me "Rose the rich steams of sweet mortality; "Gay, flickering death-lights shone while we were wed, "And, for our guests, a row of goodly Dead, "(Immortal spirits in their time, no doubt,) "From reeking shrouds upon the rite look'd out!

"That oath thou heard'st more lips than thine repeat"That cup-thou shudd'rest, Lady, was it sweet? "That cup we pledg'd, the charnel's choicest wine, "Hath bound thee-ay, body and soul all mine; "Bound thee by chains that, whether blest or curst "No matter now, not hell itself shall burst!

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Hence, woman, to the Haram, and look gay, "Look wild, look-anything but sad; yet stay—

"One moment more-from what this night hath pass'd, "I see thou know'st me, know'st me well at last.

"Ha ha! and so, fond thing, thou thought'st all true, "And that I love mankind?—I do, I do—

"As victims, love them; as the sea-dog doats

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Upon the small, sweet fry that round him floats;

(C

Or, as the Nile-bird loves the slime that gives

"That rank and venomous food on which she lives 57

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And, now thou see'st my soul's angelic hue, ""Tis time these features were uncurtain'd too ;"This brow, whose light-oh rare celestial light! "Hath been reserv'd to bless thy favour'd sight; "These dazzling eyes, before whose shrouded might "Thou'st seen immortal Man kneel down and quake"Would that they were heaven's lightnings for his sake! "But turn and look-then wonder, if thou wilt, "That I should hate, should take revenge, by guilt, "Upon the hand, whose mischief or whose mirth "Sent me thus maim'd and monstrous upon earth; "And on that race who, though more vile they be "Than mowing apes, are demi-gods to me!

'Here-judge if hell, with all its power to damn, "Can add one curse to the foul thing I am!"

He rais'd his veil-the Maid turn'd slowly round, Look'd at him-shriek'd-and sunk upon the ground!