University of Virginia Library


92

LU LU.

Lu Lu is soft and timid as the dove;
But I am wilder than a mountain eagle:
My matted locks are darker than the clouds
That lower around the brows of stormy hills;
The glances of mine eye are like the lightnings,
Shot through the ragged eyelids of the storm:
But when I think of thee, my sweet Lu Lu!
No child can have a heart as soft as mine.
I saw Lu Lu at daybreak with her fawn;
She led it by her in a silken leash:
O simple fawn! if I were in thy place,
I would not need a leash to follow her!
The dove I gave her yesterday has learned,
Already learned, to nestle in her breast;
Too happy dove! if I were in thy place—
If? if?—by Allah I must be, or die!