Zophiel. Canto I

CANTO I.

I.

The time has been--this holiest records say--

In punishment for crimes of mortal birth,

When spirits banished from the realms of day

Wandered malignant o'er the nighted earth.(1)

And from the cold and marble lips declared,

Of some blind-worshipped--earth-created god,

Their deep deceits; which trusting monarchs snared

Filling the air with moans, with gore the sod. [FN#7]

Yet angels doffed their robes in radiance dyed,

And for a while the joys of heaven delayed,

To watch benign by some just mortal's side--

Or meet th' aspiring love of some high gifted maid. [FN#8]

Blest were those days!--can these dull ages boast

Aught to compare? tho' now no more beguile--

Chain'd in their darkling depths th' infernal host--

Who would not brave a fiend to share an angel's smile?

[FN#7]    The god who conducted the Hebrews sent a malignant spirit to speak from the mouth of the prophets, in order to deceive king Achab.

[FN#8]    It is useless to note this stanza, as two well-known poems have lately been founded on the same passage of the Pentateuch to which it alludes.

II.

'Twas then there lived a captive Hebrew pair;

In woe th' embraces of their youth had past,

And blest their paler years one daughter--fair

She flourished, like a lonely rose, the last

And loveliest of her line. The tear of joy--

The early love of song--the sigh that broke

From her young lip--the best-beloved employ--

What womanhood disclosed in infancy bespoke.

A child of passion--tenderest and best

Of all that heart has inly loved and felt;

Adorned the fair enclosure of her breast--

Where passion is not found, no virtue ever dwelt.

Yet not, perverted, would my words imply

The impulse given by Heaven's great Artizan

Alike to man and worm--mere spring, whereby

The distant wheels of life, while time endures, roll on--

But the collective ministry that fill

About the soul, their all-important place--

That feed her fires--empower her fainting will--

And write the god on feeble mortals face.

III.

Yet anger, or revenge, envy or hate

The damsel knew not: when her bosom burned

And injury darkened the decrees of fate,

She had more pitious wept to see that pain returned.

Or if, perchance, tho' formed most just and pure,

Amid their virtue's wild luxuriance hid,

Such germ all mortal bosoms must immure

Which sometimes show their poisonous heads unbid--

If haply such the lovely Hebrew finds,

Self knowledge wept th' abasing truth to know,

And innate pride, that queen of noble minds,

Crushed them indignant ere a bud could grow.

IV.

And such--ev'n now, in earliest youth are seen--

But would they live, with armour more deform,

Their love--o'erflowing breasts must learn to screen:

"The bird that sweetest sings can least endure the storm."

V.

And yet, despite of all the gushing tear--

The melting tone--the darting heart-stream--proved,

The soul that in them spoke, could spurn at fear

Of death or danger; and had those she loved

Required it at their need, she could have stood,

Unmoved, as some fair-sculptured statue, while

The dome that guards it, earth's convulsions, rude

Are shivering--meeting ruin with a smile.

VI.

And this, at intervals in language bright

Told her blue eyes; tho' oft the tender lid

Like lilly drooping languidly; and white

And trembling--all save love and lustre hid.

Then, as young christian bard had sung, they seemed

Like some Madonna in his soul--so sainted;

But opening in their energy--they beamed

As tasteful pagans their Minerva painted;

While o'er her graceful shoulders' milky swell,

Like those full oft on little children seen

Almost to earth her silken ringlets fell

Nor owned Pactolus' sands more golden sheen.

VII.

And now, full near, the hour unwished for drew

When fond, Sephora hoped to see her wed;

And, for 'twould else expire, impatient grew

To renovate her race from beauteous Egla's bed.

VIII.

None of their kindred lived to claim her hand

But stranger-youths had asked her of her sire

With gifts and promise fair; he could withstand

All save her tears; and harkening her desire

Still left her free; but soon her mother drew

From her a vow, that when the twentieth year

Its full, fair finish o'er her beauty threw,

If what her fancy fed on, came not near,

She would entreat no more but to the voice

Of her light-giver hearken; and her life

And love--all yielding to that kindly choice

Would hush each idle wish and learn to be a wife.

IX.

Now oft it happ'd when morning task was done

And for the virgins of her household made

And lotted each her toil; while yet the sun

Was young, fair Egla to a woody shade,

Loved to retreat; there, in the fainting hour

Of sultry noon the burning sunbeam fell

Like a warm twilight; so bereft of power,

It gained an entrance thro' the leafy bower;

That scarcely shrank the tender lilly bell

Tranquil and lone in such a light to be,

How sweet to sense and soul!--the form recline

Forgets it ere felt pain; and reverie,

Sweet mother of the muses, heart and soul are thine. [FN#9]

[FN#9]    Every one talks and reads of groves, but it is impossible for those who never felt it, to conceive the effect of such a situation in a warm climate. In this island the woods which are naturally so interwoven with vines as to be impervious to a human being, are in some places, cleared and converted into nurseries for the young coffee-trees which remain sheltered from the sun and wind till sufficiently grown to transplant. To enter one of these "semilleros," as they are here called, at noon day, produces an effect like that anciently ascribed to the waters of Lethe. After sitting down upon the trunk of a fallen cedar or palm-tree, and breathing for a moment, the freshness of the air and the odour of the passion flower, which is one of the most abundant, and certainly the most beautiful of the climate; the noise of the trees, which are continually kept in motion by the trade winds; the fluttering and various notes, though not musical, of the birds; the loftiness of the green canopy, for the trunks of the trees are bare to a great height, and seem like pillars supporting the thick mass of leaves above; and the rich mellow light which the intense rays of the sun, thus impeded, produce; have altogether such an effect that one involuntarily forgets every thing but the present, and it requires a strong effort to rise and leave the place.

X.

This calm recess on summer day she sought

And sat to tune her lute; but all night long

Quiet had from her pillow flown, and thought

Feverish and tired, sent for th' unseemly throng

Of boding images. She scarce could woo

One song reluctant, ere advancing quick

Thro' the fresh leaves Sephora's form she knew

And duteous rose to meet; but fainting sick

Her heart sank tremulously in her; why

Sought out at such an hour, it half divined

And seated now beside, with downcast eye

And fevered pulse, she met the pressure, kind

And warmly given; while thus the matron fair

Nor yet much marr'd by time, with soothing words

Solicitous; and gently serious air

The purpose why she hither came preferr'd:

XI.

"Egla, my hopes thou knowest--tho' exprest

But rare lest they should pain thee--I have dealt

Not rudely towards thee tender; and supprest

The wish, of all, my heart has most vehement felt.

"Know I have marked, that when the reason why

Thou still wouldst live in virgin state, thy sire

Has prest thee to impart, quick in thine eye

Semblance of hope has played--fain to transpire

"Words seem'd to seek thy lip; but the bright rush

Of heart-blood eloquent, alone would tell

In the warm language of a rebel blush

What thy less treacherous tongue has guarded well.

XII.

"Dost waste so oft alone--the cheerful day?

Or haply, rather bath some pagan youth"--

She with quick burst--'whate'er has happ'd I'll say!

Doubt thou my wisdom, but regard my truth!

XIII.

"Long time ago, while yet a twelve years' child

These shrubs and vines, new planted, near this spot,

I sat me tired with pleasant toil, and whiled

Away the time with many a wishful thought

"Of desolate Judea. Every scene

Which thou so oft, while sitting on thy knee,

Wouldst sing of, weeping, thro' my mind has been

Successive; when from yon old mossy tree

"I heard a pitious moan. Wondering I went

And found a wretched man; worn and opprest

He seemed with toil and years; and whispering faint

He said "Oh little maiden, sore distrest

"I sink for very want. Give me I pray,

A drop of water and a cake: I die

Of thirst and hunger, yet my sorrowing way

May tread once more, if thou my needs supply."

XIV.

"A long time missing from thy fondling arms--

It chanced that day thou'dst sent me in the shade

New bread, a cake of figs, and wine of palms [FN#10]

Mingled with water, sweet with honey made.

"These did I bring--raised as I could, his head;

Held to his lip the cup; and while he quaffed,

Upon my garment wiped the tears that sped

Adown his silvery beard and mingled with the draft.

[FN#10]    "The palm is a very common plant in this country, (Assyria,) and generally fruitful; this they cultivate like fig-trees and it produces them bread, wine and honey." See Beloe's notes to his translation of Herodotus. Mr. Gibbon adds, that the diligent natives celebrated, either in verse or prose, three hundred and sixty uses to which the trunk, the branches, the leaves, the juice and the fruit of this plant were applied. Nothing can be more curious and interesting than the natural history of the palm tree.

XV.

"When gaining sudden strength, he raised his hand,

And in this guise did bless me, "Mayst thou be

A crown to him who weds thee.--In a land

Far distant bides a captive. Hearken me

"And choose thee now a bridegroom meet: to day

O'er broad Euphrates' steepest banks a child

Fled from his youthful nurse's arms; in play

Elate, he bent him o'er the brink, and smiled

"To see their fears who followed him--but who

The keen wild anguish of that scene can tell--

He bend o'er the brink, and in their view,

But ah! too far beyond their aid--he fell.

XVI.

"They wailed--the long torn ringlets of their hair [FN#11]

Freighted the pitying gale; deep rolled the stream

And swallowed the fair child; no succour there--

They women--whither look--who to redeem

"What the fierce waves were preying on?--when lo!

Approached a stranger boy. Aside he flung,

As darted thought, his quiver and his bow

And parted by his limbs the sparkling billows sung.

[FN#11]    The women, I believe, among all nations of antiquity were accustomed to express violent grief by tearing their hair. This must have been a great and affecting sacrifice to the object bemoaned, as they considered it a part of themselves and absolutely essential to their beauty. Fine hair has been a subject of commendation among all people, and particularly the ancients. Cyrus, when he went to visit his uncle Astyages found him with his eyelashes coloured, and decorated with false locks; the first Caesar obtained permission to wear the laurel-wreath in order to conceal the bareness of his temples. The quantity and beauty of the hair of Absalom is commemorated in holy writ. The modern oriental ladies also set the greatest value on their hair which they braid and perfume. Thus says the poet Hafiz, whome Sir William Jones styles the Anacreon of Persia,

"Those locks, each curl of which is worth a hundred musk-bags of China, would be sweet indeed, if their scent proceeded from sweetness of temper."

and again,

"When the breeze shall waft the fragrance of thy locks over the tomb of Hafiz, a thousand flowers shall spring from the earth that hides his corse."

Achilles clipped his yellow locks and threw them as a sacrifice upon the funeral pyre of Patroclus.

XVII.

"They clung to an old palm and watched; nor breath

Nor word dared utter; while the refluent flood

Left on each countenance the hue of death,

Ope'd lip and far strained eye spoke worse than death endured.

XVIII.

"But, down the flood, the dauntless boy appeared,--

Now rising--plunging--in the eddy whirled--

Mastering his course--but now a rock he neared--

And closing o'er his head, the deep, dark waters curled.

"Then Hope groaned forth her last; and drear despair

Spoke in a shriek; but ere its echo wild

Had ceased to thrill; restored to light and air--

He climbs, he gains the rock, and holds alive the child.

XIX.

"Now mark what chanced--that infant was the son

E'vn of the king of Nineveh: and placed

Before him was the youth who so had won

From death the royal heir. A captive graced

"All o'er with Nature's gifts he sparkled--brave

And panting for renown--blushing and praised

The stripling stood; and closely prest, would crave

Alone a place mid warlike men; and raised

"To his full wish, the kingly presence left,

Buoyant and bright with hope; dreaming of nought

While revelled his full soul in visions deft,

But blessings from his sire and pleasures of a court.

XX.

"But when his mother heard, she wept; and said

If he our only child be far away

Or slain in war; how shall our years be stayed?

Friendless and old, where is the hand to lay

"Our white hairs in the earth?--So when her fears

He saw would not be calmed, he did not part,

But lived in low estate, to dry her tears,

And crushed the full-grown-hopes, exulting at his heart."

XXI.

"The old man ceased; ere I could speak, his face

Grew more than mortail fair: a mellow light

Mantling around him fill'd the shady place

And while I wondering stood; he vanished from my sight.

XXII.

"This I had told,--but shame withheld--and fear

Thou'dst deem some spirit guilded me--disapprove--

Perchance forbid my customed wanderings here;

But whencesoe'er the vision, I have strove

"Still vainly to forget--I've heard the mourn

Kindred afar, and captive--oh! my mother--

Should he--my heaven announced--exist, return--

And meet me drear--lost--wedded to another"--

Then thus Sephora, "In the city where

Our kindred distant dwelt--blood has been shed--

Dreamer, had such heroic boy been there,

Belike he's numbered with the silent dead.

"Or doth he live he knows not--would not know

(Thralled--dead, to thee--in fair Assyrian arms.)

Who pines for him afar in fruitless woe

A phantom's bride--wasting love, life and charms.

XXIII.

"'Tis as a vine of Galilee should say,

Culturer, I reck not thy support, I sigh

For a young palm tree, of Euphrates; nay--

Or let me him entwine or in my blossom die.

"Thy heart is set on joys it may not prove,

And, panting ingrate, scorns the blessings given?--

Hoping from dust formed    man, a seraph's love

And days on earth like to the days of heaven.

XXIV.

"But to my theme, maiden, a lord for thee,

And not of thee unworthy--I have chose--

Dispel the dread, that in thy looks I see--

Nor make it task of anguish to disclose,

"What should be--thine heart's dew. Remember'st thou

When to the Altar, by thy father reared,

We suppliant went with sacrifice and vow,

A victim-dove escaped? and there appeared

"And would have brought thee others to supply

Its loss, a Median?--thou, dissolved, to praise,

Didst note the beauty of his shape and eye,

And, as he parted, in the sunny rays

"The ringlets of his black locks clustering bright

Around his pillar-neck," ''tis pity he'

Thou saidst, 'in all the comeliness and might

Of perfect man--pity like him, should be

"But an idolater: how nobly sweet

He tempereth pride with courtesy; a flower

Drops honey when he speaks. Yet 'twere most meet

To praise his majesty: he stands--a tower.'

"The same, a false idolater no more,

Now bows him to the God, for whose dread ire

Fall'n on us loved but sinning, we deplore

This long but just captivity. Thy sire

"Receives him well and harkens his request

For know, he comes to ask thee-for a bride

And to be one among a people, blest

Tho' deep in suffering. Nor to him denied

"Art thou, sad daughter--weep--if't be thy will--

E'vn on the breast that nourished thee and ne'er

Distrest thee or compelled; this bosom still

Ev'n should'st though blight its dearest hopes, will share

"Nay, bear thy pains; but sooner in the grave

'Twill quench my waning years, if reckless thou

Of what I not command, but only crave,

Let my heart pine regardless of thy vow."

XXV.

She thus, 'O think not, kindest, I forget,

Receiving so much love, how much is due

From me to thee: the Mede I'll wed--but yet

I cannot stay these tears that gush to pain thy view.'

XXVI.

Sephora held her to heart, the while

Grief had its way--then saw her gently laid

And bade her, kissing her blue eyes, beguile

Slumbering the fervid noon. Her leafy bed

Sighed forth o'erpowering breath; increased the heat;

Sleepless had been the night; her weary sense

Could now no more. Lone in the still retreat,

Wounding the flowers to sweetness more intense,

She sank. 'Tis thus, kind Nature lets our woe

Swell 'til it bursts forth from the o'erfraught breast;

Then draws an opiate from the bitter flow,

And lays her sorrowing child soft in the lap to rest.

XXVII.

Now all the mortal maid lies indolent

Save one sweet cheek which the cool velvet turf

Had touched too rude, tho' all the blooms besprent,

One soft arm pillowed. Whiter than the surf

That foams against the sea-rock, looked her neck,

By the dark, glossy, odorous shrubs relieved,

That close inclining o'er her seemed to reck

What 'twas they canopied; and quickly heaved

Beneath her robe's white folds and azure zone,

Her heart yet incomposed; a fillet thro'

Peeped brightly azure, while with tender moan

As if of bliss, Zephyr her ringlets blew

Sportive;--about her neck their gold he twined,

Kissed the soft violet on her temples warm,

And eye brow--just so dark might well define

Its flexile arch;--throne of expression's charm.

XXVIII.

As the vexed Caspian, tho' its rage be past

And the blue smiling heavens swell o'er in peace,

Shook to the centre, by the recent blast,

Heaves on tumultuous still, and hath not power to cease.

So still each little pulse was seen to throb

Tho' passion and its pains were lulled to rest,

And "even and anon" a pitious sob

Shook the pure arch expansive o'er her breast. [FN#12]

[FN#12]    This effect is very observable in little children, who for several hours after they have cried themselves to sleep, and sometimes even when a smile is on their lips, are heard, from time to time, to utter sobs.

XXIX.

Save that 'twas all tranquillity; that reigned

O'er fragrance sound and beauty; all was mute--

Save when a dove her dear one's absence plained

And the faint breeze mourned o'er the slumberer's lute.

XXX.

It chanced, that day, lured by the verdure, came

Zophiel, now minister of ill; but ere

He sinned, a heavenly angel. The faint flame

Of dying embers, on an altar, where

Raguel, fair Egla's sire, in secret vowed

And sacrificed to the sole living God,

Where friendly shades the sacred rites enshround;--(2)

The fiend beheld and knew; his soul was awed,

And he bethought him of the forfeit joys

Once his in Heaven;--deep in a darkling grot

He sat him down;--the melancholy noise

Of leaf and creeping vine accordant with his thought.

XXXI.

When fiercer spirits, howled, he but complained (3)

Ere yet 'twas his to roam the pleasant earth,

His heaven-invented harp he still retained

Tho' tuned to bliss no more; and had its birth

Of him, beneath some black infernal clift

The first drear song of woe; and torment wrung

The spirit less severe where he might lift

His plaining voice--and frame the like as now he sung:

XXXII.

"Woe to thee, wild ambition, I employ

Despair's dull notes thy dread effects to tell,

Born in high-heaven, her peace thou could'st destroy,

And, but for thee, there had not been a hell.

"Thro' the celestial domes thy clarion pealed,--

Angels, entranced, beneath thy banners ranged,

And stright were fiends;--hurled from the shrinking field,

They waked in agony to wait the change.

"Darting thro' all her veins the subtle fire

The world's fair mistress first inhaled thy breath,

To lot of higher beings learned to aspire,--

Dared to attempt--and doomed the world to death.

"Thy thousand wild desires, that still torment

The fiercely struggling soul, where peace once dwelt,

But perished;--feverish hope--drear discontent,

Impoisoning all possest--Oh! I have felt

"As spirits feel--yet not for man we mourn

Scarce o'er the silly bird in state were he,

That builds his nest, loves, sings the morn's return,

And sleeps at evening; save by aid of thee,

"Fame ne'er had roused, nor song her records kept

The gem, the ore, the marble breathing life,

The pencil's colours,--all in earth had slept,

Now see them mark with death his victim's strife.

"Man found thee death--but death and dull decay

Baffling, by aid of thee, his mastery proves;--

By mighty works he swells his narrow day

And reigns, for ages, on the world he loves.

"Yet what the price? with stings that never cease

Thou goad'st him on; and when, too keen the smart,

He fain would pause awhile--and signs for peace,

Food thou wilt have, or tear his victim heart."

XXXIII.

Thus Zophiel still,--"tho' now the infernal crew

Had gained by sin a privilege in the world,

Allayed their torments in the cool night dew,

And by the dim star-light again their wings unfurled."

XXXIV.

And now, regretful of the joys his birth

Had promised; deserts, mounts and streams he crost,

To find, amid the loveliest spots of earth,

Faint likeness of the heaven he had lost.

And oft, by unsuccessful searching pained,

Weary he fainted thro' the toilsome hours;

And then his mystic nature he sustained

On steam of sacrifices--breath of flowers. (4)

XXXV.

Sometimes he gave out oracles, amused

With mortal folly; resting on the shrines;

Or, all in some fair Sibyl's form infused,

Spoke from her quivering lips, or penned her mystic lines. [FN#13]

[FN#13]    This passage merely accords with the belief that the responses of the ancient oracles were spoken by fiends, or evil spirits. We need only look into the "New Testament for a confirmation of the power which such beings were supposed to possess of speaking from the lips of mortals."

XXXVI.

And now he wanders on from glade to glade

To where more precious shrubs diffuse their balms,

And gliding thro' the thick inwoven shade

Where the young Hebrew lay in all her charms,

He caught a glimpse. The colours in her face--

Her bare white arms--her lips--her shining hair--

Burst on his view. He would have flown the place;

Fearing some faithful angel rested there,

Who'd see him--reft of glory--lost to bliss--

Wandering and miserably panting--fain

To glean a scanty joy--with thoughts like this--

Came all he'd known and lost--he writh'd with pain

Ineffable--But what assailed his ear,

A sigh?--surprised, another glance he took;

Then doubting--fearing--gradual coming near--

He ventured to her side and dared to look;

Whispering, "yes, 'tis of earth! So, new-found life

Refreshing, looked sweet Eve, with purpose fell

When first sin's sovereign gazed on her, and strife

Had with his heart, that grieved with arts of hell,

"Stern as it was, to win her o'er to death!--

Most beautiful of all in earth, in heaven,

Oh! could I quaff for aye that fragrant breath

Couldst thou, or being likening thee, be given

"To bloom forever for me thus--still true

To one dear theme, my full soul flowing o'er,

Would find no room for thought of what it knew--

Nor picturing forfeit transport, curse me more. (5)

"But oh! severest pain!--I cannot be

In what I love, blest ev'n the little span--

(With all a spirit's keen capacity

For bliss) permitted the poor insect man.

XXXVII.

"The few I've seen and deemed of worth to win

Like some sweet flowret mildewed, in my arms,

Withered to hidiousness--foul ev'n as sin--

Grew fearful hags; and then with potent charm [FN#14]

[FN#14]    One of the most striking absurdities in the lately- dispelled superstition of witchcraft, is the extreme hidiousness and misery usually ascribed to such as made use of the agency of evil spirits. I have therefore made it the result of an unforeseen necessity: no female can be supposed to purchase, voluntarily, the power of doing mischief to others at the price of beauty and every thing like happiness on her own part.

"Of muttered word and harmful drug, did learn

To force me to their will. Down the damp grave

Loathing, I went at Endor, and uptorn

Brought back the dead; when tortured Saul did crave,

"To view his pending fate. Fair--nay, as this

Young slumberer, that dread witch; when, I arrayed

In lovely shape, to meet my guileful kiss

She yielded first her lip. And thou, sweet maid--

What is't I see?--a recent tear has strayed

And left its stain upon her cheek of bliss.--

XXXVIII.

"She's fall'n to sleep in grief--haply been chid,

Or by rude mortal wronged. So let it prove

Meet for my purpose: 'mid these blossoms hid,

I'll gaze; and when she wakes with all that love

"And art can lend, come forth. He who would gain

A fond full heart, in love's soft surgery skilled

Should seek it when 'tis sore; allay its pain--

With balm by pity prest 'tis all his own, so healed

XXXIX.

"She may be mine a little year--ev'n fair

And sweet as now--Oh! respite! while possest

I lose the dismal sense of my despair--

But then--I will not think upon the rest.

"And wherefore grieve to cloud her little day [FN#15]

Of fleeting life?--What doom from power divine

I bear eternal! thoughts of ruth, away!

Wake pretty fly!--and--while thou mayst,--be mine.

"Tho' but an hour--so thou suppli'st thy looms

With shining silk, [FN#16] and in the cruel snare

See'st the fond bird entrapped, but for his plumes

To work thy robes, or twine amidst thy hair."

[FN#15]    The ancient Hebrews had no idea of a future state.

[FN#16]    I have not been able to discover whether the use of silk was known at so early a period. It is said to have been sold in Rome for its weight in gold, and was considered so luxurious an article that it was considered infamous for a man to appear drest in it. The Roman Pausanias says that it came from the country of the Seres, a people of Asiatic Scythia.

XL.

To wisper softly in her ear he bent,

But draws him back restrained: A higher power

That loved to watch o'er slumbering innocent,

Repelled his evil touch; and, from her bower

To lead the maid, Sephora comes; the sprite

Half baffled, followed--hovering on unseen--

Till Meles, fair to see and nobly dight,

Received his pensive bride. Gentle of mien

She meekly stood. He fastened round her arm

Rings of refulgent ore; low and apart

Murmuring, "so beauteous captive, shall thy charms

Forever thrall and clasp thy captive's heart."

The air breathed softer, as she slowly moved

In languid resignation: his quick eye

Spoke in black glances how she was approved,

Who shrunk reluctant from its ardency.

XLI.

'Twas sweet to look upon the goodly pair

In their contrasted loveliness: her height

Might almost vie with his; but heavenly fair,

Of soft proportion she, and sunny hair

He cast in manliest mould with ringlets murk as night.

XLII.

All art could give with Nature's charms was blent,

His gorgeous country shone in his attire,

And as he moved with tread magnificent

She could but look and looking must admire.

XLIII.

And oft her drooping and resigned blue eye

She'd wistful raise to read his radiant face,

But then--why shrank her heart? a secret sigh

Told her it most required what there it could not trace.

XLIV.

Now fair had fall'n the night. The damsel mused

At her own window, in the pearly ray

Of the full moon; her thoughtful soul infused

Thus in    her words; left 'lone awhile, to pray.

XLV.

"What bliss for her who lives her little day,

In blest obedience; like to those divine

Who to her loved, her earthly lord, can say

'God is thy law,' most just 'and thou art mine.'

"To every blast she bends in beauty meek--

How can she shrink--his arms her shelter kind?--

And feels no need to blanch her rosy cheek

With thoughts befitting his superior mind.

"Who only sorrows when she sees him pained,

Then knows to pluck away pain's fiercest dart;

Or, love arresting, ere its gaol is gained

Steal half its venom ere it reach his heart.

"'Tis the soul's food--the fervid must adore--

For this the heathen, insufficed with thought

Moulds him an idol of the glittering ore

Or shines his smiling goddess, marble-wrought.

"What bliss for her--e'en on this world of woe

Oh! sire who mak'st yon orb-strown arch thy throne,--

That sees thee, in thy nobles work below,

Shine undefaced!--and calls that work her own!

"This I had hoped: but hope too dear, too great--

Go to thy grave! I feel thee blasted, now--

Give me, fate's sovereign, well to bear the fate

Thy pleasure sends--this, my sole prayer, allow."

XLVI.

Still, fixed on heaven, her earnest eye, all dew,

Seemed as it sought amid the lamps of night

For him her soul addressed; but other view

Far different--sudden from that pensive plight

Recalled her: quick as on primeval gloom

Burst the new day-star, when the Eternal bid,

Appeared, and glowing filled the dusky room,

As 'twere a brillant cloud; the form it hid

Modest emerged, as might a youth beseem;

Save a slight scarf, his beauty bare, and white

As cygnet's bosom on some silver stream;

Or young narcissus, when to woo the light

Of its first morn, that flowret open springs;--

And near the maid he comes with timid gaze

And gently fans her, with his full spread wings

Transparent as the cooling gush that plays

From ivory fount. Each bright prismatic tint

Still vanishing, returning, blending, changing,

Glowed, from their fibrous mystic texture glint,

Like colours o'er the full-blown bubble ranging

That pretty urchins launch upon the air

And laugh to see it vanish; yet, so bright,

More like--and even that were faint compare,

As shaped from some new rain-bow; rosy light

Like that which pagans say the dewy car

Precedes of their Aurora, clipp'd him round

Retiring as he mov'd; and evening's star

Shamed not the diamond coronal that bound

His curly locks. And still to teach his face

Expression dear to her he wooed he sought;

And, in his hand, he held a little vase

Of virgin gold in strange devices wrought.

XLVII.

Love toned he spoke, "Fair sister, [FN#17] art thou here

With pensive looks, so near thy bridal bed,

Fixed on the pale cold moon? Nay! do not fear--

To do thee weal o'er mount and stream I've sped.

[FN#17]    Sister, was an affectionate appellation, used by the Jews towards all women.

XLVIII.

"Say, doth thy soul in all its sweet excess

Rush to this bridegroom, smooth and falsehood-taught.

Ah, now! thou yield'st thee to a loathed caress--

While thy heart tells thee loud it owns him not.

XLIX.

"Hadst thou but seen, on Tigris' banks, this morn

Wasting her wild complaints, a wretched maid,

Stung with her wrongs--lone--beauty-reft--forlorn--

And learned 'twas ev'n thy Meles who betrayed,

"Well hadst thou then shrunk to return his love

But wherefore now, on theme of sorrow bide?--

What would thy beauty? here I wait--nay, prove

A spirit's power, nor be my boon denied!

"I'll tell thee secrets of the neither earth

And highest heaven--or dost some service crave?

Declare thy bidding, best of mortal birth,

I'll be thy winged messenger, thy slave." (7)

L.

Then softly Egla, "Lovely being tell--

In pity to the grief thy lips betray

The knowledge of--say with some kindly spell

Dost come from heaven, to charm my pains away?

"Alas! what know'st thou of my plighted lord?

If guilt pollute him, as unless mine ear

Deceive me in the purport of thy word,

Thou mean'st t' imply--kind spirit rest not here

"But to my father hasten and make known

The fearful truth: my doom is his command;

Writ in heaven's book, I guard the oath I've sworn

Unless he will to blot it by thine hand."

LI.

"Thy plight to Meles little need avail."

Zophiel replies: "ere morn, if't be thy will

To Lybian deserts he shall howl his tale

I'll hurl him, at thy word, o'er forest, sea and hill.

LII.

"By all the frauds, which forged in his black breast,

Come forth so white and silvery from his tongue,

My potency he soon shall prove; nor rest

To banquet on the blood of hearts by him unstrung,

"And reft of all their music. Every pain

By him inflicted for his own vile joys

Rend his vile self! fruition not again

Shall crown such arts as now the slave employs!

"But sooth thee, maiden, be thy soul at peace;

Mine be the care to hasten to thy sire

And null thy vow: let every terror cease:

Perfect success attends thy least desire."

LIII.

Then lowly bending with seraphic grace

The vase he proffered full; and not a gem

Drawn forth successive from its sparkling place

But put to shame the Persian diadem.

LIV.

While he "Nay, let me o'er thy white arms bind

These orient pearls less smooth; Egla, for thee,

My thrilling substance pained by storm and wind,

I sought them mid the caverns of the sea.

"And here's a ruby drinking solar rays

I saw it redden on a mountain tip,

Now on thy snowy bosom let it blaze:

'Twill blush still deeper to behold thy lip.

"Look, for thy hair a garland; every flower

That spreads its blossoms, watered by the tear

Of the sad slave in Babylonian bower,

Might see its fraid bright hues perpetuate here.

"For morn's light bell, this changeful amythist

A sapphire for the violet's tender blue;

Large opals for the queen-rose zephyr-kist;

And here are emeralds of ev'ry hue

For ev'ry folded bud and leaflet dropped with dew.

LV.

"And here's a diamond cull'd from Indian mine

To gift a haughty queen: it might not be--

I knew a worthier brow, sister divine,

And brought the gem; for well I deem for thee

"The 'arch-chymic sun' in earth's dark bosom wrought

To prison thus a ray; that when dull night

Lours o'er his realms and nature's all seems nought

She whom he grieves to leave may still behold his light." [FN#18]

Thus spake he on, for still the wondering maid

Gazed, as a youthful artist,--rapturously,

Each perfect, smooth, harmonious limb survey'd

Insatiate still her beauty-loving eye.

[FN#18]    It was not unusual among the nations of the east, to imitate flowers with precious stones. The Persian kings about the time of Artaxerxes, sat, when they gave audience under a vine, the leaves of which were formed of gold and the grapes of emeralds.

LVI.

For Zophiel wore a mortal form; and blent

In mortal form, when perfect, nature shows

Her all that's fair, enhanc'd; fire, firmament,

Ocean, earth flowers and gems, all there disclose

Their charms epitomized: the heavenly power

To lavish beauty, in this last work crown'd--

And Egla form'd of fibres such as dower

Those who most feel, forgot all else around.

LVII.

He saw, and softening every wily word

Spoke in more melting music to her soul,

And o'er her sense as when the fond night bird

Woos the full rose o'erpowering fragrance stole. (6)

Or when the lillies, sleepier perfume, move,

Disturbed by too young sister-fawns, that play

Among their graceful stalks at morn, and love

From their white cells to lip the dews away.

LVIII.

She strove to speak, but 'twas in murmurs low,

While o'er her cheek, his potent spell confessing,

Deeper diffused the warm carnation glow

Still dewy wet with tears her inmost soul confessing.

As the little reptile, in some lonely grove,

With fixed bright eye of facinating flame

Lures on by slow degrees the plaining dove,

So nearer--nearer still--the bride and spirit came.

LIX.

"Thou, strong, invisible, invidious sprite,

Now, from my love my peerless mortal shield--

What exultation for thy power to night!

Look on thy beauteous charge!--why does she yield?"

LX.

Thus secret he, the pearly bracelet holding,

Lending his lip to accents sweetlier bland

The light that clipt him, half the maid enfolding

Half given--tho' dubious half--her lilly hand.

LXI.

Success seemed his;--but secret, in the height

And pride of transport; as he set at nought

And taunts her guardian power; infernal light

Shot from his eye, with guilt and treachery fraught.

Haply it was but Nature:--she bestows

Intuitive preception, and while art

O'ertasks himself with guile, loves to disclose

The dark soul in the eye, to warn th' o'ertrusting heart.

LXII.

Zophiel, howe'er the warning came, was foiled

What torments burned in his unearthly breast!

The while her trembling hand--untouched, recoiled,

That, wild, exulting glance, the wily fiend confest.

LXIII.

Faintly he spoke--"'Tis Meles' step I here,

Guilty thou know'st him--wilt receive him still?"--

The rosy blood driven to her heart by fear

She said, in accents faint, but firm, "I will."

LXIV.

The spirit heard; and all again was dark;

Save, as before, the melancholy flame

Of the full moon; and faint, unfrequent spark

Which from the perfume's burning embers came.

That stood in vases round the room disposed;

Shuddering and trembling to her couch she crept,--

Soft oped the door and quick again was closed,

And thro' the pale grey moon-light Meles stept.

LXV.

But ere he yet, in haste, could throw aside

His broidered belt and sandals--dread to [illegible]

Eager he sprang--he sought to clasp his bride--

He stopt--a groan was heard--he gasped and fell

LXVI.

Low by the couch of her who widowed lay

Her ivory hands convulsive clasped in prayer,

But lacking power to move; and when 'twas day,

A cold black corse was all of Meles, there.

END OF THE FIRST CANTO.