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Ere he could think she was indeed his own,
Own darling maid, whom he so long had known
In joy and sorrow, beautiful in both;

Who, ev'n when grief was heaviest - when loth
He left her for the wars - in that worst hour

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Sat in her sorrow like the sweet night-flower,'
When darkness brings its weeping glories out,
And spreads its sighs like frankincense about!

"Look up, my ZELICA one moment show "Those gentle eyes to me, that I may know Thy life, thy loveliness is not all gone,

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"But there, at least, shines as it ever shone.

"Come, look upon thy AzIM-one dear glance, "Like those of old, were heav'n! whatever chance

"Hath brought thee here,

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oh! 'twas a blessed one! -they move

that kiss hath

"Like the first shoot of life through every vein, "And now I clasp her, mine, all mine again!

9 The sorrowful nyctanthes, which begins to spread its rich odour after sun-set.

"Oh the delight-now, in this very hour,
"When had the whole rich world been in my power,

"I should have singled out thee, only thee,
"From the whole world's collected treasury -

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"To have thee here to hang thus fondly o'er

"My own best, purest ZELICA once more !"—

It was indeed the touch of those lov'd lips Upon her eyes that chas'd their short eclipse, And, gradual as the snow, at heaven's breath, Melts off and shows the azure flowers beneath, Her lids unclos'd, and the bright eyes were seen Gazing on his, not, as they late had been,

Quick, restless, wild, but mournfully serene;

As if to lie, ev'n for that tranced minute,

So near his heart, had consolation in it;
And thus to wake in his belov'd caress

Took from her soul one half its wretchedness.
But, when she heard him call her good and pure,
Oh 'twas too much too dreadful to endure!
Shuddering she broke away from his embrace,
And, hiding with both hands her guilty face,

Said, in a tone whose anguish would have riven

A heart of very marble, "pure! -oh Heaven."

That tone-those looks so chang'd-the withering

blight,

That sin and sorrow leave where'er they light

The dead despondency of those sunk eyes,

Where once, had he thus met her by surprize,
He would have seen himself, too happy boy,
Reflected in a thousand lights of joy;

And then the place, that bright unholy place,
Where vice lay hid beneath each winning grace
And charm of luxury, as the viper weaves
Its wily covering of sweet balsam-leaves; '--
All struck upon his heart, sudden and cold
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,

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That could from heav'n and him such brightness sever,

'Tis done to heav'n and him she's lost for ever!

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I 66 Concerning the vipers, which Pliny says were frequent among the balsam-trees, I made very particular enquiry; several were brought me alive both to Yambo and Jidda.”—Bruce.

It was a dreadful moment; not the tears,

The lingering, lasting misery of years

Could match that minute's anguish all the worst

Of sorrow's elements in that dark burst

Broke o'er his soul, and, with one crash of fate,
Laid the whole hopes of his life desolate!

"Oh! curse me not," she cried, as wild he toss'd His desperate hand tow'rds heav'n-" though I am lost, "Think not that guilt, that falsehood made me fall, " No, no -'twas grief, 'twas madness did it all!

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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!

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They told me thou wert dead

why, Azim, why

"Did we not, both of us, that instant die

"When we were parted? oh ! could'st 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,

"And memory, like a drop that, night and day,

"Falls cold and ceaseless, wore my heart away !

"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"Oh God! thou would'st 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 "All wild and ev'n this quenchless love within "Turn'd to foul fires to light me into sin!

"Thou pitiest me-I knew thou would'st—that sky "Hath nought beneath it half so lorn as I. "The fiend, who lur'd me hither-hist! come near, "Or thou too, thou art lost, if he should hear "Told me such things-oh! with such devilish art, "As would have ruin'd ev'n a holier heart"Of thee, and of that ever-radiant sphere, "Where bless'd at length, if I but serv'd him here, "I should for ever live in thy dear sight, "And drink from those pure eyes eternal light!

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