 | Persian love elegies |  |
ELEGY I.
[To Love, the song of hapless Selim flows]
SELIM'S INVOCATION TO LOVE. HE DETERMINES TO WRITE NO MORE FOR FAME, BUT TO GAIN THE REGARD OF MIRVA HIS MISTRESS.
To Love, the song of hapless Selim flows:
Ah! bless the swain who sighs before thy shrine:
Lo! ev'ry dear delight which rapture knows,
Queen of the tender heart, is wholly thine.
Ah! bless the swain who sighs before thy shrine:
Lo! ev'ry dear delight which rapture knows,
Queen of the tender heart, is wholly thine.
No more I'll idly tune the line for praise:
Diviner hopes my glowing fancy move:
I ask the muses for their sweetest lays,
To tell a beauteous maid how much I love.
Diviner hopes my glowing fancy move:
I ask the muses for their sweetest lays,
To tell a beauteous maid how much I love.
Vain are our vows to Fame, alas! how vain!
She waits to see us on the mournful bier,
Before she pours the sweet ungrateful strain:
What cruel mock'ry to the lifeless ear!
She waits to see us on the mournful bier,
Before she pours the sweet ungrateful strain:
What cruel mock'ry to the lifeless ear!
2
Mine be the bliss to press the blushing maid,
And all the wishes of my soul impart:
Be mine the rapture, 'midst her smiles to read
The name of Selim on the virgin's heart.
And all the wishes of my soul impart:
Be mine the rapture, 'midst her smiles to read
The name of Selim on the virgin's heart.
How lost to life are all the lost to love!
Far from my presence let indiff'rence fly;
Far let the silent sullen tongue remove,
The careless air and cold unsocial eye.
Far from my presence let indiff'rence fly;
Far let the silent sullen tongue remove,
The careless air and cold unsocial eye.
Divine the blush that o'er the virgin glows,
When soft consenting sighs our toils requite!
Wild from our hearts what joy extatic flows,
How from each yielding charm we drink delight!
When soft consenting sighs our toils requite!
Wild from our hearts what joy extatic flows,
How from each yielding charm we drink delight!
Let fools from love contemptuous turn away:
The soft desire, the tender sigh revile:
Ah! let my bosom feel th'inspiring ray;
For what is life unblest by beauty's smile!
The soft desire, the tender sigh revile:
Ah! let my bosom feel th'inspiring ray;
For what is life unblest by beauty's smile!
| Persian love elegies | |