The Bijou;
or Annual of Literature and the Arts
compiled by William Fraser
London: William Pickering,
1828
| [Page 241] |  |
| The Sun in parting splendor set | 1 |
| On mosque, and dome, and minaret, | 2 |
| And many a golden ruddy beam | 3 |
| Lit up each pure and gushing stream; | 4 |
| And leaves and flowers were gemm'd with dew, | 5 |
| Lavished on buds of every hue, | 6 |
| Which like a fair Sultana's zone, | 7 |
| Or coronal of Peri shone. | 8 |
| And in her own sequester'd bower, | 9 |
| Within the Harem's still retreat, | 10 |
| Sitara at that lovely hour; | 11 |
| Of Eve had chos'n her lonely seat; | 12 |
| For on embroidered couches lay'd, | 13 |
| Reclin'd the pensive Moslem maid. | 14 |
| In vain the beauteous woodbines wound, | 15 |
| Like Love's light bonds the casement round, | 16 |
| Wafting their tribute of perfume | 17 |
| And laughing in their roseate bloom; | 18 |
| For all neglected lay her lute | 19 |
| Whose every moving strain was mute! | 20 |
| [Page 342sic] |  |
| No longer was her buoyant song | 21 |
| Borne by the southern breeze along, | 22 |
| Nor flowers, nor lute, nor sparkling stream, | 23 |
| Could woo her from Love's witching dream. | 24 |
| Though close within her Harem bower, | 25 |
| They deem'd her safe from Love's fond power, | 26 |
| Yet in what deep sequester'd cell | 27 |
| Will not the winged urchin dwell: | 28 |
| For e'en within a flow'ry wreath | 29 |
| Young Love his first fond vows may breathe; | 30 |
| And in bright emblem flowers declare, | 31 |
| Joy —absence—thraldom —hope—despair!— | 32 |
| Perchance amidst those flowers he dwells, | 33 |
| Nestling beneath the myrtle bells, | 34 |
| And on its fragrance wafts a sigh | 35 |
| While sunned beneath her radiant eye. | 36 |
| And e'en those buds of crimson hue | 37 |
| Breathe vows of love both pure and true, | 38 |
| While the bright golden flowret bears, | 39 |
| His ever changing hopes and fears, | 40 |
| And Beauty's type, the joyous rose, | 41 |
| Unfolds the soft and flattering tale, | 42 |
| That her young cheek with luster glows, | 43 |
| Which makes his vaunted bloom seem pale. | 44 |
| Then may not her young bosom well, | 45 |
| Receive the vows those emblems tell; | 46 |
| And her dark downcast eyes reveal | 47 |
| Thoughts which her tongue might else conceal? — | 48 |
| [Page 343sic] |  |
| And why then from the garland's pride | 49 |
| Does she those simple flowers divide, | 50 |
| And place them pensively apart, | 51 |
| As if some chord within her heart | 52 |
| Vibrated? Know amidst their bloom | 53 |
| Those purple buds of absence breathe, | 54 |
| Which well might shed a passing gloom | 55 |
| O'er her fair brow. Did not the wreath | 56 |
| Of fairy hope from spring's bright bowers | 57 |
| Shine in those tufts of snowy flowers, | 58 |
| Which, joined with Memory's solace still, | 59 |
| Shields Love's young buds from winter's chill. | 60 |
from The Bijou, 1828, pp. 241-343sic |
 |