Bright smil'd the morn, till o'er its head The clouds in thicken'd foldings spread A robe of sable hue; Then, gathering round day's golden king, They stretch'd their wide o'ershadowing wing, And hid him from our view. The rain his absent beams deplor'd, And, soften'd into weeping, pour'd Its tears in many a flood; The lightning laughed with horrid glare; The thunder growl'd, in rage; the air In silent sorrow stood. _Ibrahim Ben Khiret Abou Isaac_. TO MY FAVORITE MISTRESS I saw their jealous eyeballs roll, I saw them mark each glance of mine, I saw thy terrors, and my soul Shar'd ev'ry pang that tortur'd thine. In vain to wean my constant heart, Or quench my glowing flame, they strove; Each deep-laid scheme, each envious art, But wak'd my fears for her I love. 'Twas this compelled the stern decree, That forc'd thee to those distant towers, And left me nought but love for thee, To cheer my solitary hours. Yet let not Abla sink deprest, Nor separation's pangs deplore; We meet not--'tis to meet more blest; We parted--'tis to part no more. _Saif Addaulet, Sultan of Aleppe_. CRUCIFIXION OF EBN BAKIAH[25] Whatever thy fate, in life and death, Thou'rt doom'd above us still to rise, Whilst at a distance far beneath We view thee with admiring eyes. The gazing crowds still round thee throng, Still to thy well-known voice repair, As when erewhile thy hallow'd tongue Pour'd in the Mosque the solemn prayer. Still, generous Vizir, we survey Thine arms extended o'er our head, As lately, in the festive day, When they were stretch'd thy gifts to shed. Earth's narrow boundaries strove in vain To limit thy aspiring mind, And now we see thy dust disdain Within her breast to be confin'd. The earth's too small for one so great, Another mansion thou shalt have-- The clouds shall be thy winding sheet, The spacious vault of heaven thy grave. _Abou Hassan Alanbary_. [25] Ebn Bakiah was vizir to Azzad Addaulet or Bachteir, Emir Alomra of Bagdad, under the Caliphs Moti Lillah and Tay Lillah; but Azzad Addaulet being deprived of his office, and driven from Bagdad by Adhed Addaulet, Sultan of Persia, Ebn Bakiah was seized and crucified at the gates of the city, by order of the conqueror. CAPRICES OF FORTUNE[26] Why should I blush that Fortune's frown Dooms me life's humble paths to tread? To live unheeded, and unknown? To sink forgotten to the dead? 'Tis not the good, the wise, the brave, That surest shine, or highest rise; The feather sports upon the wave, The pearl in ocean's cavern lies. Each lesser star that studs the sphere Sparkles with undiminish'd light: Dark and eclips'd alone appear The lord of day, the queen of night. _Shems Almaali Cabus_.