"Of passions fierce and uncontroll❜d,
"Such as thy penitents unfold,

"Whose secret sins and sorrows rest
"Within thy pure and pitying breast.
"My days, though few, have pass'd below
"In much of joy, but more of woe;

"Yet still in hours of love or strife,

'I've 'scaped the weariness of life:

"Now leagued with friends, now girt by foes, "I loathed the languor of repose. "Now nothing left to love or hate, "No more with hope or pride elate,

'I'd rather be the thing that crawls "Most noxious o'er a dungeon's walls, "Than pass my dull, unvarying days, "Condemn'd to meditate and gaze. "Yet, lurks a wish within my breast "For rest-but not to feel 'tis rest. "Soon shall my fate that wish fulfil;

"And I shall sleep without the dream "Of what I was, and would be still, "Dark as to thee my deeds may seem: "My memory now is but the tomb "Of joys long dead; my hope, their doom: "Though better to have died with those "Than bear a life of lingering woes. "My spirit shrunk not to sustain "The searching throes of ceaseless pain; "Nor sought the self-accorded grave "Of ancient fool and modern knave: Yet death I have not fear'd to meet; "And in the field it had been sweet,

"

"Had danger woo'd me on to move
"The slave of glory, not of love.
"I've braved it-not for honour's boast;
"I smile at laurels won or lost;
"To such let others carve their way,
"For high renown, or hireling pay:
“But place again before my eyes

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Aught that I deem a worthy prize, "The maid I love, the man I hate; "And I will hunt the steps of fate, "To save or slay, as these require, "Through rending steel, and rolling fire: "Nor needst thou doubt this speech from one "Who would but do-what he hath done. "Death is but what the haughty brave, "The weak must bear, the wretch must crave; "Then let Life go to him who gave: “I have not quail'd to danger's brow "When high and happy-need I now?

*

*

*

*

"I loved her, friar! nay, adored

*

"But these are words that all can use"I proved it more in deed than word; “There's blood upon that dinted sword, "A stain its steel can never lose: ""Twas shed for her, who died for me,

"It warm'd the heart of one abhorr'd: "Nay, start not-no-nor bend thy knee,

"Nor midst my sins such act record; "Thou wilt absolve me from the deed, "For he was hostile to thy creed!

"The very name of Nazarene

"Was wormwood to his Paynim spleen.
"Ungrateful fool! since but for brands.
"Well wielded in some hardy hands,
"And wounds by Galileans given,
"The surest pass to Turkish heaven,
"For him his Houris still might wait
"Impatient at the prophet's gate.
"I loved her-love will find its way
"Through paths where wolves would fear to prey,
"And if it dares enough, 'twere hard

"If passion met not some reward—
"No matter how, or where, or why,
"I did not vainly seek, nor sigh:
"Yet sometimes, with remorse, in vain
"I wish she had not loved again.
"She died-I dare not tell thee how ;
"But look-'tis written on my brow!
"There read of Cain the curse and crime,
"In characters unworn by time:
"Still, ere thou dost condemn me, pause;
"Not mine the act, though I the cause.
'Yet did he but what I had done
"Had she been false to more than one.
"Faithless to him, he gave the blow;
"But true to me, I laid him low:
"Howe'er deserved her doom might be,
"Her treachery was truth to me;
"To me she gave her heart, that all
"Which tyranny can ne'er enthrall;
"And I, alas! too late to save!
"Yet all I then could give, I gave,

"'Twas some relief, our foe a grave.

"His death sits lightly; but her fate “Has made me—what thou well may'st hate. "His doom was seal'd-he knew it well,

"Warn'd by the voice of stern Taheer,

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Deep in whose darkly boding ear (40) "The deathshot peal'd of murder near,

"As filed the troop to where they fell! "He died too in the battle broil, "A time that heeds nor pain nor toil; "One cry to Mahomet for aid,

“One prayer to Alla all he made: "He knew and cross'd me in the fray— “I gazed upon him where he lay, "And watch'd his spirit ebb away: "Though pierced like pard by hunters' steel, "He felt not half that now I feel. "I search'd, but vainly search'd, to find "The workings of a wounded mind; "Each feature of that sullen corse "Betray'd his rage, but no remorse. "Oh, what had Vengeance given to trace Despair upon his dying face!

"The late repentance of that hour,

"When Penitence hath lost her power
"To tear one terror from the grave,
"And will not soothe, and can not save.

"The cold in clime are cold in blood,

"Their love can scarce deserve the name;

"But mine was like the lava flood

"That boils in Ætna's breast of flame.

"I cannot prate in puling strain "Of ladye-love, and beauty's chain: "If changing cheek, and scorching vein, "Lips taught to writhe, but not complain, "If bursting heart, and madd'ning brain, "And daring deed, and vengeful steel, "And all that I have felt, and feel, "Betoken love-that love was mine, "And shown by many a bitter sign. ""Tis true, I could not whine nor sigh, "I knew but to obtain or die. “I die—but first I have possess'd,

"And come what may, I have been blest. "Shall I the doom I sought upbraid? "No-reft of all, yet undismay'd "But for the thought of Leila slain, "Give me the pleasure with the pain, "So would I live and love again. "I grieve, but not, my holy guide! "For him who dies, but her who died: "She sleeps beneath the wandering wave— "Ah! had she but an earthly grave,

"This breaking heart and throbbing head "Should seek and share her narrow bed. "She was a form of life and light, "That, seen, became a part of sight; "And rose, where'er I turn'd mine eye, "The Morning-star of Memory!

"Yes, Love indeed is light from heaven; "A spark of that immortal fire "With angels shared, by Alla given,

"To lift from earth our low desire.