None but the loving and the lov'd

Should be awake at this sweet hour.

And see where, high above those rocks

That o'er the deep their shadows fling,

Yon turret stands; where ebon locks,

As glossy as a heron's wing

Upon the turban of a king,3

Hang from the lattice, long and wild, —
'Tis she, that EMIR's blooming child,
All truth and tenderness and grace,
Though born of such ungentle race; —
An image of Youth's radiant Fountain
Springing in a desolate mountain ! '

Oh what a pure and sacred thing
Is Beauty, curtain'd from the sight

Of the gross world, illumining

One only mansion with her light!

8" Their kings wear plumes of black herons' feathers upon the

right side, as a badge of sovereignty." - Hanway.

9" The Fountain of Youth, by a Mahometan tradition, is situated in some dark region of the east.". Richardson.

Unseen by man's disturbing eye, —

The flower, that blooms beneath the sea Too deep for sunbeams, doth not lie

Hid in more chaste obscurity!
So, HINDA, have thy face and mind,
Like holy mysteries, lain enshrin❜d.
And oh what transport for a lover

To lift the veil that shades them o'er!-
Like those who, all at once, discover

In the lone deep some fairy shore, Where mortal never trod before, And sleep and wake in scented airs No lip had ever breath'd but theirs!

Beautiful are the maids that glide,

On summer-eves, through YEMEN's' dales, And bright the glancing looks they hide

Behind their litters' roseate veils ;

And brides, as delicate and fair

As the white jasmine flowers they wear,
Hath YEMEN in her blissful clime,

Who, lull'd in cool kiosk or bower,

Arabia Felix.

Before their mirrors count the time,

And grow still lovelier every hour.

But never yet hath bride or maid

In ARABY's gay Harams smil'd,
Whose boasted brightness would not fade
Before AL HASSAN's blooming child.

ray

Light as the angel shapes that bless
An infant's dream, yet not the less
Rich in all woman's loveliness;
With eyes so pure, that from their
Dark Vice would turn abash'd away,
Blinded like serpents, when they gaze
Upon the emerald's virgin blaze!'
Yet, fill'd with all youth's sweet desires,
Mingling the meek and vestal fires
Of other worlds with all the bliss,
The fond, weak tenderness of this!
A soul, too, more than half divine,

2

Where, through some shades of earthly feeling,

"They say that if a snake or serpent fix his eyes on the lustre of those stones (emeralds), he immediately becomes blind.”. ben Abdalaziz, Treatise on Jewels.

Ahmed

Religion's soften'd glories shine,

Like light through summer foliage stealing,

Shedding a glow of such mild hue,
So warm, and yet so shadowy too,

As makes the very darkness there
More beautiful than light elsewhere!

Such is the maid who, at this hour,
Hath risen from her restless sleep,
And sits alone in that high bower,
Watching the still and shining deep.
Ah! 'twas not thus, with tearful eyes

And beating heart, she us'd to gaze
On the magnificent earth and skies,
In her own land, in happier days.
Why looks she now so anxious down
Among those rocks, whose rugged frown
Blackens the mirror of the deep?

Whom waits she all this lonely night?

Too rough the rocks, too bold the steep, For man to scale that turret's height ! —

So deem'd at least her thoughtful sire,
When high, to catch the cool night-air,

3

After the day-beam's withering fire, 3

He built her bower of freshness there, And had it deck'd with costliest skill,

And fondly thought it safe as fair:—
Think, reverend dreamer! think so still,

Nor wake to learn what Love can dare-
Love, all-defying Love, who sees
No charm in trophies won with ease;
Whose rarest, dearest fruits of bliss
Are pluck'd on Danger's precipice!
Bolder than they, who dare not dive

For pearls, but when the sea's at rest,
Love, in the tempest most alive,

Hath ever held that pearl the best He finds beneath the stormiest water! Yes-ARABY's unrivall'd daughter,

Though high that tower, that rock-way rude,
There's one who, but to kiss thy cheek,

Would climb th' untrodden solitude

Of ARARAT'S tremendous peak,

4

3 At Gombaroon and the Isle of Ormus it is sometimes so hot, that the people are obliged to lie all day in the water.

Marco Polo.

4 This mountain is generally supposed to be inaccessible.