"On, Swords of God!" the panting CALIPH calls,"Thrones for the living-Heav'n for him who falls!"— "On, brave avengers, on," Mokanna cries, "And EBLIS blast the recreant slave that flies!" Now comes the brunt, the crisis of the day They clash-they strive-the CALIPH's troops give way! MOKANNA's self plucks the black Banner down, Is just within his grasp when, hark, that shout! A warrior, (like those angel youths, who led, 9 The Champions of the Faith through BEDER'S vale,) › Bold as if gifted with ten thousand lives, Turns on the fierce pursuers' blades, and drives At once the multitudinous torrent back, While hope and courage kindle in his track, 9 In the great victory gained by Mahomed at Beder, he was assisted, say the Mussulmans, by three thousand angels, led by Gabriel, mounted on his horse Hiazum-v. The Koran and its Commentators. In vain MOKANNA, midst the general flight, Right tow'rds MOKANNA now he cleaves his path, With swords of fire, ready like fate to fall, MOKANNA'S Soul would have defied them all; } Yet now, the rush of fugitives, too strong Turns, ev'n in drowning, on the wretched flocks "Alla illa Alla !" the glad shout renew"Alla Akbar!”—the Caliph's in MEROU. Hang out your gilded tapestry in the streets, And light your shrines and chaunt your ziraleets;2 The Swords of God have triumph'd on his throne Your Caliph sits, and the Veil'd Chief hath flown. To whom the Lord of Islam bends his brow, t The Tecbir, or cry of the Arabs. "Alla Acbar!" says Ockley, means God is most mighty." 2 The ziraleet is a kind of chorus, which the women of the East sing upon joyful occasions.- Russel. For his throne's safety in that perilous hour? Who doth not wonder, when, amidst the' acclaim Which sound along the path of virtuous souls, A dark, cold calm, which nothing now can break, Or warm or brighten, like that Syrian Lake, Upon whose surface morn and summer shed Their smiles in vain, for all beneath is dead! } Hearts there have been, o'er which this weight of woe Came by long use of suffering, tame and slow; But thine, lost youth! was sudden - over thee It broke at once, when all seem'd extacy; 2 The Dead Sea, which contains neither animal nor vegetable life. X When Hope look'd up, and saw the gloomy Past Ev'n then, the full, warm gushings of thy heart One sole desire, one passion now remains, To keep life's fever still within his veins, Vengeance !-dire vengeance on the wretch who cast For this, when rumours reach'd him in his flight Rumours of armies, thronging to the' attack Of the Veil'd Chief, — for this he wing'd him back, And came when all seem'd lost, and wildly hurl'd For this he still lives on, careless of all H } |