As death itself;-it needs not to be told No, no-he sees it all, plain as the brand Of burning shame can mark-whate'er the hand, It was a dreadful moment; not the tears, Could match that minute's anguish-all the worst Broke o'er his soul, and, with one crash of fate, "Oh! curse me not," she cried, as wild he toss'd His desperate hand tow'rds Heaven-"though I am lost, "Think not that guilt, that falsehood made me fall; No, no 'twas grief, 'twas madness did it all! "Nay, doubt me not-though all thy love hath ceas'd"I know it hath-yet, yet believe, at least, That every spark of reason's light must be "Quench'd in this brain, ere I could stray from thee. They told me thou wert dead-why, AZIM, why "Did we not, both of us, that instant die "When we were parted? Oh! couldst thou but know "With what a deep devotedness of woe "I wept thy absence-o'er and o'er again "Thinking of thee, still thee, till thought grew pain, "Didst thou but know how pale I sat at home, My eyes still turn'd the way thou wert to come, "And, all the long, long night of hope and fear, "Thy voice and step still sounding in my ear— "O God! thou wouldst not wonder that, at last, "When every hope was all at once o'ercast, "When I heard frightful voices round me say, "Azim is dead!-this wretched brain gave way, "And I became a wreck, at random driven, "Without one glimpse of reason or of Heaven-- "And drink from those pure eyes eternal light. Think, think how lost, how madden'd I must be, "To hope that guilt could lead to God or thee ! "Thou weep'st for me-do weep-oh, that I durst "Kiss off that tear! but, no-these lips are curst, (6 They must not touch thee ;- -one divine caress, "One blessed moment of forgetfulness "I've had within those arms, and that shall lie, "Shrin'd in my soul's deep memory till I die; "The last of joy's last relics here below, "The one sweet drop, in all this waste of woe, "My heart has treasur'd from affection's spring, "To soothe and cool its deadly withering! "But thou-yes, thou must go—for ever go ; "This place is not for thee-for thee! oh no! "Did I but tell thee half, thy tortur'd brain "Would burn like mine, and mine grow wild again! 66 Enough, that Guilt reigns here-that hearts, once good, "Now tainted, chill'd, and broken, are his food.— 66 Enough, that we are parted-that there rolls K "A flood of headlong fate between our souls, "Whose darkness severs me as wide from thee "As hell from heaven, to all eternity!" 66 ZELICA, ZELICA!" the youth exclaim'd, In all the tortures of a mind inflam'd Almost to madness-"by that sacred Heaven, "Where yet, if prayers can move, thou'lt be forgiven, "As thou art here-here, in this writhing heart, "All sinful, wild, and ruin'd as thou art ! 66 By the remembrance of our once pure love, Which, like a churchyard light, still burns above "The grave of our lost souls-which guilt in thee "Cannot extinguish, nor despair in me! "I do conjure, implore thee to fly hence"If thou hast yet one spark of innocence, "Fly with me from this place——” "With thee! oh bliss! ""Tis worth whole years of torment to hear this. "By thy dear side, as in those days of love, "Too heavenly dream! if there's on earth a cure "Come heaviest o'er the heart, thou'lt lift thine eyes, Scarce had she said These breathless words, when a voice deep and dread As that of MONKER, waking up the dead From their first sleep-so startling 'twas to both Rung through the casement near, "Thy oath ! thy oath!" |