TO SULEIKA.
FITTING perfumes to prepare,And to raise thy rapture high, Must a thousand rosebuds fairFirst in fiery torments die.
One small flask's contents to glean,Whose sweet fragrance aye may live, Slender as thy finger e'en,Must a world its treasures give;Yes, a world where life is moving,Which, with impulse full and strong, Could forbode the Bulbul's loving,Sweet, and spirit-stirring song.
Since they thus have swell'd our joy,Should such torments grieve us, then?
Doth not Timur's rule destroyMyriad souls of living men?
1815.
VIII.SULEIKA NAME.
BOOK OF SULEIKA.
ONCE, methought, in the night hours cold,That I saw the moon in my sleep;But as soon as I waken'd, beholdUnawares rose the sun from the deep.
THAT Suleika's love was so strongFor Joseph, need cause no surprise;He was young, youth pleaseth the eyes,--He was fair, they say, beyond measureFair was she, and so great was their pleasure.
But that thou, who awaitedst me long, Youthful glances of fire dost throw me, Soon wilt bless me, thy love now dost show me, This shall my joyous numbers proclaim, Thee I for ever Suleika shall name.
1815.
HATEM.
NOT occasion makes the thief;
She's the greatest of the whole;
For Love's relics, to my grief,From my aching heart she stole.
She hath given it to thee,--All the joy my life had known, So that, in my poverty,Life I seek from thee alone.
Yet compassion greets me straightIn the lustre of thine eye, And I bless my newborn fate,As within thine arms I lie.
1815.
SULEIKA.
THE sun appears! A glorious sight!
The crescent-moon clings round him now.
What could this wondrous pair unite?
How to explain this riddle? How?
HATEM.
May this our joy's foreboder prove!
In it I view myself and thee;
Thou calmest me thy sun, my love,--Come, my sweet moon, cling thou round me!
1815.
LOVE for love, and moments sweet,Lips returning kiss for kiss, Word for word, and eyes that meet;Breath for breath, and bliss for bliss.
Thus at eve, and thus the morrow!
Yet thou feeblest, at my lay, Ever some half-hidden sorrow;Could I Joseph's graces borrow,All thy beauty I'd repay!
1815.
HATEM.
O, SAY, 'neath what celestial signThe day doth lie, When ne'er again this heart of mineAway will fly?
And e'en though fled (what thought divine!)Would near me lie?--On the soft couch, on whose sweet shrineMy heart near hers will lie!
1816.
HATEM.
HOLD me, locks, securely caughtIn the circle of her face!
Dear brown serpents, I have noughtTo repay this act of grace,Save a heart whose love ne'er dies,Throbbing with aye-youthful glow;For a raging ETA lies'Neath its veil of mist and snow.
Yonder mountain's stately browThou, like morning beams, dost shame;Once again feels Hatem nowSpring's soft breath and summer's flame.
One more bumper! Fill the glass;
This last cup I pledge to thee!--By mine ashes if she pass,"He consumed," she'll say, "for me."1815.
THE LOVING ONE SPEAKS.
AND wherefore sends not The horseman-captain His heralds hitherEach day, unfailing?
Yet hath he horses, He writes well.
He waiteth Tali, And Neski knows he To write with beauty On silken tablets.
I'd deem him present, Had I his words.
The sick One will not, Will not recover From her sweet sorrow;She, when she heareth That her true lover Grows well, falls sick.
1819.
THE LOVING ONE AGAIN.
WRITES he in Neski, Faithfully speaks he;Writes he in Tali, Joy to give, seeks he:
Writes he in either, Good!--for he loves!
1819.
THESE tufted branches fairObserve, my loved one, well!
And see the fruits they bearIn green and prickly shell!
They've hung roll'd up, till now,Unconsciously and still;A loosely-waving boughDoth rock them at its will.
Yet, ripening from within.
The kernel brown swells fast;
It seeks the air to win,It seeks the sun at last.
With joy it bursts its thrall,The shell must needs give way.
'Tis thus my numbers fallBefore thy feet, each day.
1815.
SULEIKA.
WHAT is by this stir reveal'd?
Doth the East glad tidings bring?
For my heart's deep wounds are heal'dBy his mild and cooling wing.
He the dust with sports doth meet,And in gentle cloudlets chase;To the vineleaf's safe retreatDrives the insects' happy race,Cools these burning cheeks of mine,Checks the sun's fierce glow Adam, Kisses, as he flies, the vine,Flaunting over hill and plain.
And his whispers soft conveyThousand greetings from my friend;Ere these hills own night's dark sway,Kisses greet me, without end.
Thus canst thou still onward go,Serving friend and mourner too!
There, where lofty ramparts glow,Soon the loved one shall I view.
Ah, what makes the heart's truth known,--Love's sweet breath,--a newborn life,--Learn I from his mouth alone,In his breath alone is rife!
1815.
THE SUBLIME TYPE.
THE sun, whom Grecians Helms call,His heavenly path with pride doth tread, And, to subdue the world's wide all,Looks round, beneath him, high o'er head.
He sees the fairest goddess pine,Heaven's child, the daughter of the clouds,--For her alone he seems to shine;
In trembling grief his form he shrouds,Careless for all the realms of bliss,--Her streaming tears more swiftly flow:
For every pearl he gives a kiss,And changeth into joy her woe.
She gazeth upward fixedly,And deeply feels his glance of might, While, stamped with his own effigy,Each pearl would range itself aright.
Thus wreath'd with bows, with hues thus grac'd,With gladness beams her face so fair, While he, to meet her, maketh haste,And yet, alas! can reach her ne'er.
So, by the harsh decree of Fate,Thou modest from me, dearest one;And were I Helms e'en, the Great,What would avail his chariot-throne?
1815.
SULEIKA.
ZEPHYR, for thy humid wing,Oh, how much I envy thee!
Thou to him canst tidings bringHow our parting saddens me!
In my breast, a yearning stillAs thy pinions wave, appears;Flow'rs and eyes, and wood, and hillAt thy breath are steeped in tears.
Yet thy mild wing gives relief,Soothes the aching eyelid's pain;Ah, I else had died for grief,Him ne'er hoped to see again.
