Bright smiled 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 stretched their wide o'ershadowing wing, And hid him from our view. The rain his absent beams deplored, And, soften'd into weeping, poured Its tears in many a flood; The lightning laughed with horrid glare; The thunder growled, in rage; the air In silent sorrow stood. TO MY FAVORITE MISTRESS (BY SAIF ADDAULET, SULTAN OF ALEPPO) I saw their jealous eyeballs roll, I saw them mark each glance of mine, I saw thy terrors, and my soul Shared ev'ry pang that tortured thine. In vain to wean my constant heart, Or quench my glowing flame, they strove; Each deep-laid scheme, each envious art, But waked my fears for her I love. 'Twas this compelled the stern decree, That forced thee to those distant towers, And left me naught 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. CRUCIFIXION OF EBN BAKIAH (BY ABU HASSAN ALANBARY) Whate'er thy fate, in life and death, hou'rt doomed 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 Poured in the mosque the solemn prayer. Still, generous Vizier, we survey Thine arms extended o'er our head, As lately, in the festive day, When they were stretched 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. CAPRICES OF FORTUNE[42] (BY SHEMS ALMAALI CABUS) 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 eclipsed alone appear The lord of day, the queen of night. ON LIFE Like sheep, we're doomed to travel o'er The fated track to all assigned, These follow those that went before, And leave the world to those behind. As the flock seeks the pasturing shade, Man presses to the future day, While death, amidst the tufted glade, Like the dun robber,[43] waits his prey.