A something, light as air-a look, A word unkind, or wrongly taken- Breaks into floods, that part for ever. He sits, with flowrets fetter'd round ;'- Is found beneath far Eastern skies,Whose wings; though radiant when at rest, Lose all their glory when he flies !? Some difference, of this dangerous kind,By which, though light, the links that bind The fondest hearts may soon be riven; Some shadow in love's summer heaven, Which, though a fleecy speck at first, May yet in awful thunder burst ;Such cloud it is, that now hangs over The heart of the Imperial Lover, And far hath banish'd from his sight His NOURMAHAL, his Haram's Light! Hence is it, on this happy night, When Pleasure through the fields and groves He wanders, joyless and alone, And weary as that bird of Thrace, Whose pinion knows no resting-place.3 This Eden of the earth supplies Come crowding round-the cheeks are pale, The eyes are dim-though rich the spot With every flower this earth has got, What is it to the nightingale, If there his darling rose is not ?4 1 See the representation of the Eastern Cupid pinioned closely round with wreaths of flowers, in Picart's Cérémonies Religieuses. 2 Among the birds of Tonquin is a species of goldfinch, which sings so melodiously that it is called the Celestial Bird. Its wings, when it is perched, appear variegated with beautiful colours, but when it flies they lose all their splendour."Grosier. 3" As these birds on the Bosphorus are never known to rest, they are called by the French 'les ames damnées."— Dalloway. 4" You may place a hundred handfuls of fragrant herbs and flowers before the nightingale, yet he wishes not, in his In vain the Valley's smiling throng Hence is it too, that NOURMAHAL, Sits in her own sequester'd bower, To the gold gems2 of AFRIC, bound Upon the wandering Arab's arm, To keep him from the Siltim's3 harm. And she had pledg'd her powerful art, Pledg'd it with all the zeal and heart Of one who knew, though high her sphere, What 'twas to lose a love so dear, To find some spell that should recall Her SELIM's smile to NOURMAHAL! 'Twas midnight-through the lattice, wreath'd To every breeze that roams about ;- constant heart, for more than the sweet breath of his beloved rose."-Jami. 1" He is said to have found the great Mantra, spell or talisman, through which he ruled over the elements and spirits of all denominations."-Wilford. 2" The gold jewels of Jinnie, which are called by the Arabs El Herrez, from the supposed charm they contain."— Jackson. 3" A demon, supposed to haunt woods, &c. in a human shape."-Richardson. 4" The name of Jehanguire before his accession to the throne. "For me, for me," Cried NOURMAHAL impatiently, "Oh! twine that wreath for me to-night." Then rapidly, with foot as light As the young musk-roe's, out she flew And new-blown lilies of the river, Their buds on CAMEDEVA's quiver;2The tube-rose, with her silvery light, That in the Gardens of MALAY Is call'd the Mistress of the Night," So like a bride, scented and bright, She comes out when the sun's away.- And to the humble rosemary, 1" Hemasagare, or the Sea of Gold, with flowers of the brightest gold colour."-Sir W. Jones. 2" This tree (the Nagacesara) is one of the most delightful on earth, and the delicious odour of its blossoms justly gives them a place in the quiver of Camadeva, or the God of Love."-Id. 3" The Malayans style the tube-rose (Polianthes tuberosa) Sandal Malam, or the Mistress of the Night."-Pen nant. 4 The people of the Batta country in Sumatra (of which Zamara is one of the ancient names) "when not engaged in war, lead an idle, inactive life, passing the day in playing on a kind of flute, crowned with garlands of flowers, among which the globe-amaranthus, a native of the country, mostly prevails."-Marsden. 5"The largest and richest sort (of the Jambu or roseapple) is called Amrita or immortal, and the mythologists of Tibet apply the same word to a celestial tree, bearing ambrosial fruit."-Sir W. Jones. 6 Sweet-basil, called Rayban in Persia, and generally found in church-yards. 7" In the Great Desert are found many stalks of lavender and rosemary."-Asiat. Res. Who heaps her baskets with the flowers She hung above those fragrant treasures, No sooner was the flowery crown Where Love himself, of old, lay sleeping;2And now a spirit form'd, 'twould seem, Of music and of light, so fair, And such a sound in the air And Hope from a heavenly note flies on, To a note more heavenly still that is near! The warrior's heart, when touch'd by me, Can as downy soft and as yielding be, As his own white plume, that high amid death Through the field has shone-yet moves with a breath. And, oh, how the eyes of beauty glisten, When Music has reach'd her inward soul, From my fairy home, And if there's a magic in Music's strain, I swear by the breath Of that moonlight wreath, Thy lover shall sigh at thy feet again. From CHINDARA's3 warbling fount I come, Call'd by that moonlight garland's spell; From CHINDARA's fount, my fairy home, Where in music, morn and night, I dwell; Where lutes in the air are heard about, And voices are singing the whole day long, And every sigh the heart breathes out Is turn'd, as it leaves the lips, to song! From my fairy home, And if there's a magic in Music's strain, Of that moonlight wreath, For mine is the lay that lightly floats, Mine is the charm, whose mystic sway The cinnamon seed from grove to grove.* 1 The myrrh country. 2 "This idea (of deities living in shells, was not unknown to the Greeks, who represent the young Nerites, one of the Cupids, as living in shells on the shores of the Red Sea." Wilford. 3A fabulous fountain, where instruments are said to be constantly playing."-Richardson. 4 The Pompadour pigeon is the species, which, by carrying the fruit of the cinnamon to different places, is a great disseminator of this valuable tree."-See Brown's ilustr. Tab. 19. L "Tis dawn-at least that earlier dawn, The wonders of her lute, whose strings- From that ambrosial Spirit's wings! And then, her voice-'tis more than humanNever, till now, had it been given To lips of any mortal woman To utter notes so fresh from heaven; Sweet as the breath of angel sighs, When angel sighs are most divine.— "Oh! let it last till night," she cries, "And he is more than ever mine." And hourly she renews the lay, So fearful lest its heavenly sweetness Should, ere the evening, fade away, For things so heavenly have such fleetness! But, far from fading, it but grows Richer, diviner as it flows; In love with her own wondrous song. Th' Imperial SELIM held a Feast In whose Saloons, when the first star 1 "They have two mornings, the Soobhi Kazim, and the Soobhi Sadig, the false and the real day-break."-Waring. 2"The waters of Cachemir are the more renowned from its being supposed that the Cachemirians are indebted for their beauty to them."-Ali Yezdi. Singing in gardens of the South' Those songs, that ne'er so sweetly sound As from a young Cashmerian's mouth; There too the Haram's inmates smile ; Maids from the West, with sun-bright hair, And from the Garden of the NILE, Delicate as the roses there;2 In their own bright Kathaian bowers, That they might fancy the rich flowers, Every thing young, every thing fair Thou wert not there-so SELIM thought, And every thing seem'd drear without thee: But ah! thou wert, thou wert-and brought Thy charm of song all fresh about thee. Mingling unnotic'd with a band Of lutanists from many a land, And veil'd by such a mask as shades The features of young Arab maids,A mask that leaves but one eye free, To do its best in witchery,She rov'd, with beating heart, around, And waited, trembling, for the minute, When she might try if still the sound Of her lov'd lute had magic in it. The board was spread with fruits and wine; With grapes of gold, like those that shine On CASBIN'S hills ;-pomegranates full 1 "From him I received the following little Gazzel, or Love Song, the notes of which he committed to paper from the voice of one of those singing girls of Cachinere, who wander from that delightful valley over the various parts of India."-Persian Miscellanies. 2 "The roses of the Jinan Nile, or Garden of the Nile, (attached to the Emperor of Morocco's palace) are unequalled, and mattresses are made of their leaves for men of rank to recline upon."-Jackson. 3 "On the side of a mountain near Paphos there is a cavern which produces the most beautiful rock crystal. On account of its brilliancy it has been called the Paphian diamond."-Mariti. 4 "There is a part of Candahar, called Peria or Fairy Land."-Thevenot. In some of those countries to the North of India vegetable gold is supposed to be produced. Of melting sweetness, and the pears And sunniest apples that CAUBUul' In all its thousand gardens2 bears. Plantains, the golden and the green, MALAYA's nectar'd mangusteen ;3 Prunes of BOKARA, and sweet nuts 4 From the far groves of SAMARKAND, In baskets of pure sandal-wood, As if that jewel, large and rare, And amply SELIM quaffs of each, A genial deluge, as they run, That soon shall leave no spot undrown'd, He little knew how well the boy That with his image shone beneath. 1 "The fruits exported from Caubul are apples, pears, pomegranates, etc."-Elphinstone. 2 "We sat down under a tree, listened to the birds, and talked with the son of our Mehmaunder about our country and Caubul, of which he gave an enchanting account: that city and its 100,000 gardens, etc."-Id. 3 "The Mangusteen, the most delicate fruit in the world; the pride of the Malay Islands."—Marsden. 4"A delicious kind of apricot, called by the Persians tokm-ed-shems, signifying sun's seed.”—Description of Persia. 5" Sweetmeats in a crystal cup, consisting of rose-leaves in conserve, with lemon or Visna cherry, orange flowers, etc."-Russel. 6 "Antelopes cropping the fresh berries of Erac."-The Moallakat, a poem of Tarafa. 7 Mauri-ga-Sima, an island near Formosa, supposed to have been sunk in the sea for the crimes of its inhabitants. The vessels which the fishermen and divers bring up from 5 "These are the butterflies, which are called in the Chi-it are sold at an immense price in China and Japan.-Seo nese language Flying Leaves. Some of them have such shining colours, and are so variegated, that they may be called flying flowers; and indeed they are always produced in the finest flower-gardens."-Dunn. Kempfer. 8 Persian Tales. 9 The white wine of Kishma. 10 "The King of Zeilan is said to have the very finest ruby that was ever seen, Kublai-Kahn sent and offered the value of a city for it, but the King answered he would not give it for the treasure of the world."-Marco Polo. 11 The Indians feign that Cupid was first seen_floating down the Ganges on the Nymphæa Nelumbo.-See Pen nant. But what are cups, without the aid Of song to speed them as they flow? And see a lovely Georgian maid, With all the bloom, the freshen'd glow Of her own country maidens' looks, When warm they rise from TEFLIS' brooks;' And with an eye, whose restless ray, Full, floating, dark-oh he, who knows His heart is weak, of heav'n should pray, To guard him from such eyes as those!— With a voluptuous wildness flings Her snowy hand across the strings Of a syrinda, and thus sings : Come hither, come hither-by night and by day, Here maidens are sighing, and fragrant their sigh Here sparkles the nectar, that hallow'd by love, Could draw down those angels of old from their sphere, Who for wine of this earth' left the fountains above, And forgot heaven's stars for the eyes we have here. And, bless'd with the odour our goblets give forth, The Georgian's song was scarcely mute, And so divinely breath'd around, And turn'd and look'd into the air, Of ISRAFIL, the Angel, there;- Along its chords, and so entwine Its sound with theirs, that none knew whether 1 Teflis is celebrated for its natural warm baths.-See Ebn Haukal. 2 "The Indian Syrinda or guitar."-Symes. 3 "Delightful are the flowers of the Amra-trees on the mountain tops, while the murmuring bees pursue their voluptuous toil."-Song of Jayadeva. 4 "The Nisan, or drops of spring rain, which they believe to produce pearls if they fall into shells."-Richardson. 5 For an account of the share which wine had in the fall of the argels-90e Mariti. 6 The Angel of Music, see note, p. 72. The voice or lute was most divine, So wond'rously they went together: There's a bliss beyond all that the minstrel has told, When two, that are link'd in one heavenly tie, With heart never changing and brow never cold, Love on through all ills, and love on till they die ! One hour of a passion so sacred is worth Whole ages of heartless and wandering bliss; 'Twas not the air, 'twas not the words, After the fairy sounds were o'er, Fly to the desert, fly with me, Our Arab tents are rude for thee; But oh! the choice what heart can doubt Our sands are bare, but down their slope As gracefully and gaily springs Then come-thy Arab maid will be Oh! there are looks and tones that dart As if the very lips and eyes So came thy every glance and tone, Then fly with me,-if thou hast known |