I saw, from the blue element

Oh beautiful, but fatal sight!
One of earth's fairest womankind,
Half veil'd from view, or rather shrined
In the clear crystal of a brook;

Which, while it hid no single gleam
Of her young beauties, made them look
More spirit-like, as they might seem
Through the dim shadowing of a dream.
Pausing in wonder I look'd on,

While, playfully around her breaking The waters, that like diamonds shone,

She moved in light of her own making. At length, as from that airy height I gently lower'd my breathless flight, The tremble of my wing all o'er

(For through each plume I felt the thrill) Startled her, as she reach'd the shore

Of that small lake-her mirror still-
Above whose brink she stood, like snow
When rosy with a sunset glow.
Never shall I forget those eyes!-
The shame, the innocent surprise
Of that bright face, when in the air
Uplooking, she beheld me there.
It seem'd as if each thought, and look,
And motion, were tl.at minute chain'd
Fast to the spot, such root she took,
And-like a sunflower by a brook,

With face upturn'd-so still remain'd!

In pity to the wond'ring maid,

Though loath from such a vision turning, Downward I bent, beneath the shade

Of my spread wings to hide the burning Of glances, which-I well could feel

For me, for her, too warmly shone ;
But, ere I could again unseal
My restless eyes, or even steal

One sidelong look, the maid was goneHid from me in the forest leaves,

Sudden as when, in all her charms Of full-blown light, some cloud receives The Moon into his dusky arms.

"Tis not in words to tell the power, The despotism that, from that hour, Passion held o'er me. Day and night

I sought around each neighboring spot;

1 The name given by the Mahometans to the infernal regions, over which, they say, the angel Tabhek presides.

By the seven gates of hell, mentioned in the Koran, the commentators understand seven different departments or wards, in which seven different sorts of sinners are to be panished. The first, called Gehennem, is for sinful Mussulmans; the second, Ladha, for Christian offenders; the

And, in the chase of this sweet light,

My task, and heaven, and all forgot ;All, but the one, sole, haunting dream Of her I saw in that bright stream.

Nor was it long, ere by her side

I found myself, whole happy days, List'ning to words, whose music vied

With our own Eden's seraph lays, When seraph lays are warm'd by love, But, wanting that, far, far above !And looking into eyes where, blue And beautiful, like skies seen through The sleeping wave, for me there shone A heaven, more worshipp'd than my own. Oh what, while I could hear and see Such words and looks, was heav'n to me? Though gross the air on earth I drew, "Twas blessed, while she breathed it too; Though dark the flow'rs, though dim the sky, Love lent them light, while she was nigh. Throughout creation I but knew Two separate worlds-the one, that small, Beloved, and consecrated spot Where LEA was-the other, all

The dull, wide waste, where she was not!

But vain my suit, my madness vain;
Though gladly, from her eyes to gain
One earthly look, one stray desire,
I would have torn the wings, that hung
Furl'd at my back, and o'er the Fire
In GEHIM's' pit their fragments flung;-
"Twas hopeless all-pure and unmoved
She stood, as lilies in the light

Of the hot noon but look more white;
And though she loved me, deeply loved,
"Twas not as man, as mortal-no,
Nothing of earth was in that glow-
She loved me but as one, of race
Angelic, from that radiant place
She saw so oft in dreams-that Heaven,

To which her prayers at morn were sent,
And on whose light she gazed at even,
Wishing for wings, that she might go
Out of this shadowy world below,
To that free, glorious element !

Well I remember by her side Sitting at rosy even-tide,

third, Hothama, is appointed for Jews; and the fourth and fifth, called Sair and Sacar, are destined to receive the Sabeans and the worshippers of fire: in the sixth, named Gehim, those pagans and idolaters who admit a plurality of gods are placed; while into the abyss of the seventh, called Derk Asfal, or the Deepest, the hypocritical canters of all religions are thrown.

So innocent the maid, so free

From mortal taint in soul and frame, Whom 'twas my crime-my destiny

To love, ay, burn for, with a flame, To which earth's wildest fires are tame. Had you but seen her look, when first From my mad lips th' avowal burst; Not anger'd-no-the feeling came From depths beyond mere anger's flameIt was a sorrow, calm as deep, A mournfulness that could not weep, So fill'd her heart was to the brink, So fix'd and froz'n with grief, to think That angel natures-that ev'n I, Whose love she clung to, as the tie Between her spirit and the skyShould fall thus headlong from the height Of all that heav'n hath pure and bright!

That very night-my heart had grown

Impatient of its inward burning;
The term, too, of my stay was flown,
And the bright Watchers near the throne,
Already, if a meteor shone

Between them and this nether zone,

Thought 'twas their herald's wing returning. Oft did the potent spell-word, giv'n

To Envoys hither from the skies,

To be pronunced, when back to heav'n
It is their time or wish to rise,
Come to my lips that fatal day;

And once, too, was so nearly spoken,
That my spread plumage in the ray
And breeze of heav'n began to play ;-
When my heart fail'd-the spell was broken-
The word unfinish'd died away,
And my check'd plumes, ready to soar,
Fell slack and lifeless as before.

How could I leave a world which she,
Or lost or won, made all to me?
No matter where my wand'rings were,

So there she look'd, breathed, moved about-
Wo, ruin, death, more sweet with her,
Than Paradise itself, without!

But, to return-that very day

A feast was held, where, full of mirth, Came-crowding thick as flow'rs that play In summer winds-the young and gay And beautiful of this bright earth. And she was there, and 'mid the young And beautiful stood first, alone; Though on her gentle brow still hung

The shadow I that morn had thrownThe first, that ever shame or wo Had cast upon its vernal snow. My heart was madden'd ;-in the flush Of the wild revel I gave way To all that frantic mirth-that rush Of desp❜rate gayety, which they, Who never felt how pain's excess Can break out thus, think happiness! Sad mimicry of mirth and life, Whose flashes come but from the strife Of inward passions-like the light Struck out by clashing swords in fight.

Then, too, that juice of earth, the bane And blessing of man's heart and brainThat draught of sorcery, which brings Phantoms of fair, forbidden things— Whose drops, like those of rainbows, smile Upon the mists that circle man, Bright'ning not only Earth, the while,

But grasping Heav'n, too, in their span!Then first the fatal wine-cup rain'd

Its dews of darkness through my lips,'
Casting whate'er of light remain'd
To my lost soul into eclipse;
And filling it with such wild dreams,

Such fantasies and wrong desires,
As, in the absence of heav'n's beams,

Haunt us forever-like wild-fires
That walk this earth, when day retires.

Now hear the rest ;-our banquet done, I sought her in th' accustom'd bow'r,

1 I have already mentioned that some of the circumstances of this story were suggested to me by the eastern legend of the two angels, Harut and Marut, as given by Mariti, who says that the author of the Taalim founds upon it the Mahometan prohibition of wine. I have since found that

Mariti's version of the tale (which differs also from that of Dr. Prideaux, in his Life of Mahomet) is taken from the French Encyclopédie, in which work, under the head “ Art et Marot," the reader will find it.

a The Bahardanush tells the fable differently.

Where late we oft, when day was gone,
And the world hush'd, had met alone,

At the same silent, moonlight hour.
Her eyes, as usual, were upturn'd
To her loved star, whose lustre burn'd

Purer than ever on that night;

While she, in looking, grew more bright, As though she borrow'd of its light.

There was a virtue in that scene,

A spell of holiness around,

Which, had my burning brain not been

Thus madden'd, would have held me bound, As though I trod celestial ground. Ev'n as it was, with soul all flame,

And lips that burn'd in their own sighs,
I stood to gaze, with awe and shame-
The memory of Eden came

Full o'er me when I saw those eyes;
And though too well each glance of mine
To the pale, shrinking maiden proved
How far, alas, from aught divine,
Aught worthy of so pure a shrine,

Was the wild love with which I loved,
Yet must she, too, have seen-oh yes,
"Tis soothing but to think she saw
The deep, true, soul-felt tenderness,

The homage of an Angel's awe
To her, a mortal, whom pure love
Then placed above him-far above-
And all that struggle to repress
A sinful spirit's mad excess,
Which work'd within me at that hour,
When, with a voice, where Passion shed
All the deep sadness of her power,

Her melancholy power-I said,
Then be it so; if back to heaven
"I must unloved, unpitied fly,
Without one blest memorial giv'n

To sooth me in that lonely sky; One look, like those the young and fond 'Give when they're parting-which would be, Ev'n in remembrance, far beyond

All heav'n hath left of bliss for me!

Oh, but to see that head recline

A minute on this trembling arm, And those mild eyes look up to mine, • Without a dread, a thought of harm!

• To meet, but once, the thrilling touch Of lips too purely fond to fear me

. Or, if that boon be all too much,

• Ev'n thus to bring their fragrance near me ! Nay, shrink not so-a look-a word—

• Give them but kindly and I fly;

'Already, see, my plumes have stirr'd, And tremble for their home on high. 'Thus be our parting-cheek to cheek'One minute's lapse will be forgiv'n, And thou, the next, shalt hear me speak 'The spell that plumes my wing for Heav'n!'

While thus I spoke, the fearful maid,
Of me, and of herself afraid,

Had shrinking stood, like flow'rs beneath
The scorching of the south-wind's breath:
But when I named-alas, too well,

I now recall, though wilder'd then,Instantly, when I named the spell,

Her brow, her eyes uprose again, And, with an eagerness, that spoke The sudden light that o'er her broke, 'The spell, the spell!-oh, speak it now, 'And I will bless thee!' she exclaim'dUnknowing what I did, inflamed,

And lost already, on her brow

I stamp'd one burning kiss, and named The mystic word, till then ne'er told To living creature of earth's mould! Scarce was it said, when, quick as thought, Her lips from mine, like echo, caught The holy sound-her hands and eyes Were instant lifted to the skies, And thrice to heav'n she spoke it out

With that triumphant look Faith wears, When not a cloud of fear or doubt, A vapor from this vale of tears, Between her and her God appears!

That very moment her whole frame
All bright and glorified became,
And at her back I saw unclose
Two wings, magnificent as those

That sparkle around ALLA's Throne, Whose plumes, as buoyantly she rose,

Above me, in the moonbeam shone With a pure light, which-from its hue, Unknown upon this earth-I knew Was light from Eden, glist'ning through! Most holy vision! ne'er before

Did aught so radiant-since the day When EBLIS, in his downfall, bore

The third of the bright stars away— Rise, in earth's beauty, to repair That loss of light and giory there!

But did I tamely view her flight?

Did not I, too, proclaim out thrice The pow'rful words that were, that night,Oh, ev'n for heaven too much delight!

Again to bring us, eyes to eyes,
And soul to soul, in Paradise?
I did I spoke it o'er and o'er-

I pray'd, I wept, but all in vain; For me the spell had pow'r no more.

There seem'd around me some dark chain Which still, as I essay'd to soar,

Baffled, alas, each wild endeavor: Dead lay my wings, as they have lain Since that sad hour, and will remain

So wills th' offended God-for ever!

It was to yonder star I traced
Her journey up th' illumined waste-
That isle in the blue firmament,
To which so oft her fancy went

In wishes and in dreams before,
And which was now-such, Purity,
Thy bless'd reward-ordain'd to be

Her home of light for evermore ! Once or did I but fancy so?—

Ev'n in her flight to that fair sphere, 'Mid all her spirit's new-felt glow, A pitying look she turn❜d below

On him who stood in darkness here; Him whom, perhaps, if vain regret Can dwell in heaven, she pities yet; And oft, when looking to this dim And distant world, remembers him.

But soon that passing dream was gone;
Farther and farther off she shone,
Till lessen'd to a point, as small

As are those specks that yonder burn,Those vivid drops of light, that fall

The last from Day's exhausted urn. And when at length she merged, afar, Into her own immortal star,

And when at length my straining sight Had caught her wing's last fading ray, That minute from my soul the light

Of heav'n and love both pass'd away; And I forgot my home, my birth,

Profaned my spirit, sunk my brow, And revell'd in gross joys of earth, Till I became-what I am now!"

The Spirit bow'd his head in shame ;

A shame, that of itself would tellWere there not ev'n those breaks of flame, Celestial, through his clouded frame

How grand the height from which he fel

1 The Kerubiim, as the Mussulmans call them, are often joined indiscriminately with the Asfil or Seraphim, un

That holy Shame, which ne'er forgets
Th' unblench'd renown it used to wear;
Whose blush remains, when Virtue sets,

To show her sunshine has been there.

Once only, while the tale he told,
Were his eyes lifted to behold
That happy, stainless star, where she
Dwelt in her bower of purity!

One minute did he look, and then

As though he felt some deadly pain

From its sweet light through heart and brainShrunk back, and never look'd again.

Who was the Second Spiri? he

With the proud front and piercing glaace-
Who seem'd, when viewing heaven's exparse,
As though his far-sent eye could see
On, on into th' Immensity

Behind the veils of that blue sky,
Where ALLA's grandest secrets lie ?—
His wings, the while, though day was gone,
Flashing with many a various hue
Of light they from themselves alone,
Instinct with Eden's brightness, drew.
"Twas RUBI-once among the prime

And flow'r of those bright creatures, named Spirits of Knowledge,' who o'er Time

And Space and Thought an empire claim'd, Second alone to Him, whose light Was, ev'n to theirs, as day to night; "Twixt whom and them was distance far And wide as would the journey be To reach from any island star

The vague shores of Infinity!

"Twas RUBI, in whose mournful eye
Slept the dim light of days gone by;
Whose voice, though sweet, fell on the ear
Like echoes, in some silent place,
When first awaked for many a year;

And when he smiled, if o'er his face
Smile ever shone, 'twas like the grace
Of moonlight rainbows, fair, but wan,
The sunny life, the glory gone.
Ev'n o'er his pride, though still the same,
A soft'ning shade from sorrow came;
And though at times his spirit knew
The kindlings of disdain and ire,

der one common name of Azazil, by which all spirits who approach near the throne of Alla are designated.