My dreams have boded all too right- I've seen my fondest hopes decay; But 'twas the first to fade away. I never nurs'd a dear gazelle, To glad me with its soft black eye, And love me, it was sure to die! "Oh! look not so-beneath the skies We meet no more-why, why did Heaven "Holy ALLA save His gray-head from that lightning glance! Thou know'st him not-he loves the brave Nor lives there under heaven's expanse One who would prize, would worship thee, And thy bold spirit, more than he. Oft when, in childhood, I have play'd With the bright falchion by his side, I've heard him swear his lisping maid In time should be a warrior's bride. And still, whene'er, at Haram hours, And won with shouts of victory! Th' unholy strife these Persians wage:- "Hold, hold--thy words are death-" The stranger cried, as wild he flung His mantle back, and show'd beneath The Gheber belt that round him clung.' "Here, maiden look-weep-blush to see All that thy sire abhors in me! Yes-I am of that impious race, Those Slaves of Fire, who, morn and even, To IRAN and to vengeance true, He who gave birth to those dear eyes, From which our fires of worship rise! Or could this heart e'en now forget How link'd, how bless'd we might have been, 1 "They [the Ghebers] lay so much stress on the cushee or girdle, as not to dare to be an instant without it."Grose's Voyage. "Le jeune homme nia d'abord la chose; mais, ayant été dépouillé de sa robe, et la large ceinture qu'il portait comme Ghebr," etc. etc.-D' Herbelot, art. Agduani. 2 "They suppose the Throne of the Almighty is seated in the sun, and hence their worship of that luminary."-Han way. In which the charm of Country lies, Liv'd, look'd, and spoke her wrongs through God! who could then this sword withstand? Its very flash were victory! But now-estrang'd, divorc'd for ever, And calm and smooth it seem'd to win Its moonlight way before the wind, As if it bore all peace within, Nor left one breaking heart behind. THE Princess, whose heart was sad enough already, thee-could have wished that FERAMORZ had chosen a less melancholy story; as it is only to the happy that tears are a luxury. Her ladies, however, were by no means sorry that love was once more the Poet's theme; for, when he spoke of love, they said, his voice was as sweet as if he had chewed the leaves of that enchanted tree, which grows over the tomb of the musician, Tan-Sein. Faith, friends, and country, sunder'd wide;— And then, then only, true to love, When false to all that's dear beside! Thy father IRAN's deadliest foeThyself, perhaps, e'en now-but no— Hate never look'd so lovely yet! No-sacred to thy soul will be The land of him who could forget All but that bleeding land for thee! When other eyes shall see, unmov'd, Her widows mourn, her warriors fall, With sudden start he turn'd Flew up all sparkling from the main, Were shooting back to heaven again. "My signal-lights!--I must away- While pale and mute young HINDA stood, "I come-I come-if in that tide Than the chill wave my love lies under ;- Far sweeter, than to live asunder!" But no--their hour is not yet comeAgain she sees his pinnace fly, Wafting him fleetly to his home, Where'er that ill-starr'd home may lie; Their road all the morning had lain through a very dreary country;-through valleys, covered with a low bushy jungle, where, in more than one place, the awful signal of the bamboo staff, with the white flag at its top, reminded the traveller that in that very spot the tiger had made some human creature his victim. It was therefore with much pleasure that they arrived at sunset in a safe and lovely glen, and encamped under one of those holy trees, whose smooth columns and spreading roofs seem to destine them for natural temples of religion. Beneath the shade, some pious hands had erected pillars ornamented with the most beautiful porcelain, which now supplied the use of mirrors to the young maidens, as they adjusted their hair in descending from the palankeens. Here while, as usual, the Princess sat listening anxiously, with FADLADEEN in one of his loftiest moods of criticism by her side, the young Poet, leaning against a branch of the tree, thus continued his story: THE morn hath risen clear and calm, And o'er the Green Sea' palely shines, And curl the shining flood beneath,-- And cocoa-nut and flowery wreath, She sung so sweet, with none to listen, Where thickets of pomegranate glisten In the clear dawn,--bespangled o'er With dew, whose night-drops would not stain 3 Or Selemeh, the genuine name of the headland at the 1 "The Mamelukes that were in the other boat, when it entrance of the Gulf, commonly called Cape Musseldom was dark, used to shoot up a sort of fiery arrows into the" The Indians, when they pass the promontory, throw air, which in some measure resembled lightning or falling cocoa-nuts, fruits, or flowers into the sea to secure a prostars."--Baumgarten. pitious voyage."-Morier. The best and brightest scimetar1 On the first morning of his reign! And see-the Sun himself!-on wings Where are the days, thou wondrous sphere, And bind her ancient faith in chains :-- Or on the snowy Mossian mountains, Her jasmine bowers and sunny fountains! That crouches to the conqueror's creed! Quench'd with the flame in MITHRA's caves?— No-she has sons that never-never Will stoop to be the Moslem's slaves, Till, in some treacherous hour of calm, Yes, EMIR! he, who scal'd that tower, How safe e'en tyrants heads may rest- Who loathe thy haughty race and thee; 1 In speaking of the climate of Shiraz, Francklin says, "the dew is of such a pure nature, that, if the brightest scimitar should be exposed to it all night, it would not receive the least rust." 2 The place where the Persians were finally defeated by the Arabs, and their ancient monarchy destroyed. 3 Derbend.-"Les Tures appellent cette ville Demir Capi, Porte de Fer; ce sont les Caspia Porte des anciens."-D' Herbelot. 4 The Talpot or Talipot tree.-"This beautiful palmtree, which grows in the heart of the forests, may be classed aniong 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. Who, though they know the strife is vain- Snaps but to enter in the heart Of him who rends its links apart, E'en for one bleeding moment free, And die in pangs of liberty! Thou know'st them well-'tis some moons since Have swarm'd among these Green Sea crags; 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 The eyes of YEMEN's warriors wink? Cling to their country's ancient rites, Their closing gleam on IRAN's heights, And palsy shakes the manliest arm. Pulls down his cowl upon his eyes, 1 Tahmuras, and other ancient kings of Persia, whose adventures in Fairy Land among the Peris and Dives may A feather from the mystic wings Of the Simoorgh resistless wore; And such the colouring Fancy gave For happy homes, and altars free,His only talisman, the sword, His only spell-word, Liberty! One of that ancient hero line, Along whose glorious current shine Names that have sanctified their blood; AS LEBANON's small mountain flood Is rendered holy by the ranks Of sainted cedars on its banks!! "Twas not for him to crouch the knee Tamely to Moslem tyranny;"Twas not for him, whose soul was cast In the bright mould of ages past, Whose melancholy spirit, fed With all the glories of the dead, Though fram'd for IRAN's happiest years, Was born among her chains and tears! "Twas not for him to swell the crowd Of slavish heads, that, shrinking, bow'd Before the Moslem, as he pass'd, Like shrubs beneath the poison blastNo-far he fled, indignant fled The pageant of his country's shame; While every tear her children shed Fell on his soul like drops of flame; And as a lover hails the dawn Of a first smile, so welcom'd he But vain was valour-vain the flower There stood-but one short league away be found in Richardson's curious Dissertation. The griffin Simoorgh, they say, took some feathers from her breast for Talmuras, with which he adorned his helmet, and transmitted them afterwards to his descendants. 1 This rivulet, says Dandini, is called the Holy River, from the "cedar-saints," among which it rises. A last and solitary link Of those stupendous chains that reach Down winding to the Green Sea beach. As if to guard the Gulf across; That oft the sleeping albatross' On the land side, those towers sublime, No eye could pierce the void between; And in its caverns feed unseen. The sound of many torrents came; Though fled the Priests, the votaries gone, Through chance and change, through good and ill, Deep, constant, bright, unquenchable ! Thither the vanquish'd HAFED led They cross'd the chasm and gain'd the towers ;- Of Moslem triumph o'er our head; 1 These birds sleep in the air. They are most commer about the Cape of Good-Hope. 2 The Ghebers generally built their temples over Sh raneous fires. Stretch'd on this rock, while vulture's beaks Twas night when to those towers they came; Glar'd on his features, as he spoke : ""Tis o'er-what men could do, we've done : If IRAN will look tamely on, And see her priests, her warriors driven Before a sensual bigot's nod, A wretch, who takes his lusts to heaven, Men, in whose veins-oh last disgrace! Why, let them-till the land's despair Too vile for e'en the vile to bear! And, though but few-though fast the wave His Chiefs stood round-each shining blade Upon the broken altar laid And though so wild and desolate Those courts, where once the Mighty sate; 1 Ancient heroes of Persia. "Among the Ghebers there are some who boast their descent from Rustam."—Stephen's Persia. Nor hymn, nor censer's fragrant air, Nor symbol of their worshipp'd planet;' Brave, suffering souls! they little knew His talisman, and woke the tide, The Persian lily shines and towers, Hath fall'n upon her golden flowers. Thy Haram halls with furious heat, That came across thee, calm and sweet, Like lutes of angels, touch'd so near Hell's confines, that the damn'd can hear Far other feelings Love hath brought- Her soul all flame, her brow all sadness And thinks that o'er, almost to madness' Of rebel carnage fast succeeds, In every Gheber wretch that bleeds. There's not a sabre meets her eye, But with his life-blood seems to swim; There's not an arrow wings the sky, But fancy turns its point to him. No more she brings with footstep light AL HASSAN'S falchion for the fight; And-had he look'd with clearer sightHad not the mists, that ever rise From a foul spirit, dimm'd his eyesHe would have mark'd her shuddering frame, When from the field of blood he came; described by Lord, "the Daroo," he says, "giveth them water to drink, and a pomegranate leaf to chew in the mouth, to cleanse them from inward uncleanness." 1 "Early in the morning, they (the Parsees or Ghebers at 2 See Russel's account of the panthers attacking travellers Oulam) go in crowds to pay their devotions to the Sun, to in the night on the sea-shore about the roots of Lebanon. whom upon all the altars there are spheres consecrated, 3 Among other ceremonies, the Magi used to place upon made by magic, resembling the circles of the sun; and when the tops of high towers various kinds of rich viands, upon the sun rises, these orbs seem to be inflamed, and to turn which it was supposed the Peris and the spirits of their de-round with a great noise. They have every one a censer in parted heroes regalea themselves."--Richardson. their hands, and offer incense to the sun."--Rabbi Benj.v 4 In the ceremonies of the Ghebers round their Fire, as min. |