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 straight
In 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 sign
The day doth lie,
When ne'er again this heart of mine
Away will fly?
And e'en though fled (what thought divine!)
Would near me lie?--
On the soft couch, on whose sweet shrine
My heart near hers will lie!
1816.
-----
HATEM.
HOLD me, locks,
securely caught
In the
circle of her face!
Dear brown serpents, I have nought
To 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 brow
Thou, like morning beams, dost shame;
Once again feels Hatem now
Spring'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 hither
Each 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 fair
Observe, my loved one, well!
And see the fruits they bear
In green and prickly shell!
They've hung roll'd up, till now,
Unconsciously and still;
A loosely-waving bough
Doth 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 fall
Before 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'd
By his mild and cooling wing.
He the dust with sports doth meet,
And in gentle cloudlets chase;
To the vineleaf's safe retreat
Drives 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 convey
Thousand 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 bring
How our
parting saddens me!
In my breast, a yearning still
As thy pinions wave, appears;
Flow'rs and eyes, and wood, and hill
At 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.
To my love, then, quick repair,
Whisper
softly to his heart;
Yet, to give him pain, beware,
Nor my bosom's pangs impart.
Tell him, but in accents coy,
That his love must be my life;
Both, with feelings
fraught with joy,
In his presence will be rife.
1815.
-----
THE REUNION.
CAN it be! of stars the star,
Do I press thee to my heart?
In the night of distance far,
What deep gulf, what bitter smart!
Yes, 'tis thou, indeed, at last,
Of my joys the
partner dear!
Mindful, though, of sorrows past,