Lyrical and other poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

“Oh! lady, oh, lady the moonbeam is clear,
And these flow'rs are wet with its earliest dew,
And the spell that I weave thee, is sparkling and fair,
And its brightness, dear lady, is kindling for you!
Soon shall the heart you seek,
Tremble before you,

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Soon shall the lay you speak,
Bid him adore you!
As the hue of this flow'r,
Shall the hope of thy heart,
Bloom forth with new pow'r,
In smiles to impart,
To thy cheek all its glow,
To thine eye all its fire,
'Till the rover shall know
All his former desire.
Oh, lady then fly with the wreath that I twine,
For if morning but smiles on its fold, thou'rt lost;
And the warm summer glance, he would deem now divine,
Beneath its lone brightness, no longer would shine,
But be frost! but be frost!
The fairy twined the magic spell,
The maiden sought the ball,
The Sultan knew not as he fell,
Before young Nourmahal!
“Now fare ye well, my wreath of leaves,
Your fragrance all is gone,
And Nourmahal no more deceives,
She has gain'd the roving one.”

From Moore's Light of the Harem.

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2. THE TWO LOVERS,

Dead of the Plague.

Sweetly sleep, and gently lie
On your bed of death, ye lovers!
Whilst yon Peri, of the sky,
Bearing incense from on high,
O'er your listless forms, now hovers.

Sweetly sleep, where pain shall ne'er,
With his foster-parent care,
Wing one shaft, your bliss to sever:
Sweetest sleep! when death shall mingle
Lips that shall unite forever,
Destined never to be single!

Happy spirits, that repose,
In an union so divine;
Like the petals of the rose,
Made together, but to shine!
Life can wing no after blow,
Time shall never more oppress ye;
Feeling, with her sister, Wo,
Ne'er shall bid the tear-drop flow,
The peace, the peace of death shall bless ye.

Death, who soothes, e'en when he blights—
Death, the tender-hearted,
That still 'midst cruelty, unites
What ne'er in life was parted!

Vide Moore's Lalla Rookh, Art: Paradise and the Peri.

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3. THE PILGRIM ON A ROCK.

Remote from noise, or care, or strife,
From all that clogs the wheels of life,
The crowd and throng that still await,
And aye pursue the high and great,
Far distant, on the rocks rude breast,
With pliant osiers bending round,
My form, at length, shall seek for rest,
Where rest is only to be found!

Here, shall no fools of fashion dare
Intrude with worldly pomp and care;
And least of all, shall loves excess,
Arise, to make my rapture less;
But all be calm, where all is peace,
Each hour but lending its increase,
And life's stream wasting on its breast,
The holy calm, I've sought for—rest!

With earth below, the skies above,
Untouch'd by pain, yet free to love;
And Time no longer felt—pursuing
Without a curse, his daily tour,
No cries of grief to mark the ruin,
That 'midst life's din is ever sure.

Here let me pause, life's hour to spend,
These rocks my shelter, home and friend!

University of Virginia Library

ILLUSTRATIONS, Illustrations of designs from Moore's Lalla Rookh, and others in a lady's album.

1. Nourmahal and the Fairy.

2. THE TWO LOVERS,

Dead of the Plague.

3. THE PILGRIM ON A ROCK.

ILLUSTRATIONS,

Illustrations of designs from Moore's Lalla Rookh, and others in a lady's album.