Oh Beauty! who can paint thy magic charm
Upon the heart that glows all fresh and warm?
Man may resign the pen, and well eschew
What angels never would attempt to do.
Thy smile is light from Heaven's bright censer sent,
To clothe the forms for those blest regions meant
Thy sway, in either world, omnipotent!
"Lady, a message from thy sire I bear;
This golden casket and this jewel fair,
He bade me, should I ever reach this land,
To place in his beloved MYNERA's hand;
To tell her, ere the summer blossoms fall,
He will rejoin her in St. MORA's hall.
We met, it matters little when or where,
That he bestowed on me a father's care-
Attentions which the lonely heart engage-
The counsels wayward youth requires of age;
And, when we parted on the Grecian strand,
He for the NILE, and I to guide his band
And gallant cruiser to the Spanish land,
He bade me seek this hospitable dome-
And here await his coming o'er the foam!"
"I joy to hear this news so long denied, Most welcome here, young stranger," she replied;
"Rest thee, until the menials hither bring, Fruits, wines, and viands for thy banqueting."
The feast is o'er-and radiant as a star,
The smiling maiden sweeps the gay guitar,
And trills the song, till music's heavenly power
Enchants the guest, and charms the listening hour;
The while he cheerful converse strives to hold
Of PAYNIM legends, fairy tales of old,
Battles and feats upon the wave and wold;
But well the maid discerns his restlessness,
And bids him, ere 'tis late, the pillow press.
Sleep chains the earth: the bright stars glide on high,
Filling with one effulgent smile the sky;
And all is hushed so still, so silent there,
That one might hear an Angel wing the air.
And where is ZAMEN ? are his slumbers sweet,
Calm, renovating, in this fair retreat?
Have Beauty's smile and tranquillizing light,
Mute, moaning melancholy put to flight,
And changed his bosom from a murky hell,
To an abode where love and peace may dwell?
Ah, no! it only shows the ruin there,
Like sunshine falling on a sepulchre !
There is a resurrection of the heart,
When from its vivifying ashes start
Its consecrated Dead-hope, love, joy, dole,
Grief-laden, circumambiate the soul ;-
An hour, when time's dim veil aside is cast,
And we relieve the silent, solemn past.
"Tis such with ZAMEN; on his couch he rolls,
Wrings his thin hands, but louder grief controls;
Until his heart heaves like the surging sea,-
Then to his feet he springs bewilderdly—
Snatches his blade-with soft step steals below,
To midnight phantoms to proclaim his woe;
Paces adown the lawn and dewy grove,
Dwelling on beauty, innocence, and love-
Reaches the beach-peers o'er the precipice,
Where sleeps his vessel on the dark abyss ;
Then turns away, as from a pest whose breath
Is fatal poison, and whose touch is death.
Upon a rock that juts above the sea,
Pale, chilled, reclines in gloomy reverie.
"Twere hard to fathom all his bosom feels
The breast thus lacerated never heals.
He dwells on what he might be-all he seems
The blasted mind-the pangs of thwarted schemes
The wrongs that leave the spirit desolate,
Then raises his clenched hands, and curses fate.
His eye perambulates from star to star-
Follows the comet's silent course afar-
Oh! that his Spirit might as swift and free,
Wing its still flight into eternity;
And thus elude the woe, and want, and dearth,
That aye await the lonely child of earth!
Oh! that it now could break its bonds of clay,
With one fair seraph heavenward flee away!
"Thou beauteous Spirit! blissful, guardian power!
That smilest on me in this dreary hour!
My fair ILLUMA! heavenly guiding ray!
To my lone steps along life's desert way,
Oh! with eternal powers of peace and love,
Plead for my speedy flight to realms above!
Beauty angelical! MYNERA fair!
Thy smile hath lit the depth of my despair,
As morn illumes the night-I'd call thee mine,
Yet feel this bosom an unholy shrine,
For the sweet worship of thy vestal heart;
I'd gladly fly, but have no power to part;
I can but bare this breast to Fate's relentless dart !"
Thus silent converse with himself he holds,
Till morn her golden drapery unfolds,
Then pale, and dripping with the briny spray,
Slowly along the vale he wends his way
Reaches the castle gate-regains the tower—
Ascends, and courts repose at dawning hour.
Days speed apace still ZAMEN lingers there,
At times well nigh forgetting his despair
In Beauty's smile, that hourly beams more bright,
And sheds upon his heart a holier light.
With her he wanders in pursuit of flowers,
O'er blooming meads, through vales, and spicy bowers,
Beneath the smiling moon, and vesper star,
Listens to her soft love-attuned guitar;
Or charmed, amid the woodland warbling roves,
By murmuring streams, or through low whispering
Drinking her feeblest word, her faintest sigh,
As softest notes of heavenly harmony.
Oh Love! eternal, omnipresent power!
Supreme in lowly hut, or royal bower!
Thou art Life's polar star―a holy ray,
Sent here to lure the soul from sin away-
The MECCA of the heart, where all must kneel,
And their bright dreams and burning thoughts reveal
The cynosure of hope-ambition's goal
A never dying halo circling round the soul!
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