So the winter now closed round them With resistless fury. Scattering Over all his breath so icy, He inflamed each wind that blithe To assail them angrily. Over them he gave dominion To his frost-unsharpened tempests; Down to Timur's council went he, And with threat'ning voice address'd him:-- "Softly, slowly, wretched being! Live, the tyrant of injustice; But shall hearts be scorch'd much longer By thy flames,--consume before them? If amongst the evil spirits Thou art one,--good! I'm another. Thou a greybeard art--so I am; Land and men we make to stiffen. Thou art Mars! And I Saturnus,-- Both are evil-working planets, When united, horror-fraught. Thou dost kill the soul, thou freezes E'en the atmosphere; still colder Is my breath than thine was ever. Thy wild armies vex the faithful With a thousand varying torments; Well! God grant that I discover Even worse, before I perish! And by God, I'll give thee none. Let God hear what now I tell thee! Yes, by God! from Death's cold clutches Nought, O greybeard, shall protect thee, Not the hearth's broad coalfire's ardour, Not December's brightest flame." 1814. ----- TO SULEIKA. FITTING perfumes to prepare, And to raise thy rapture high, Must a thousand rosebuds fair First in fiery torments die. One small flask's contents to glean, Whose sweet fragrance aye may live, Slender as thy finger e'en, Must a world its treasures give; Yes, a world where life is moving, Which, with impulse full and strong, Could forbode the Bulbul's loving, Sweet, and spirit-stirring song. Since they thus have swell'd our joy, Should such torments grieve us, then? Doth not Timur's rule destroy Myriad souls of living men? 1815.* ----- VIII. SULEIKA NAME. BOOK OF SULEIKA. ONCE, methought, in the night hours cold, That I saw the moon in my sleep; But as soon as I waken'd, behold Unawares rose the sun from the deep. THAT Suleika's love was so strong For Joseph, need cause no surprise; He was young, youth pleaseth the eyes,-- He was fair, they say, beyond measure Fair was she, and so great was their pleasure. But that thou, who awaitedst me long, Youthful glances of fire dost throw me, Soon wilt bless me, thy love now dost show me, This shall my joyous numbers proclaim, Thee I for ever Suleika shall name. 1815. ----- HATEM. NOT occasion makes the thief; She's the greatest of the whole; For Love's relics, to my grief, From my aching heart she stole. She hath given it to thee,-- All the joy my life had known, So that, in my poverty, Life I seek from thee alone. Yet compassion greets me straight In the lustre of thine eye, And I bless my newborn fate, As within thine arms I lie. 1815. ----- SULEIKA. THE sun appears! A glorious sight! The crescent-moon clings round him now. What could this wondrous pair unite? How to explain this riddle? How? HATEM.