Chapter XXVII: Letter IV (2)

"Obeyed!--'tis well--yes, I deserve it all-- "On me, on me Heaven's vengeance can not fall "Too heavily--but AZIM, brave and true "And beautiful--must _he_ be ruined too? "Must _he_ too, glorious as he is, be driven "A renegade like me from Love and Heaven? "Like me?--weak wretch, I wrong him--not like me; "No--he's all truth and strength and purity! "Fill up your maddening hell-cup to the brim, "Its witchery, fiends, will have no charm for him. "Let loose your glowing wantons from their bowers, "He loves, he loves, and can defy their powers! "Wretch as I am, in his heart still I reign "Pure as when first we met, without a stain! "Tho' ruined--lost--my memory like a charm "Left by the dead still keeps his soul from harm. "Oh! never let him know how deep the brow "He kist at parting is dishonored now;-- "Ne'er tell him how debased, how sunk is she. "Whom once he loved--once!--_still_ loves dotingly. "Thou laugh'st, tormentor,--what!--thou it brand my name? "Do, do--in vain--he'll not believe my shame-- "He thinks me true, that naught beneath God's sky "Could tempt or change me, and--so once thought I. "But this is past--tho' worse than death my lot, "Than hell--'tis nothing while _he_ knows it not. "Far off to some benighted land I'll fly, "Where sunbeam ne'er shall enter till I die; "Where none will ask the lost one whence she came, "But I may fade and fall without a name. "And thou--curst man or fiend, whate'er thou art, "Who found'st this burning plague-spot in my heart, "And spread'st it--oh, so quick!--thro' soul and frame, "With more than demon's art, till I became "A loathsome thing, all pestilence, all flame!-- "If, when I'm gone"--"Hold, fearless maniac, hold, "Nor tempt my rage--by Heaven, not half so bold "The puny bird that dares with teasing hum "Within the crocodile's stretched jaws to come![52] "And so thou'lt fly, forsooth?--what!--give up all "Thy chaste dominion in the Haram Hall, "Where now to Love and now to ALLA given, "Half mistress and half saint, thou hang'st as even "As doth MEDINA'S tomb, 'twixt hell and heaven! "Thou'lt fly?--as easily may reptiles run, "The gaunt snake once hath fixt his eyes upon; "As easily, when caught, the prey may be "Pluckt from his loving folds, as thou from me. "No, no, 'tis fixt--let good or ill betide, "Thou'rt mine till death, till death MOKANNA'S bride! "Hast thou forgot thy oath?"-- At this dread word, The Maid whose spirit his rude taunts had stirred Thro' all its depths and roused an anger there, That burst and lightened even thro' her despair-- Shrunk back as if a blight were in the breath That spoke that word and staggered pale as death.

"Yes, my sworn bride, let others seek in bowers "Their bridal place--the charnel vault was ours! "Instead of scents and balms, for thee and me "Rose the rich steams of sweet mortality, "Gay, flickering death-lights shone while we were wed. "And for our guests a row of goodly Dead, "(Immortal spirits in their time, no doubt,) "From reeking shrouds upon the rite looked out! "That oath thou heard'st more lips than thine repeat-- "That cup--thou shudderest, Lady,--was it sweet? "That cup we pledged, the charnel's choicest wine, "Hath bound thee--ay--body and soul all mine; "Bound thee by chains that, whether blest or curst "No matter now, not hell itself shall burst! "Hence, woman, to the Haram, and look gay, "Look wild, look--anything but sad; yet stay-- "One moment more--from what this night hath past, "I see thou know'st me, know'st me _well_ at last. "Ha! ha! and so, fond thing, thou thought'st all true, "And that I love mankind?--I do, I do-- "As victims, love them; as the sea-dog dotes "Upon the small, sweet fry that round him floats; "Or, as the Nile-bird loves the slime that gives "That rank and venomous food on which she lives!--

"And, now thou seest my _soul's_ angelic hue, "'Tis time these _features_ were uncurtained too;-- "This brow, whose light--oh rare celestial light! "Hath been reserved to bless thy favored sight; "These dazzling eyes before whose shrouded might "Thou'st seen immortal Man kneel down and quake-- "Would that they _were_ heaven's lightnings for his sake! "But turn and look--then wonder, if thou wilt, "That I should hate, should take revenge, by guilt, "Upon the hand whose mischief or whose mirth "Sent me thus mained and monstrous upon earth; "And on that race who, tho' more vile they be "Than moving apes, are demigods to me! "Here--judge if hell, with all its power to damn, "Can add one curse to the foul thing I am!"-- He raised his veil--the Maid turned slowly round, Looked at him--shrieked--and sunk upon the ground!

On their arrival next night at the place of encampment they were surprised and delighted to find the groves all around illuminated; some artists of Yamtcheou[53] having been sent on previously for the purpose. On each side of the green alley, which led to the Royal Pavilion, artificial sceneries of bamboo-work were erected, representing arches, minarets, towers, from which hung thousands of silken lanterns painted by the most delicate pencils of Canton.--Nothing could be more beautiful than the leaves of the mango-trees and acacias shining in the light of the bamboo-scenery which shed a lustre round as soft as that of the nights of Peristan.

LALLA ROOKH, however, who was too much occupied by the sad story of ZELICA and her lover to give a thought to anything else, except perhaps him who related it, hurried on through this scene of splendor to her pavilion,--greatly to the mortification of the poor artists of Yamtcheou,--and was followed with equal rapidity by the Great Chamberlain, cursing, as he went, that ancient Mandarin, whose parental anxiety in lighting up the shores of the lake, where his beloved daughter had wandered and been lost, was the origin of these fantastic Chinese illuminations.[54]

Without a moment's delay, young FERAMORZ was introduced, and FADLADEEN, who could never make up his mind as to the merits of a poet till he knew the religious sect to which he belonged, was about to ask him whether he was a Shia or a Sooni when LALLA KOOKH impatiently clapped her hands for silence, and the youth being seated upon the musnud near her proceeded:--

Prepare thy soul, young AZIM!--thou hast braved The bands of GREECE, still mighty tho' enslaved; Hast faced her phalanx armed with all its fame,-- Her Macedonian pikes and globes of fame, All this hast fronted with firm heart and brow, But a more perilous trial waits thee now,-- Woman's bright eyes, a dazzling host of eyes From every land where woman smiles or sighs; Of every hue, as Love may chance to raise His black or azure banner in their blaze; And each sweet mode of warfare, from the flash That lightens boldly thro' the shadowy lash, To the sly, stealing splendors almost hid Like swords half-sheathed beneath the downcast lid;-- Such, AZIM, is the lovely, luminous host Now led against thee; and let conquerors boast Their fields of fame, he who in virtue arms A young, warm spirit against beauty's charms, Who feels her brightness, yet defies her thrall, Is the best, bravest conqueror of them all.

Now, thro' the Haram chambers, moving lights And busy shapes proclaim the toilet's rites;-- From room to room the ready handmaids hie, Some skilled to wreath the turban tastefully, Or hang the veil in negligence of shade O'er the warm blushes of the youthful maid, Who, if between the folds but one eye shone, Like SEBA'S Queen could vanquish with that one:[55]--

While some bring leaves of Henna to imbue The fingers' ends with a bright roseate hue,[56] So bright that in the mirror's depth they seem Like tips of coral branches in the stream: And others mix the Kohol's jetty dye, To give that long, dark languish to the eye,[57] Which makes the maids whom kings are proud to call From fair Circassia's vales, so beautiful. All is in motion; rings and plumes and pearls Are shining everywhere:--some younger girls Are gone by moonlight to the garden-beds, To gather fresh, cool chaplets for their heads;-- Gay creatures! sweet, tho' mournful, 'tis to see How each prefers a garland from that tree Which brings to mind her childhood's innocent day And the dear fields and friendships far away. The maid of INDIA, blest again to hold In her full lap the Champac's leaves of gold,[58] Thinks of the time when, by the GANGES' flood, Her little playmates scattered many a bud Upon her long black hair with glossy gleam Just dripping from the consecrated stream; While the young Arab haunted by the smell Of her own mountain flowers as by a spell,-- The sweet Alcaya[59] and that courteous tree Which bows to all who seek its canopy,[60] Sees called up round her by these magic scents The well, the camels, and her father's tents; Sighs for the home she left with little pain, And wishes even its sorrow back again!

Meanwhile thro' vast illuminated halls, Silent and bright, where nothing but the falls Of fragrant waters gushing with cool sound From many a jasper fount is heard around, Young AZIM roams bewildered,--nor can guess What means this maze of light and loneliness. Here the way leads o'er tesselated floors Or mats of CAIRO thro' long corridors, Where ranged in cassolets and silver urns Sweet wood of aloe or of sandal burns, And spicy rods such as illume at night The bowers of TIBET[61] send forth odorous light, Like Peris' wands, when pointing out the road For some pure Spirit to its blest abode:-- And here at once the glittering saloon Bursts on his sight, boundless and bright as noon; Where in the midst reflecting back the rays In broken rainbows a fresh fountain plays High as the enamelled cupola which towers All rich with Arabesques of gold and flowers: And the mosaic floor beneath shines thro' The sprinkling of that fountain's silvery dew, Like the wet, glistening shells of every dye That on the margin of the Red Sea lie.

Here too he traces the kind visitings Of woman's love in those fair, living things Of land and wave, whose fate--in bondage thrown For their weak loveliness--is like her own! On one side gleaming with a sudden grace Thro' water brilliant as the crystal vase In which it undulates, small fishes shine Like golden ingots from a fairy mine;-- While, on the other, latticed lightly in With odoriferous woods of COMORIN, Each brilliant bird that wings the air is seen;-- Gay, sparkling loories such as gleam between The crimson blossoms of the coral-tree[62] In the warm isles of India's sunny sea: Mecca's blue sacred pigeon,[63] and the thrush Of Hindostan[64] whose holy warblings gush At evening from the tall pagoda's top;-- Those golden birds that in the spice time drop About the gardens, drunk with that sweet food[65] Whose scent hath lured them o'er the summer flood;[66] And those that under Araby's soft sun Build their high nests of budding cinnamon;[67] In short, all rare and beauteous things that fly Thro' the pure element here calmly lie Sleeping in light, like the green birds[68] that dwell In Eden's radiant fields of asphodel!

So on, thro' scenes past all imagining, More like the luxuries of that impious King,[69] Whom Death's dark Angel with his lightning torch Struck down and blasted even in Pleasure's porch, Than the pure dwelling of a Prophet sent Armed with Heaven's sword for man's enfranchisement-- Young AZIM wandered, looking sternly round, His simple garb and war-boots clanking sound But ill according with the pomp and grace And silent lull of that voluptuous place.

"Is this, then," thought the youth, "is this the way "To free man's spirit from the deadening sway "Of worldly sloth,--to teach him while he lives "To know no bliss but that which virtue gives, "And when he dies to leave his lofty name "A light, a landmark on the cliffs of fame? "It was not so, Land of the generous thought "And daring deed, thy god-like sages taught; "It was not thus in bowers of wanton ease "Thy Freedom nurst her sacred energies; "Oh! not beneath the enfeebling, withering glow "Of such dull luxury did those myrtles grow "With which she wreathed her sword when she would dare "Immortal deeds; but in the bracing air "Of toil,--of temperance,--of that high, rare, "Ethereal virtue, which alone can breathe "Life, health, and lustre into Freedom's wreath. "Who that surveys this span of earth we press.-- "This speck of life in time's great wilderness, "This narrow isthmus 'twixt two boundless seas, "The past, the future, two eternities!-- "Would sully the bright spot, or leave it bare, "When he might build him a proud temple there, "A name that long shall hallow all its space, "And be each purer soul's high resting-place. "But no--it cannot be, that one whom God "Has sent to break the wizard Falsehood's rod,-- "A Prophet of the Truth, whose mission draws "Its rights from Heaven, should thus profane its cause "With the world's vulgar pomps;--no, no,--I see-- "He thinks me weak--this glare of luxury "Is but to tempt, to try the eaglet gaze "Of my young soul--shine on, 'twill stand the blaze!"

So thought the youth;--but even while he defied This witching scene he felt its witchery glide Thro' every sense. The perfume breathing round, Like a pervading spirit;--the still sound Of falling waters, lulling as the song Of Indian bees at sunset when they throng Around the fragrant NILICA, and deep In its blue blossoms hum themselves to sleep;[70] And music, too--dear music! that can touch Beyond all else the soul that loves it much-- Now heard far off, so far as but to seem Like the faint, exquisite music of a dream; All was too much for him, too full of bliss, The heart could nothing feel, that felt not this; Softened he sunk upon a couch and gave His soul up to sweet thoughts like wave on wave Succeeding in smooth seas when storms are laid; He thought of ZELICA, his own dear maid, And of the time when full of blissful sighs They sat and lookt into each other's eyes, Silent and happy--as if God had given Naught else worth looking at on this side heaven.

"Oh, my loved mistress, thou whose spirit still "Is with me, round me, wander where I will-- "It is for thee, for thee alone I seek "The paths of glory; to light up thy cheek "With warm approval--in that gentle look "To read my praise as in an angel's book, "And think all toils rewarded when from thee "I gain a smile worth immortality! "How shall I bear the moment, when restored "To that young heart where I alone am Lord. "Tho' of such bliss unworthy,--since the best "Alone deserve to be the happiest:-- "When from those lips unbreathed upon for years "I shall again kiss off the soul-felt tears, "And find those tears warm as when last they started, "Those sacred kisses pure as when we parted. "O my own life!--why should a single day, "A moment keep me from those arms away?"

While thus he thinks, still nearer on the breeze Come those delicious, dream-like harmonies, Each note of which but adds new, downy links To the soft chain in which his spirit sinks. He turns him toward the sound, and far away Thro' a long vista sparkling with the play Of countless lamps,--like the rich track which Day Leaves on the waters, when he sinks from us, So long the path, its light so tremulous;-- He sees a group of female forms advance, Some chained together in the mazy dance By fetters forged in the green sunny bowers, As they were captives to the King of Flowers;[71] And some disporting round, unlinkt and free, Who seemed to mock their sisters' slavery; And round and round them still in wheeling flight Went like gay moths about a lamp at night; While others waked, as gracefully along Their feet kept time, the very soul of song From psaltery, pipe, and lutes of heavenly thrill, Or their own youthful voices heavenlier still. And now they come, now pass before his eye, Forms such as Nature moulds when she would vie With Fancy's pencil and give birth to things Lovely beyond its fairest picturings. Awhile they dance before him, then divide, Breaking like rosy clouds at eventide Around the rich pavilion of the sun,-- Till silently dispersing, one by one, Thro' many a path that from the chamber leads To gardens, terraces and moonlight meads, Their distant laughter comes upon the wind, And but one trembling nymph remains behind,-- Beckoning them back in vain--for they are gone And she is left in all that light alone; No veil to curtain o'er her beauteous brow, In its young bashfulness more beauteous now; But a light golden chain-work round her hair,[72] Such as the maids of YEZD and SHIRAS wear,[73] From which on either side gracefully hung A golden amulet in the Arab tongue, Engraven o'er with some immortal line From Holy Writ or bard scarce less divine; While her left hand, as shrinkingly she stood, Held a small lute of gold and sandal-wood, Which once or twice she touched with hurried strain, Then took her trembling fingers off again. But when at length a timid glance she stole At AZIM, the sweet gravity of soul She saw thro' all his features calmed her fear, And like a half-tamed antelope more near, Tho' shrinking still, she came;--then sat her down Upon a musnud's[74] edge, and, bolder grown. In the pathetic mode of ISFAHAN[75] Touched a preluding strain and thus began:--

There's a bower of roses by BENDEMEER's[76] stream,
And the nightingale sings round it all the day long;
In the time of my childhood 'twas like a sweet dream,
To sit in the roses and hear the bird's song.

That bower and its music, I never forget,
But oft when alone in the bloom of the year
I think--is the nightingale singing there yet?
Are the roses still bright by the calm BENDEMEER?

No, the roses soon withered that hung o'er the wave,
But some blossoms were gathered while freshly they shone.
And a dew was distilled from their flowers that gave
All the fragrance of summer when summer was gone.

Thus memory draws from delight ere it dies
An essence that breathes of it many a year;
Thus bright to my soul, as 'twas then to my eyes,
Is that bower on the banks of the calm BENDEMEER!

"Poor maiden!" thought the youth, "if thou wert sent "With thy soft lute and beauty's blandishment "To wake unholy wishes in this heart, "Or tempt its truth, thou little know'st the art. "For tho' thy lips should sweetly counsel wrong, "Those vestal eyes would disavow its song. "But thou hast breathed such purity, thy lay "Returns so fondly to youth's virtuous day, "And leads thy soul--if e'er it wandered thence-- "So gently back to its first innocence, "That I would sooner stop the unchained dove, "When swift returning to its home of love, "And round its snowy wing new fetters twine. "Than turn from virtue one pure wish of thine!"

Scarce had this feeling past, when sparkling thro' The gently open'd curtains of light blue That veiled the breezy casement, countless eyes Peeping like stars thro' the blue evening skies, Looked laughing in as if to mock the pair That sat so still and melancholy there:-- And now the curtains fly apart and in From the cool air mid showers of jessamine Which those without fling after them in play, Two lightsome maidens spring,--lightsome as they Who live in the air on odors,--and around The bright saloon, scarce conscious of the ground, Chase one another in a varying dance Of mirth and languor, coyness and advance, Too eloquently like love's warm pursuit:-- While she who sung so gently to the lute Her dream of home steals timidly away, Shrinking as violets do in summer's ray,-- But takes with her from AZIM'S heart that sigh We sometimes give to forms that pass us by In the world's crowd, too lovely to remain, Creatures of light we never see again!

Around the white necks of the nymphs who danced Hung carcanets of orient gems that glanced More brilliant than the sea-glass glittering o'er The hills of crystal on the Caspian shore;[77] While from their long, dark tresses, in a fall Of curls descending, bells as musical As those that on the golden-shafted trees Of EDEN shake in the eternal breeze,[78] Rung round their steps, at every bound more sweet. As 'twere the ecstatic language of their feet. At length the chase was o'er, and they stood wreathed Within each other's arms; while soft there breathed Thro' the cool casement, mingled with the sighs Of moonlight flowers, music that seemed to rise From some still lake, so liquidly it rose; And as it swelled again at each faint close The ear could track thro' all that maze of chords And young sweet voices these impassioned words:--

A SPIRIT there is whose fragrant sigh
Is burning now thro' earth and air;
Where cheeks are blushing the Spirit is nigh,
Where lips are meeting the Spirit is there!

His breath is the soul of flowers like these,
And his floating eyes--oh! they resemble[79]
Blue water-lilies,[80] when the breeze
Is making the stream around them tremble.

Hail to thee, hail to thee, kindling power!
Spirit of Love, Spirit of Bliss!
Thy holiest time is the moonlight hour,
And there never was moonlight so sweet as this.

By the fair and brave
Who blushing unite,
Like the sun and wave,
When they meet at night;

By the tear that shows
When passion is nigh,
As the rain-drop flows
From the heat of the sky;

By the first love-beat
Of the youthful heart,
By the bliss to meet,
And the pain to part;

By all that thou hast
To mortals given,
Which--oh, could it last,
This earth were heaven!

We call thee thither, entrancing Power!
Spirit of Love! Spirit of Bliss!
Thy holiest time is the moonlight hour,
And there never was moonlight so sweet as this.

Impatient of a scene whose luxuries stole, Spite of himself, too deep into his soul, And where, midst all that the young heart loves most, Flowers, music, smiles, to yield was to be lost, The youth had started up and turned away From the light nymphs and their luxurious lay To muse upon the pictures that hung round,--[81] Bright images, that spoke without a sound, And views like vistas into fairy ground. But here again new spells came o'er his sense:-- All that the pencil's mute omnipotence Could call up into life, of soft and fair, Of fond and passionate, was glowing there; Nor yet too warm, but touched with that fine art Which paints of pleasure but the purer part; Which knows even Beauty when half-veiled is best,-- Like her own radiant planet of the west, Whose orb when half retired looks loveliest.[82] _There_ hung the history of the Genii-King, Traced thro' each gay, voluptuous wandering With her from SABA'S bowers, in whose bright eyes He read that to be blest is to be wise;-- _Here_ fond ZULEIKA woos with open arms[83] The Hebrew boy who flies from her young charms, Yet flying turns to gaze and half undone Wishes that Heaven and she could _both_ be won; And here MOHAMMED born for love and guile Forgets the Koran in his MARY'S smile;-- Then beckons some kind angel from above With a new text to consecrate their love.[84]

With rapid step, yet pleased and lingering eye, Did the youth pass these pictured stories by, And hastened to a casement where the light Of the calm moon came in and freshly bright The fields without were seen sleeping as still As if no life remained in breeze or rill. Here paused he while the music now less near Breathed with a holier language on his ear, As tho' the distance and that heavenly ray Thro' which the sounds came floating took away All that had been too earthly in the lay.

Oh! could he listen to such sounds unmoved, And by that light--nor dream of her he loved? Dream on, unconscious boy! while yet thou may'st; 'Tis the last bliss thy soul shall ever taste. Clasp yet awhile her image to thy heart, Ere all the light that made it dear depart. Think of her smiles as when thou saw'st them last, Clear, beautiful, by naught of earth o'ercast; Recall her tears to thee at parting given, Pure as they weep, _if_ angels weep in Heaven. Think in her own still bower she waits thee now With the same glow of heart and bloom of brow, Yet shrined in solitude--thine all, thine only, Like the one star above thee, bright and lonely. Oh! that a dream so sweet, so long enjoyed, Should be so sadly, cruelly destroyed!

The song is husht, the laughing nymphs are flown, And he is left musing of bliss alone;-- Alone?--no, not alone--that heavy sigh, That sob of grief which broke from some one nigh-- Whose could it be?--alas! is misery found Here, even here, on this enchanted ground? He turns and sees a female form close veiled, Leaning, as if both heart and strength had failed, Against a pillar near;--not glittering o'er With gems and wreaths such as the others wore, But in that deep-blue, melancholy dress.[85] BOKHARA'S maidens wear in mindfulness Of friends or kindred, dead or far away;-- And such as ZELICA had on that day He left her--when with heart too full to speak He took away her last warm tears upon his cheek.

A strange emotion stirs within him,--more Than mere compassion ever waked before; Unconsciously he opes his arms while she Springs forward as with life's last energy, But, swooning in that one convulsive bound, Sinks ere she reach his arms upon the ground;-- Her veil falls off--her faint hands clasp his knees-- 'Tis she herself!--it is ZELICA he sees! But, ah, so pale, so changed--none but a lover Could in that wreck of beauty's shrine discover The once adorned divinity--even he Stood for some moments mute, and doubtingly Put back the ringlets from her brow, and gazed Upon those lids where once such lustre blazed, 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, even when grief was heaviest--when loath He left her for the wars--in that worst hour Sat in her sorrow like the sweet night-flower,[86] 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, "But _there_ at least shines as it ever shone. "Come, look upon thy AZIM--one dear glance, "Like those of old, were heaven! whatever chance "Hath brought thee here, oh, 'twas a blessed one! "There--my loved lips--they move--that kiss hath run "Like the first shoot of life thro' every vein, "And now I clasp her, mine, all mine again. "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-- "To have thee here--to hang thus fondly o'er "My own, best, purest ZELICA once more!"

It was indeed the touch of those fond lips Upon her eyes that chased their short eclipse. And gradual as the snow at Heaven's breath Melts off and shows the azure flowers beneath, Her lids unclosed 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 even for that tranced minute So near his heart had consolation in it; And thus to wake in his beloved 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 changed--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 surprise, 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,[87]-- 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, That could from Heaven and him such brightness sever, 'Tis done--to Heaven and him she's lost for ever! 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 tost His desperate hand towards Heav'n--"tho' I am lost, "Think not that guilt, that falsehood made me fall, "No, no--'twas grief, 'twas madness did it all! "Nay, doubt me not--tho' all thy love hath ceased-- "I know it hath--yet, yet believe, at least, "That every spark of reason's light must be "Quenched in this brain ere I could stray from thee. "They told me thou wert dead--why, AZIM, why "Did we not, both of us, that instant die "When we were parted? oh! couldst 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 turned 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 wouldst 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 even this quenchless love within "Turned to foul fires to light me into sin!-- "Thou pitiest me--I knew thou wouldst--that sky "Hath naught beneath it half so lorn as I. "The fiend, who lured 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 ruined even a holier heart-- "Of thee, and of that ever-radiant sphere, "Where blest at length, if I but served him here, "I should for ever live in thy dear sight. "And drink from those pure eyes eternal light. "Think, think how lost, how maddened I must be, "To hope that guilt could lead to God or thee! "Thou weep'st for me--do weep--oh, that I durst "Kiss off that tear! but, no--these lips are curst, "They must not touch thee;--one divine caress, "One blessed moment of forgetfulness "I've had within those arms and _that_ shall lie "Shrined in my soul's deep memory till I die; "The last of joy's last relics here below, "The one sweet drop, in all this waste of woe, "My heart has treasured from affection's spring, "To soothe and cool its deadly withering! "But thou--yes, thou must go--for ever go; "This place is not for thee--for thee! oh no, "Did I but tell thee half, thy tortured brain "Would burn like mine, and mine go wild again! "Enough that Guilt reigns here--that hearts once good "Now tainted, chilled and broken are his food.-- "Enough that we are parted--that there rolls "A flood of headlong fate between our souls, "Whose darkness severs me as wide from thee "As hell from heaven to all eternity!"

"ZELICA, ZELICA!" the youth exclaimed. In all the tortures of a mind inflamed Almost to madness--"by that sacred Heaven, "Where yet, if prayers can move, thou'lt be forgiven, "As thou art here--here, in this writhing heart, "All sinful, wild, and ruined as thou art! "By the remembrance of our once pure love, "Which like a church-yard light still burns above "The grave of our lost souls--which guilt in thee "Cannot extinguish nor despair in me! "I do conjure, implore thee to fly hence-- "If thou hast yet one spark of innocence, "Fly with me from this place"-- "With thee! oh bliss! "'Tis worth whole years of torment to hear this. "What! take the lost one with thee?--let her rove "By thy dear side, as in those days of love, "When we were both so happy, both so pure-- "Too heavenly dream! if there's on earth a cure "For the sunk heart, 'tis this--day after day "To be the blest companion of thy way; "To hear thy angel eloquence--to see "Those virtuous eyes for ever turned on me; "And in their light re-chastened silently, "Like the stained web that whitens in the sun, "Grow pure by being purely shone upon! "And thou wilt pray for me--I know thou wilt-- "At the dim vesper hour when thoughts of guilt "Come heaviest o'er the heart thou'lt lift thine eyes "Full of sweet tears unto the darkening skies "And plead for me with Heaven till I can dare "To fix my own weak, sinful glances there; "Till the good angels when they see me cling "For ever near thee, pale and sorrowing, "Shall for thy sake pronounce my soul forgiven, "And bid thee take thy weeping slave to Heaven! "Oh yes, I'll fly with thee"-- Scarce had she said These breathless words when a voice deep and dread As that of MONKER waking up the dead From their first sleep--so startling 'twas to both-- Rang thro' the casement near, "Thy oath! thy oath!" Oh Heaven, the ghastliness of that Maid's look!-- "'Tis he," faintly she cried, while terror shook Her inmost core, nor durst she lift her eyes, Tho' thro' the casement, now naught but the skies And moonlight fields were seen, calm as before-- "'Tis he, and I am his--all, all is o'er-- "Go--fly this instant, or thou'rt ruin'd too-- "My oath, my oath, oh God! 'tis all too true, "True as the worm in this cold heart it is-- "I am MOKANNA'S bride--his, AZIM, his-- "The Dead stood round us while I spoke that vow, "Their blue lips echoed it--I hear them now! "Their eyes glared on me, while I pledged that bowl, "'Twas burning blood--I feel it in my soul! "And the Veiled Bridegroom--hist! I've seen to-night "What angels know not of--so foul a sight. "So horrible--oh! never may'st thou see "What _there_ lies hid from all but hell and me! "But I must hence--off, off--I am not thine, "Nor Heaven's, nor Love's, nor aught that is divine-- "Hold me not--ha! think'st thou the fiends that sever "Hearts cannot sunder hands?--thus, then--for ever!"

With all that strength which madness lends the weak She flung away his arm; and with a shriek Whose sound tho' be should linger out more years Than wretch e'er told can never leave his ears-- Flew up thro' that long avenue of light, Fleetly as some dark, ominous bird of night, Across the sun; and soon was out of sight!

LALLA ROOKH could think of nothing all day but the misery of those two young lovers. Her gayety was gone, and she looked pensively even upon FADLAPEEN. She felt, too, without knowing why, a sort of uneasy pleasure in imagining that AZIM must have been just such a youth as FERAMORZ; just as worthy to enjoy all the blessings, without any of the pangs, of that illusive passion, which too often like the sunny apples of Istkahar[88] is all sweetness on one side and all bitterness on the other.

As they passed along a sequestered river after sunset they saw a young Hindoo girl upon the bank, whose employment seemed to them so strange that they stopped their palankeens to observe her. She had lighted a small lamp filled with oil of cocoa, and placing it in an earthen dish adorned with a wreath of flowers, had committed it with a trembling hand to the stream; and was now anxiously watching its progress down the current, heedless of the gay cavalcade which had drawn up beside her. LALLA ROOKH was all curiosity;--when one of her attendants, who had lived upon the banks of the Ganges, (where this ceremony is so frequent that often in the dusk of the evening the river is seen glittering all over with lights, like the Oton-tala or Sea of Stars,)[89] informed the princess that it was the usual way in which the friends of those who had gone on dangerous voyages offered up vows for their safe return. If the lamp sunk immediately the omen was disastrous; but if it went shining down the stream and continued to burn till entirely out of sight, the return of the beloved object was considered as certain.

LALLA ROOKH as they moved on more than once looked back to observe how the young Hindoo's lamp proceeded; and while she saw with pleasure that it was still unextinguished she could not help fearing that all the hopes of this life were no better than that feeble light upon the river. The remainder of the journey was passed in silence. She now for the first time felt that shade of melancholy which comes over the youthful maiden's heart as sweet and transient as her own breath upon a mirror; nor was it till she heard the lute of FERAMOKZ, touched lightly at the door of her pavilion that she waked from the revery in which she had been wandering. Instantly her eyes were lighted up with pleasure; and after a few unheard remarks from FADLADEEN upon the indecorum of a poet seating himself in presence of a Princess everything was arranged as on the preceding evening and all listened with eagerness while the story was thus continued:--

Whose are the gilded tents that crowd the way, Where all was waste and silent yesterday? This City of War which, in a few short hours, Hath sprung up here, as if the magic powers[90] Of Him who, in the twinkling of a star, Built the high pillared halls of CHILMINAR,[91] Had conjur'd up, far as the eye can see, This world of tents and domes and sunbright armory:-- Princely pavilions screened by many a fold Of crimson cloth and topt with balls of gold:-- Steeds with their housings of rich silver spun, Their chains and poitrels glittering in the sun; And camels tufted o'er with Yemen's shells[92] Shaking in every breeze their light-toned bells!

But yester-eve, so motionless around, So mute was this wide plain that not a sound But the far torrent or the locust bird[93] Hunting among thickets could be heard;-- Yet hark! what discords now of every kind, Shouts, laughs, and screams are revelling in the wind; The neigh of cavalry;--the tinkling throngs Of laden camels and their drivers' songs;-- Ringing of arms, and flapping in the breeze Of streamers from ten thousand canopies;--[94] War-music bursting out from time to time With gong and tymbalon's tremendous chime;-- Or in the pause when harsher sounds are mute, The mellow breathings of some horn or flute, That far off, broken by the eagle note Of the Abyssinian trumpet, swell and float.[95]

Who leads this mighty army?--ask ye "who?" And mark ye not those banners of dark hue, The Night and Shadow, over yonder tent?--[96] It is the CALIPH'S glorious armament. Roused in his Palace by the dread alarms, That hourly came, of the false Prophet's arms, And of his host of infidels who hurled Defiance fierce at Islam and the world,[97] Tho' worn with Grecian warfare, and behind The veils of his bright Palace calm reclined, Yet brooked he not such blasphemy should stain, Thus unrevenged, the evening of his reign; But having sworn upon the Holy Grave[98] To conquer or to perish, once more gave His shadowy banners proudly to the breeze, And with an army nurst in victories, Here stands to crush the rebels that o'errun His blest and beauteous Province of the Sun.

Ne'er did the march of MAHADI display Such pomp before;--not even when on his way To MECCA'S Temple, when both land and sea Were spoiled to feed the Pilgrim's luxury;[99] When round him mid the burning sands he saw Fruits of the North in icy freshness thaw, And cooled his thirsty lip beneath the glow Of MECCA'S sun with urns of Persian snow:-- Nor e'er did armament more grand than that Pour from the kingdoms of the Caliphat. First, in the van, the People of the Rock[100] On their light mountain steeds of royal stock:[101] Then chieftains of DAMASCUS proud to see The flashing of their swords' rich marquetry;--[102] Men from the regions near the VOLGA'S mouth Mixt with the rude, black archers of the South; And Indian lancers in white-turbaned ranks From the far SINDE or ATTOCK'S sacred banks, With dusky legions from the Land of Myrrh,[103] And many a mace-armed Moor and Midsea islander.

Nor less in number tho' more new and rude In warfare's school was the vast multitude That, fired by zeal or by oppression wronged, Round the white standard of the impostor thronged. Beside his thousands of Believers--blind, Burning and headlong as the Samiel wind-- Many who felt and more who feared to feel The bloody Islamite's converting steel, Flockt to his banner;--Chiefs of the UZBEK race, Waving their heron crests with martial grace;[104] TURKOMANS, countless as their flocks, led forth From the aromatic pastures of the North; Wild warriors of the turquoise hills,--and those[105] Who dwell beyond the everlasting snows Of HINDOO KOSH, in stormy freedom bred, Their fort the rock, their camp the torrent's bed. But none of all who owned the Chief's command Rushed to that battle-field with bolder hand Or sterner hate than IRAN'S outlawed men, Her Worshippers of Fire--all panting then[106] For vengeance on the accursed Saracen; Vengeance at last for their dear country spurned, Her throne usurpt, and her bright shrines o'erturned.

From YEZD'S eternal Mansion of the Fire[107] Where aged saints in dreams of Heaven expire: From BADKU and those fountains of blue flame That burn into the CASPIAN, fierce they came,[108] Careless for what or whom the blow was sped, So vengeance triumpht and their tyrants bled.

Such was the wild and miscellaneous host That high in air their motley banners tost Around the Prophet-Chief--all eyes still bent Upon that glittering Veil, where'er it went, That beacon thro' the battle's stormy flood, That rainbow of the field whose showers were blood!

Twice hath the sun upon their conflict set And risen again and found them grappling yet; While streams of carnage in his noontide blaze, Smoke up to Heaven--hot as that crimson haze By which the prostrate Caravan is awed[109] In the red Desert when the wind's abroad. "Oh, Swords of God!" the panting CALIPH calls,-- "Thrones for the living--Heaven 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, And now the Orient World's Imperial crown Is just within his grasp--when, hark, that shout! Some hand hath checkt the flying Moslem's rout; And now they turn, they rally--at their head A warrior, (like those angel youths who led, In glorious panoply of Heaven's own mail, The Champions of the Faith thro BEDER'S vale,)[110] 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; And at each step his bloody falchion makes Terrible vistas thro' which victory breaks! In vain MOKANNA, midst the general flight, Stands like the red moon on some stormy night Among the fugitive clouds that hurrying by Leave only her unshaken in the sky-- In vain he yells his desperate curses out, Deals death promiscuously to all about, To foes that charge and coward friends that fly, And seems of _all_ the Great Archenemy. The panic spreads--"A miracle!" throughout The Moslem ranks, "a miracle!" they shout, All gazing on that youth whose coming seems A light, a glory, such as breaks in dreams; And every sword, true as o'er billows dim The needle tracks the lode-star, following him!

Right towards MOKANNA now he cleaves his path, Impatient cleaves as tho' the bolt of wrath He bears from Heaven withheld its awful burst From weaker heads and souls but half way curst, To break o'er Him, the mightiest and the worst! But vain his speed--tho', in that hour of blood, Had all God's seraphs round MOKANNA stood With swords o'fire ready like fate to fall, MOKANNA'S soul would have defied them all; Yet now, the rush of fugitives, too strong For human force, hurries even _him_ along; In vain he struggles mid the wedged array Of flying thousands--he is borne away; And the sole joy his baffled spirit knows, In this forced flight, is--murdering as he goes! As a grim tiger whom the torrent's might Surprises in some parched ravine at night, Turns even in drowning on the wretched flocks Swept with him in that snow-flood from the rocks, And, to the last, devouring on his way, Bloodies the stream lie hath not power to stay.

"Alla illa Alla!"--the glad shout renew-- "Alla Akbar"--the Caliph's in MEROU.[111] Hang out your gilded tapestry in the streets, And light your shrines and chant your ziraleets.[112] The swords of God have triumpht--on his throne Your Caliph sits and the veiled Chief hath flown. Who does not envy that young warrior now To whom the Lord of Islam bends his brow, In all the graceful gratitude of power, For his throne's safety in that perilous hour? Who doth not wonder, when, amidst the acclaim Of thousands heralding to heaven his name-- Mid all those holier harmonies of fame Which sound along the path of virtuous souls, Like music round a planet as it rolls,-- He turns away--coldly, as if some gloom Hung o'er his heart no triumphs can illume;-- Some sightless grief upon whose blasted gaze Tho' glory's light may play, in vain it plays. Yes, wretched AZIM! thine is such a grief, Beyond all hope, all terror, all relief! A dark, cold calm, which nothing now can break. Or warm or brighten,--Like that Syrian Lake[113] 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 seemed ecstasy; When Hope lookt up and saw the gloomy Past Melt into splendor and Bliss dawn at last-- 'Twas then, even then, o'er joys so freshly blown This mortal blight of misery came down; Even then, the full, warm gushings of thy heart Were checkt--like fount-drops, frozen as they start-- And there like them cold, sunless relics hang, Each fixt and chilled into a lasting pang.

One sole desire, one passion now remains To keep life's fever still within his veins, Vengeance!--dire vengeance on the wretch who cast O'er him and all he loved that ruinous blast. For this, when rumors reached him in his flight Far, far away, after that fatal night,-- Rumors of armies thronging to the attack Of the Veiled Chief,--for this he winged him back, Fleet as the Vulture speeds to flags unfurled, And when all hope seemed desperate, wildly hurled Himself into the scale and saved a world. For this he still lives on, careless of all The wreaths that Glory on his path lets fall; For this alone exists--like lightning-fire, To speed one bolt of vengeance and expire!

But safe as yet that Spirit of Evil lives; With a small band of desperate fugitives, The last sole stubborn fragment left unriven Of the proud host that late stood fronting Heaven, He gained MEROU--breathed a short curse of blood O'er his lost throne--then past the JIHON'S flood,[114] And gathering all whose madness of belief Still saw a Saviour in their down-fallen Chief, Raised the white banner within NEKSHEB'S gates,[115] And there, untamed, the approaching conqueror waits.

Of all his Haram, all that busy hive, With music and with sweets sparkling alive, He took but one, the partner of his flight, One--not for love--not for her beauty's light-- No, ZELICA stood withering midst the gay. Wan as the blossom that fell yesterday From the Alma tree and dies, while overhead To-day's young flower is springing in its stead.[116] Oh, not for love--the deepest Damned must be Touched with Heaven's glory ere such fiends as he Can feel one glimpse of Love's divinity. But no, she is his victim; _there_ lie all Her charms for him-charms that can never pall, As long as hell within his heart can stir, Or one faint trace of Heaven is left in her. To work an angel's ruin,--to behold As white a page as Virtue e'er unrolled Blacken beneath his touch into a scroll Of damning sins, sealed with a burning soul-- This is his triumph; this the joy accurst, That ranks him among demons all but first: This gives the victim that before him lies Blighted and lost, a glory in his eyes, A light like that with which hellfire illumes The ghastly, writhing wretch whom it consumes!

But other tasks now wait him--tasks that need All the deep daringness of thought and deed With which the Divs have gifted him--for mark,[117] Over yon plains which night had else made dark, Those lanterns countless as the winged lights That spangle INDIA'S field on showery nights,--[118] Far as their formidable gleams they shed, The mighty tents of the beleaguerer spread, Glimmering along the horizon's dusky line And thence in nearer circles till they shine Among the founts and groves o'er which the town In all its armed magnificence looks down. Yet, fearless, from his lofty battlements MOKANNA views that multitude of tents; Nay, smiles to think that, tho' entoiled, beset, Not less than myriads dare to front him yet;-- That friendless, throneless, he thus stands at bay, Even thus a match for myriads such as they. "Oh, for a sweep of that dark Angel's wing, "Who brushed the thousands of the Assyrian King[119] "To darkness in a moment that I might "People Hell's chambers with yon host to-night! "But come what may, let who will grasp the throne, "Caliph or Prophet, Man alike shall groan; "Let who will torture him, Priest--Caliph--King-- "Alike this loathsome world of his shall ring "With victims' shrieks and howlings of the slave,-- "Sounds that shall glad me even within my grave!" Thus, to himself--but to the scanty train Still left around him, a far different strain:-- "Glorious Defenders of the sacred Crown "I bear from Heaven whose light nor blood shall drown "Nor shadow of earth eclipse;--before whose gems "The paly pomp of this world's diadems, "The crown of GERASHID. the pillared throne "Of PARVIZ[120] and the heron crest that shone[121] "Magnificent o'er ALI'S beauteous eyes.[122] "Fade like the stars when morn is in the skies: "Warriors, rejoice--the port to which we've past "O'er Destiny's dark wave beams out at last! "Victory's our own--'tis written in that Book "Upon whose leaves none but the angels look, "That ISLAM'S sceptre shall beneath the power "Of her great foe fall broken in that hour "When the moon's mighty orb before all eyes "From NEKSHEB'S Holy Well portentously shall rise! "Now turn and see!"--They turned, and, as he spoke, A sudden splendor all around them broke, And they beheld an orb, ample and bright, Rise from the Holy Well and cast its light[123] Round the rich city and the plain for miles,-- Flinging such radiance o'er the gilded tiles Of many a dome and fair-roofed imaret As autumn suns shed round them when they set. Instant from all who saw the illusive sign A murmur broke--"Miraculous! divine!" The Gheber bowed, thinking his idol star Had waked, and burst impatient thro' the bar Of midnight to inflame him to the war; While he of MOUSSA'S creed saw in that ray The glorious Light which in his freedom's day Had rested on the Ark, and now again[124] Shone out to bless the breaking of his chain.