Selections from Songs of a Bayadere and Songs of a Troubadour By Evelyn Douglas [i.e. J. E. Barlas] |
 | FROM
Songs of a Bayadere. |
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 | Selections from Songs of a Bayadere and Songs of a Troubadour |  |
7
FROM Songs of a Bayadere.
(1890.)
9
The Priest of Beauty.
Looms in the perfumed Indian night
A mystic dome with towers
Of fretted ivory, and marble white,
And scarlet jewel flowers.
A mystic dome with towers
Of fretted ivory, and marble white,
And scarlet jewel flowers.
An amorous king, long dead, I ween,
In that hot and heavy clime,
Built it to bury his fairest queen,
A marvel to all time.
In that hot and heavy clime,
Built it to bury his fairest queen,
A marvel to all time.
And the aloes breathe in the orient air
That tale of love and pride;
And the flowering shrubs send up like prayer
Sweet incense to his bride.
That tale of love and pride;
And the flowering shrubs send up like prayer
Sweet incense to his bride.
10
For she was the loveliest woman born,
With music in her breath;
And he loved her with love that was half forlorn,
Because he had heard of death.
With music in her breath;
And he loved her with love that was half forlorn,
Because he had heard of death.
And out of the west and out of the east
The people came to pray,
And he built her a temple and was her priest,
And served her night and day.
The people came to pray,
And he built her a temple and was her priest,
And served her night and day.
For 'twixt the earth and the stars above
He was the wisest man;
And beauty he loved with a madman's love,
As only madmen can.
He was the wisest man;
And beauty he loved with a madman's love,
As only madmen can.
So all her life he built her a tomb
Of marbles costly and rare,
Full of odour, and sumptuous gloom,
And colour, and love's despair;
Of marbles costly and rare,
Full of odour, and sumptuous gloom,
And colour, and love's despair;
11
With amber silks and jewels of light;
With fountains and courts and bowers;
With alabaster pillars as white
And waxen as lotus-flowers.
With fountains and courts and bowers;
With alabaster pillars as white
And waxen as lotus-flowers.
For she was the loveliest woman born,
And he was the noblest sage;
And he loved her with love that was partly scorn,
Because he had seen old age.
And he was the noblest sage;
And he loved her with love that was partly scorn,
Because he had seen old age.
For he said, “If I tarry for Death's own time
Her beauty will melt like foam;
'Twere best she should die in her beauty's prime
And sleep in her beautiful home.”
Her beauty will melt like foam;
'Twere best she should die in her beauty's prime
And sleep in her beautiful home.”
So he slew her, and laid her in costly spice
And frankincense and myrrh,
And wrapped her in raiment of fabulous price,
And shed no tear for her.
And frankincense and myrrh,
And wrapped her in raiment of fabulous price,
And shed no tear for her.
12
The Priestess of Athor.
Where Egypt's holy river
Flows through the haunted nights,
Stood once the city of Memphis,
Full of lutes and lights.
Flows through the haunted nights,
Stood once the city of Memphis,
Full of lutes and lights.
And there the child of Athor—
A priestess pure and fair,
Lost in the temple garden,
In the aloe-scented air—
A priestess pure and fair,
Lost in the temple garden,
In the aloe-scented air—
Found love in the moonlit roses,
Whose perfume told her this—
That the gods would all leave heaven
For one warm human kiss;
Whose perfume told her this—
That the gods would all leave heaven
For one warm human kiss;
13
Found love in the wandering breezes,
Whose music told her this—
That the gods are dying in heaven
For the want of a human kiss;
Whose music told her this—
That the gods are dying in heaven
For the want of a human kiss;
Found love in the hallowed waters,
And love in the stars above;
And learnt that the gods are lonely,
And jealous of human love.
And love in the stars above;
And learnt that the gods are lonely,
And jealous of human love.
14
The Lily and Lotus.
There grew a flower in Babylon
Whose perfume makes young lovers weep;
On it Assyrian moonlight shone;
Euphrates murmured it to sleep.
It brings back old forgotten dreams;
Its petals breathe a dead love's kiss;
Astarte bathed it in her beams
In the gardens of Semiramis.
Whose perfume makes young lovers weep;
On it Assyrian moonlight shone;
Euphrates murmured it to sleep.
It brings back old forgotten dreams;
Its petals breathe a dead love's kiss;
Astarte bathed it in her beams
In the gardens of Semiramis.
But Egypt has a sweeter bloom—
The lotus of forgetful breath:
Swathed and embalmed in spicèd gloom,
The sad Nile sobbed its dreams to death.
It soothes remembered loves to rest
As quiet as death's waxen lid;
They laid it on Nitocris' breast
Beneath her silent pyramid.
The lotus of forgetful breath:
Swathed and embalmed in spicèd gloom,
The sad Nile sobbed its dreams to death.
It soothes remembered loves to rest
As quiet as death's waxen lid;
They laid it on Nitocris' breast
Beneath her silent pyramid.
15
The Ruins of Nineveh.
Where Nineveh in ruin sleeps,
Two ruined lives lie low,
Whose hearts leapt as your heart now leaps
Thousands of years ago.
Two ruined lives lie low,
Whose hearts leapt as your heart now leaps
Thousands of years ago.
They loved, they struggled but to fail,
And then they sank and died;
How shall I tell you all the tale
So many ages hide?
And then they sank and died;
How shall I tell you all the tale
So many ages hide?
I know her heart in silence broke,
His pain was cruel and slow,
And then they slept and never woke,
And that is all I know.
His pain was cruel and slow,
And then they slept and never woke,
And that is all I know.
16
I guess the world then, as to-day,
Scorned love and loveliness,
And that the world stood in their way,
And that is all I guess.
Scorned love and loveliness,
And that the world stood in their way,
And that is all I guess.
I feel they must have moved apart,
And both kept under seal
Of smiling face a broken heart,
And that is all I feel.
And both kept under seal
Of smiling face a broken heart,
And that is all I feel.
I fear that they were slowly crushed,
And prayed, and none would hear,
And then their beating hearts were hushed,
And that was all, I fear.
And prayed, and none would hear,
And then their beating hearts were hushed,
And that was all, I fear.
Perhaps the desert wind that blows
O'er ruined Nineveh
More of that old-world story knows,
And if it cared, could say.
O'er ruined Nineveh
More of that old-world story knows,
And if it cared, could say.
17
Still to eternity time creeps;
And there still crumbling slow
The ruined centuries lie in heaps,
Two ruined hearts below.
And there still crumbling slow
The ruined centuries lie in heaps,
Two ruined hearts below.
I hope their secret was well kept,
As that of me and you,
And slept safe with them when they slept,
And that they both died true.
As that of me and you,
And slept safe with them when they slept,
And that they both died true.
I trust their troth was truly kept,
As we have kept our trust,
And that there was some friend who wept
Upon their bitter dust.
As we have kept our trust,
And that there was some friend who wept
Upon their bitter dust.
I pray they had some hours of joy,
As you and I to-day,
Some hope the world could not destroy—
And that is all I pray.
As you and I to-day,
Some hope the world could not destroy—
And that is all I pray.
18
But, gentle lady, do not weep;
It does not matter now.
Beneath the ruined walls they sleep
With placid lips and brow.
It does not matter now.
Beneath the ruined walls they sleep
With placid lips and brow.
Two heaps of dust there side by side,
What can they feel or know?
These lovers suffered, failed, and died
Thousands of years ago.
What can they feel or know?
These lovers suffered, failed, and died
Thousands of years ago.
19
In Egyptian Thebes.
You are not strange to me, I know;
Somewhere I saw you long ago,
When I was not so forlorn,
In a dream ere I was born.
Somewhere I saw you long ago,
When I was not so forlorn,
In a dream ere I was born.
'Twas in a garden by the Nile,
Where the aloe-flowers did smile;
And basking by the yellow deep,
Thebes lay with giant walls asleep.
Where the aloe-flowers did smile;
And basking by the yellow deep,
Thebes lay with giant walls asleep.
I know you gave me once a kiss;
'Twas underneath a precipice,
Monstrous marble masonry
Towering black into the sky,
'Twas underneath a precipice,
Monstrous marble masonry
Towering black into the sky,
20
Walls on walls, a dizzy pile,
O'er a garden by the Nile,
Where Thebes lay by the sacred stream,
Wrapped in her hundred gates, to dream.
O'er a garden by the Nile,
Where Thebes lay by the sacred stream,
Wrapped in her hundred gates, to dream.
21
The Mummy's Love Story.
Where in a stone sarcophagus
Lay in embalmed repose
A shape with robes luxurious,
They found a faded rose.
Lay in embalmed repose
A shape with robes luxurious,
They found a faded rose.
Perhaps it was an amorous boy
That to a princess gave
Some token of their secret joy,
That she wore to the grave.
That to a princess gave
Some token of their secret joy,
That she wore to the grave.
Perhaps it was a murdered youth
Sent on the eve of doom
An emblem of forgiving truth,
His queen wore to the tomb.
Sent on the eve of doom
An emblem of forgiving truth,
His queen wore to the tomb.
22
Who knows? But there it speaks for her
Of sorrows long past now,
When neither joy nor pain can stir
The arch of her calm brow.
Of sorrows long past now,
When neither joy nor pain can stir
The arch of her calm brow.
And so, when you have let me die,
And you too are at rest,
Some trinket of my gift may lie
On your repentant breast.
And you too are at rest,
Some trinket of my gift may lie
On your repentant breast.
And when our language is forgot,
Some lover of old scenes
May find it in a haunted spot,
And wonder what it means.
Some lover of old scenes
May find it in a haunted spot,
And wonder what it means.
23
Death.
A Greek girl came to Pharaoh's bed,
Who died upon her bridal night.
At morn he saw her lying dead,
And deemed she lived, she was so white.
Who died upon her bridal night.
At morn he saw her lying dead,
And deemed she lived, she was so white.
And when on snowy linen strown
She lay embalmed as if she dreamed,
He could not feel himself alone,
So beautiful the body seemed.
She lay embalmed as if she dreamed,
He could not feel himself alone,
So beautiful the body seemed.
He sat and stroked her golden hair,
And looked and looked in her dead eyes;
He said, “She is forever fair;
How like a statue there she lies!”
And looked and looked in her dead eyes;
He said, “She is forever fair;
How like a statue there she lies!”
24
He kissed her lips though they were cold,
And never missed the mortal breath;
He said, “She never will be old,
Or die, for she has done with death.”
And never missed the mortal breath;
He said, “She never will be old,
Or die, for she has done with death.”
Till fire into his palace crept,
And burned his dead, his lovely bride.
Then Pharaoh rent his robes, and wept,
And fell upon his sword, and died.
And burned his dead, his lovely bride.
Then Pharaoh rent his robes, and wept,
And fell upon his sword, and died.
| Selections from Songs of a Bayadere and Songs of a Troubadour | |