Chapter 5
Oh, Allah! who will give me back my terrible array? My emirs and my cavalry that shook the earth to-day; My tent, my wide-extending camp, all dazzling to the sight, Whose watchfires, kindled numberless beneath the brow of night, Seemed oft unto the sentinel that watched the midnight hours, As heaven along the sombre hill had rained its stars in showers? Where are my beys so gorgeous, in their light pelisses gay, And where my fierce Timariot bands, so fearless in the fray; My dauntless khans, my spahis brave, swift thunderbolts of war; My sunburnt Bedouins, trooping from the Pyramids afar, Who laughed to see the laboring hind stand terrified at gaze, And urged their desert horses on amid the ripening maize? These horses with their fiery eyes, their slight untiring feet, That flew along the fields of corn like grasshoppers so fleet-- What! to behold again no more, loud charging o'er the plain, Their squadrons, in the hostile shot diminished all in vain, Burst grandly on the heavy squares, like clouds that bear the storms, Enveloping in lightning fires the dark resisting swarms! Oh! they are dead! their housings bright are trailed amid their gore; Dark blood is on their manes and sides, all deeply clotted o'er; All vainly now the spur would strike these cold and rounded flanks, To wake them to their wonted speed amid the rapid ranks: Here the bold riders red and stark upon the sands lie down, Who in their friendly shadows slept throughout the halt at noon. Oh, Allah! who will give me back my terrible array? See where it straggles 'long the fields for leagues on leagues away, Like riches from a spendthrift's hand flung prodigal to earth. Lo! steed and rider;--Tartar chiefs or of Arabian birth, Their turbans and their cruel course, their banners and their cries, Seem now as if a troubled dream had passed before mine eyes-- My valiant warriors and their steeds, thus doomed to fall and bleed! Their voices rouse no echo now, their footsteps have no speed; They sleep, and have forgot at last the sabre and the bit-- Yon vale, with all the corpses heaped, seems one wide charnel-pit. Long shall the evil omen rest upon this plain of dread-- To-night, the taint of solemn blood; to-morrow, of the dead. Alas! 'tis but a shadow now, that noble armament! How terribly they strove, and struck from morn to eve unspent, Amid the fatal fiery ring, enamoured of the fight! Now o'er the dim horizon sinks the peaceful pall of night: The brave have nobly done their work, and calmly sleep at last. The crows begin, and o'er the dead are gathering dark and fast; Already through their feathers black they pass their eager beaks. Forth from the forest's distant depth, from bald and barren peaks, They congregate in hungry flocks and rend their gory prey. Woe to that flaunting army's pride, so vaunting yesterday! That formidable host, alas! is coldly nerveless now To drive the vulture from his gorge, or scare the carrion crow. Were now that host again mine own, with banner broad unfurled, With it I would advance and win the empire of the world. Monarchs to it should yield their realms and veil their haughty brows; My sister it should ever be, my lady and my spouse. Oh! what will unrestoring Death, that jealous tyrant lord, Do with the brave departed souls that cannot swing a sword? Why turned the balls aside from me? Why struck no hostile hand My head within its turban green upon the ruddy sand? I stood all potent yesterday; my bravest captains three, All stirless in their tigered selle, magnificent to see, Hailed as before my gilded tent rose flowing to the gales, Shorn from the tameless desert steeds, three dark and tossing tails. But yesterday a hundred drums were heard when I went by; Full forty agas turned their looks respectful on mine eye, And trembled with contracted brows within their hall of state. Instead of heavy catapults, of slow unwieldy weight, I had bright cannons rolling on oak wheels in threatening tiers, And calm and steady by their sides marched English cannoniers. But yesterday, and I had towns, and castles strong and high, And Greeks in thousands, for the base and merciless to buy. But yesterday, and arsenals and harems were my own; While now, defeated and proscribed, deserted and alone, I flee away, a fugitive, and of my former power, Allah! I have not now at least one battlemented tower. And must he fly--the grand vizier! the pasha of three tails! O'er the horizon's bounding hills, where distant vision fails, All stealthily, with eyes on earth, and shrinking from the sight, As a nocturnal robber holds his dark and breathless flight, And thinks he sees the gibbet spread its arms in solemn wrath, In every tree that dimly throws its shadow on his path!
Thus, after his defeat, pale Reschid speaks. Among the dead we mourned a thousand Greeks. Lone from the field the Pasha fled afar, And, musing, wiped his reeking scimitar; His two dead steeds upon the sands were flung, And on their sides their empty stirrups hung.
W.D., _Bentley's Miscellany_, 1839.
THE GREEK BOY.
_("Les Turcs ont passés là.")_
[XVIII., June 10, 1828.]
All is a ruin where rage knew no bounds: Chio is levelled, and loathed by the hounds, For shivered yest'reen was her lance; Sulphurous vapors envenom the place Where her true beauties of Beauty's true race Were lately linked close in the dance.
Dark is the desert, with one single soul; Cerulean eyes! whence the burning tears roll In anguish of uttermost shame, Under the shadow of one shrub of May, Splashed still with ruddy drops, bent in decay Where fiercely the hand of Lust came.
"Soft and sweet urchin, still red with the lash Of rein and of scabbard of wild Kuzzilbash, What lack you for changing your sob-- If not unto laughter beseeming a child-- To utterance milder, though they have defiled The graves which they shrank not to rob?
"Would'st thou a trinket, a flower, or scarf, Would'st thou have silver? I'm ready with half These sequins a-shine in the sun! Still more have I money--if you'll but speak!" He spoke: and furious the cry of the Greek, "Oh, give me your dagger and gun!"
ZARA, THE BATHER
_("Sara, belle d'indolence.")_
[XIX., August, 1828.]
In a swinging hammock lying, Lightly flying, Zara, lovely indolent, O'er a fountain's crystal wave There to lave Her young beauty--see her bent.
As she leans, so sweet and soft, Flitting oft, O'er the mirror to and fro, Seems that airy floating bat, Like a feather From some sea-gull's wing of snow.
Every time the frail boat laden With the maiden Skims the water in its flight, Starting from its trembling sheen, Swift are seen A white foot and neck so white.
As that lithe foot's timid tips Quick she dips, Passing, in the rippling pool, (Blush, oh! snowiest ivory!) Frolic, she Laughs to feel the pleasant cool.
Here displayed, but half concealed-- Half revealed, Each bright charm shall you behold, In her innocence emerging, As a-verging On the wave her hands grow cold.
For no star howe'er divine Has the shine Of a maid's pure loveliness, Frightened if a leaf but quivers As she shivers, Veiled with naught but dripping trees.
By the happy breezes fanned See her stand,-- Blushing like a living rose, On her bosom swelling high If a fly Dare to seek a sweet repose.
In those eyes which maiden pride Fain would hide, Mark how passion's lightnings sleep! And their glance is brighter far Than the star Brightest in heaven's bluest deep.
O'er her limbs the glittering current In soft torrent Rains adown the gentle girl, As if, drop by drop, should fall, One and all From her necklace every pearl.
Lengthening still the reckless pleasure At her leisure, Care-free Zara ever slow As the hammock floats and swings Smiles and sings, To herself, so sweet and low.
"Oh, were I a capitana, Or sultana, Amber should be always mixt In my bath of jewelled stone, Near my throne, Griffins twain of gold betwixt.
"Then my hammock should be silk, White as milk; And, more soft than down of dove, Velvet cushions where I sit Should emit Perfumes that inspire love.
"Then should I, no danger near, Free from fear, Revel in my garden's stream; Nor amid the shadows deep Dread the peep, Of two dark eyes' kindling gleam.
"He who thus would play the spy, On the die For such sight his head must throw; In his blood the sabre naked Would be slakèd, Of my slaves of ebon brow.
"Then my rich robes trailing show As I go, None to chide should be so bold; And upon my sandals fine How should shine Rubies worked in cloth-of-gold!"
Fancying herself a queen, All unseen, Thus vibrating in delight; In her indolent coquetting Quite forgetting How the hours wing their flight.
As she lists the showery tinkling Of the sprinkling By her wanton curvets made; Never pauses she to think Of the brink Where her wrapper white is laid.
To the harvest-fields the while, In long file, Speed her sisters' lively band, Like a flock of birds in flight Streaming light, Dancing onward hand in hand.
And they're singing, every one, As they run This the burden of their lay: "Fie upon such idleness! Not to dress Earlier on harvest-day!"
JOHN L. O'SULLIVAN.
EXPECTATION.
_("Moune, écureuil.")_
[xx.]
Squirrel, mount yon oak so high, To its twig that next the sky Bends and trembles as a flower! Strain, O stork, thy pinion well,-- From thy nest 'neath old church-bell, Mount to yon tall citadel, And its tallest donjon tower! To your mountain, eagle old, Mount, whose brow so white and cold, Kisses the last ray of even! And, O thou that lov'st to mark Morn's first sunbeam pierce the dark, Mount, O mount, thou joyous lark-- Joyous lark, O mount to heaven! And now say, from topmost bough, Towering shaft, and peak of snow, And heaven's arch--O, can you see One white plume that like a star, Streams along the plain afar, And a steed that from the war Bears my lover back to me?
JOHN L. O'SULLIVAN.
THE LOVER'S WISH.
_("Si j'étais la feuille.")_
[XXII., September, 1828.]
Oh! were I the leaf that the wind of the West, His course through the forest uncaring; To sleep on the gale or the wave's placid breast In a pendulous cradle is bearing.
All fresh with the morn's balmy kiss would I haste, As the dewdrops upon me were glancing; When Aurora sets out on the roseate waste, And round her the breezes are dancing.
On the pinions of air I would fly, I would rush Thro' the glens and the valleys to quiver; Past the mountain ravine, past the grove's dreamy hush, And the murmuring fall of the river.
By the darkening hollow and bramble-bush lane, To catch the sweet breath of the roses; Past the land would I speed, where the sand-driven plain 'Neath the heat of the noonday reposes.
Past the rocks that uprear their tall forms to the sky, Whence the storm-fiend his anger is pouring; Past lakes that lie dead, tho' the tempest roll nigh, And the turbulent whirlwind be roaring.
On, on would I fly, till a charm stopped my way, A charm that would lead to the bower; Where the daughter of Araby sings to the day, At the dawn and the vesper hour.
Then hovering down on her brow would I light, 'Midst her golden tresses entwining; That gleam like the corn when the fields are bright, And the sunbeams upon it shining.
A single frail gem on her beautiful head, I should sit in the golden glory; And prouder I'd be than the diadem spread Round the brow of kings famous in story.
V., _Eton Observer_.
THE SACKING OF THE CITY.
_("La flamme par ton ordre, O roi!")_
[XXIII., November, 1825.]
Thy will, O King, is done! Lighting but to consume, The roar of the fierce flames drowned even the shouts and shrieks; Reddening each roof, like some day-dawn of bloody doom, Seemed they in joyous flight to dance about their wrecks.
Slaughter his thousand giant arms hath tossed on high, Fell fathers, husbands, wives, beneath his streaming steel; Prostrate, the palaces, huge tombs of fire, lie, While gathering overhead the vultures scream and wheel!
Died the pale mothers, and the virgins, from their arms, O Caliph, fiercely torn, bewailed their young years' blight; With stabs and kisses fouled, all their yet quivering charms, At our fleet coursers' heels were dragged in mocking flight.
Lo! where the city lies mantled in pall of death; Lo! where thy mighty hand hath passed, all things must bend! Priests prayed, the sword estopped blaspheming breath, Vainly their cheating book for shield did they extend.
Some infants yet survived, and the unsated steel Still drinks the life-blood of each whelp of Christian-kind, To kiss thy sandall'd foot, O King, thy people kneel, And golden circlets to thy victor-ankle bind.
JOHN L. O'SULLIVAN.
NOORMAHAL THE FAIR.[1]
_("Entre deux rocs d'un noir d'ébène.")_
[XXVII., November, 1828.]
Between two ebon rocks Behold yon sombre den, Where brambles bristle like the locks Of wool between the horns of scapegoat banned by men!
Remote in ruddy fog Still hear the tiger growl At the lion and stripèd dog That prowl with rusty throats to taunt and roar and howl;
Whilst other monsters fast The hissing basilisk; The hippopotamus so vast, And the boa with waking appetite made brisk!
The orfrey showing tongue, The fly in stinging mood, The elephant that crushes strong And elastic bamboos an the scorpion's brood;
And the men of the trees With their families fierce, Till there is not one scorching breeze But brings here its venom--its horror to pierce--
Yet, rather there be lone, 'Mid all those horrors there, Than hear the sickly honeyed tone And see the swimming eyes of Noormahal the Fair!
[Footnote 1: Noormahal (Arabic) the light of the house; some of the Orientals deem fair hair and complexion a beauty.]
THE DJINNS.
_("Murs, ville et port.")_
[XXVIII., Aug. 28, 1828.]
Town, tower, Shore, deep, Where lower Cliff's steep; Waves gray, Where play Winds gay, All sleep.
Hark! a sound, Far and slight, Breathes around On the night High and higher, Nigh and nigher, Like a fire, Roaring, bright.
Now, on 'tis sweeping With rattling beat, Like dwarf imp leaping In gallop fleet He flies, he prances, In frolic fancies, On wave-crest dances With pattering feet.
Hark, the rising swell, With each new burst! Like the tolling bell Of a convent curst; Like the billowy roar On a storm-lashed shore,-- Now hushed, but once more Maddening to its worst.
O God! the deadly sound Of the Djinn's fearful cry! Quick, 'neath the spiral round Of the deep staircase fly! See, see our lamplight fade! And of the balustrade Mounts, mounts the circling shade Up to the ceiling high!
'Tis the Djinns' wild streaming swarm Whistling in their tempest flight; Snap the tall yews 'neath the storm, Like a pine flame crackling bright. Swift though heavy, lo! their crowd Through the heavens rushing loud Like a livid thunder-cloud With its bolt of fiery might!
Ho! they are on us, close without! Shut tight the shelter where we lie! With hideous din the monster rout, Dragon and vampire, fill the sky! The loosened rafter overhead Trembles and bends like quivering reed; Shakes the old door with shuddering dread, As from its rusty hinge 'twould fly! Wild cries of hell! voices that howl and shriek! The horrid troop before the tempest tossed-- O Heaven!--descends my lowly roof to seek:
Bends the strong wall beneath the furious host. Totters the house as though, like dry leaf shorn From autumn bough and on the mad blast borne, Up from its deep foundations it were torn To join the stormy whirl. Ah! all is lost!
O Prophet! if thy hand but now Save from these hellish things, A pilgrim at thy shrine I'll bow, Laden with pious offerings. Bid their hot breath its fiery rain Stream on the faithful's door in vain; Vainly upon my blackened pane Grate the fierce claws of their dark wings!
They have passed!--and their wild legion Cease to thunder at my door; Fleeting through night's rayless region, Hither they return no more. Clanking chains and sounds of woe Fill the forests as they go; And the tall oaks cower low, Bent their flaming light before.
On! on! the storm of wings Bears far the fiery fear, Till scarce the breeze now brings Dim murmurings to the ear; Like locusts' humming hail, Or thrash of tiny flail Plied by the fitful gale On some old roof-tree sere.
Fainter now are borne Feeble mutterings still; As when Arab horn Swells its magic peal, Shoreward o'er the deep Fairy voices sweep, And the infant's sleep Golden visions fill.
Each deadly Djinn, Dark child of fright, Of death and sin, Speeds in wild flight. Hark, the dull moan, Like the deep tone Of Ocean's groan, Afar, by night!
More and more Fades it slow, As on shore Ripples flow,-- As the plaint Far and faint Of a saint Murmured low.
Hark! hist! Around, I list! The bounds Of space All trace Efface Of sound.
JOHN L. O'SULLIVAN.
THE OBDURATE BEAUTY.
_("A Juana la Grenadine!")_
[XXIX., October, 1843.]
To Juana ever gay, Sultan Achmet spoke one day "Lo, the realms that kneel to own Homage to my sword and crown All I'd freely cast away, Maiden dear, for thee alone."
"Be a Christian, noble king! For it were a grievous thing: Love to seek and find too well In the arms of infidel. Spain with cry of shame would ring, If from honor faithful fell."
"By these pearls whose spotless chain, Oh, my gentle sovereign, Clasps thy neck of ivory, Aught thou askest I will be, If that necklace pure of stain Thou wilt give for rosary."
JOHN L. O'SULLIVAN.
DON RODRIGO.
A MOORISH BALLAD.
_("Don Roderique est à la chasse.")_
[XXX., May, 1828.]
Unto the chase Rodrigo's gone, With neither lance nor buckler; A baleful light his eyes outshone-- To pity he's no truckler.
He follows not the royal stag, But, full of fiery hating, Beside the way one sees him lag, Impatient at the waiting.
He longs his nephew's blood to spill, Who 'scaped (the young Mudarra) That trap he made and laid to kill The seven sons of Lara.
Along the road--at last, no balk-- A youth looms on a jennet; He rises like a sparrow-hawk About to seize a linnet.
"What ho!" "Who calls?" "Art Christian knight, Or basely born and boorish, Or yet that thing I still more slight-- The spawn of some dog Moorish?
"I seek the by-born spawn of one I e'er renounce as brother-- Who chose to make his latest son Caress a Moor as mother.
"I've sought that cub in every hole, 'Midland, and coast, and islet, For he's the thief who came and stole Our sheathless jewelled stilet."
"If you well know the poniard worn Without edge-dulling cover-- Look on it now--here, plain, upborne! And further be no rover.
"Tis I--as sure as you're abhorred Rodrigo--cruel slayer, 'Tis I am Vengeance, and your lord, Who bids you crouch in prayer!
"I shall not grant the least delay-- Use what you have, defending, I'll send you on that darksome way Your victims late were wending.
"And if I wore this, with its crest-- Our seal with gems enwreathing-- In open air--'twas in your breast To seek its fated sheathing!"
CORNFLOWERS.
_("Tandis que l'étoile inodore.")_
[XXXII.]
While bright but scentless azure stars Be-gem the golden corn, And spangle with their skyey tint The furrows not yet shorn; While still the pure white tufts of May Ape each a snowy ball,-- Away, ye merry maids, and haste To gather ere they fall!
Nowhere the sun of Spain outshines Upon a fairer town Than Peñafiel, or endows More richly farming clown; Nowhere a broader square reflects Such brilliant mansions, tall,-- Away, ye merry maids, etc.
Nowhere a statelier abbey rears Dome huger o'er a shrine, Though seek ye from old Rome itself To even Seville fine. Here countless pilgrims come to pray And promenade the Mall,-- Away, ye merry maids, etc.
Where glide the girls more joyfully Than ours who dance at dusk, With roses white upon their brows, With waists that scorn the busk? Mantillas elsewhere hide dull eyes-- Compared with these, how small! Away, ye merry maids, etc.
A blossom in a city lane, Alizia was our pride, And oft the blundering bee, deceived, Came buzzing to her side-- But, oh! for one that felt the sting, And found, 'neath honey, gall-- Away, ye merry maids, etc.
Young, haughty, from still hotter lands, A stranger hither came-- Was he a Moor or African, Or Murcian known to fame? None knew--least, she--or false or true, The name by which to call. Away, ye merry maids, etc.
Alizia asked not his degree, She saw him but as Love, And through Xarama's vale they strayed, And tarried in the grove,-- Oh! curses on that fatal eve, And on that leafy hall! Away, ye merry maids, etc.