“I see her, hear her, daily, nightly: My secret dreams around her move, Still nearer drawn in sweet attraction;— Can this be love?” “I breathe but peace when she is near me,— A peace her absence takes away: My heart commands her constant presence; Will hers obey?” ... “‘Canst thou forgive me, Angel mine,’ I cried: ‘that Love at last beguiled My heart to build a second shrine? See, still I kneel and weep at thine, But I am human, thou divine!’ Still silently she smiled. “‘Dost undivided worship claim, To keep thine altar undefiled? Or must I bear thy tender blame, And in thy pardon feel my shame, Whene’er I breathe another name?’ She looked at me, and smiled.” ... “No treason in my love I see, For treason cannot dwell with truth: But later blossoms crown a tree Too deeply set to die in youth. The blighted promise of the old In this new love is reconciled; For, when my heart confessed its hold, The lips of ancient sorrow smiled! It brightens backward through the Past And gilds the gloomy path I trod, And forward, till it fades at last In light, before the feet of God, Where stands the saint, whose radiant brow This solace beams, while I adore: Be happy: if thou lovedst not now, Thou never couldst have loved before!” ... “Would she, my freedom and my bliss to know, With my disloyalty be reconciled, And from her bower in Eden look below, And bless the Soldan’s child? For she is lost: but she, the later bride, Who came my ruined fortune to restore, Back from the desert wanders at my side, And leads me home once more. If human love, she sighs, could move a wife The holiest sacrifice of love to make, Then the transfigured angel of thy life Is happier for thy sake!” ... “‘It was our wedding-day A month ago,’ dear heart, I hear you say. If months, or years, or ages since have passed, I know not: I have ceased to question Time. I only know that once there pealed a chime Of joyous bells, and then I held you fast, And all stood back, and none my right denied, And forth we walked: the world was free and wide Before us. Since that day I count my life: The Past is washed away.” CHAPTER XVII. Grief and Despair.—Describes his Feelings.—Failing Health.—Severe Mental Labor.—Decides to go to Africa.—Visits Vienna.—Arrival at Alexandria.—Sails up the Nile.—Scenes in Cairo.—The Pyramids.—The Lovely Nile.—An Important and Pleasant Acquaintance.—A Lasting Friendship.—Learning the Language.—Assuming the Costume.—Sights by the Way.