O, fair as the sea-flower close to thee growing,
How light was thy heart till love’s
witchery came,
Like the wind of the south o’er a summer lute
blowing,
And hushed all its music and withered
its frame!
But long, upon Araby’s green sunny highlands,
Shall maids and their lovers remember
the doom
Of her who lies sleeping among the Pearl Islands,
With naught but the sea-star to light
up her tomb.
And still, when the merry date-season is burning,
And calls to the palm-grove the young
and the old,
The happiest there, from their pastime returning
At sunset, will weep when thy story is
told.
The young village maid, when with flowers she dresses
Her dark flowing-hair for some festival
day,
Will think of thy fate till, neglecting her tresses,
She mournfully turns from the mirror away.
Nor shall Iran, beloved of her hero, forget thee—
Though tyrants watch over her tears as
they start,
Close, close by the side of that hero she’ll
set thee,
Embalmed in the innermost shrine of her
heart.
Farewell!—be it ours to embellish thy pillow
With everything beauteous that grows in
the deep;
Each flower of the rock and each gem of the billow
Shall sweeten thy bed and illumine thy
sleep.
Around thee shall glisten the loveliest amber
That ever the sorrowing sea-bird has wept;
With many a shell, in whose hollow-wreathed chamber,
We, Peris of ocean, by moonlight have
slept.
We’ll dive where the gardens of coral lie darkling,
And plant all the rosiest stems at thy
head;
We’ll seek where the sands of the Caspian are
sparkling,
And gather their gold to strew over thy
bed.
Farewell!—farewell!—until pity’s
sweet fountain
Is lost in the hearts of the fair and
the brave,
They’ll weep for the Chieftain who died on that
mountain.
They’ll weep for the Maiden who
sleeps in the wave.
THOMAS MOORE.
SOFTLY WOO AWAY HER BREATH.
Softly woo away her breath,
Gentle death!
Let her leave thee with no strife,
Tender, mournful, murmuring life!
She hath seen her happy day,—
She hath had her bud and blossom;
Now she pales and shrinks away,
Earth, into thy gentle bosom!
She hath done her bidding here,
Angels dear!
Bear her perfect soul above.
Seraph of the skies,—sweet
love!
Good she was, and fair in youth;
And her mind was seen to soar.
And her heart was wed to truth:
Take her, then, forevermore,—
Forever—evermore—
BRYAN WALLER PROCTER (Barry Cornwall.)
SHE DIED IN BEAUTY.
She died in beauty,—like a rose
Blown from its parent stem;
She died in beauty,—like a pearl
Dropped from some diadem.