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 |