"This hour we part!--my heart foreboded this: 410 Thus ever fade my fairy dreams of bliss. This hour--it cannot be--this hour away! Yon bark hath hardly anchored in the bay: Her consort still is absent, and her crew Have need of rest before they toil anew; My Love! thou mock'st my weakness; and wouldst steel My breast before the time when it must feel; But trifle now no more with my distress, Such mirth hath less of play than bitterness. Be silent, Conrad!--dearest! come and share 420 The feast these hands delighted to prepare; Light toil! to cull and dress thy frugal fare! See, I have plucked the fruit that promised best, And where not sure, perplexed, but pleased, I guessed At such as seemed the fairest; thrice the hill My steps have wound to try the coolest rill; Yes! thy Sherbet to-night will sweetly flow, See how it sparkles in its vase of snow! The grapes' gay juice thy bosom never cheers; Thou more than Moslem when the cup appears: 430 Think not I mean to chide--for I rejoice What others deem a penance is thy choice. But come, the board is spread; our silver lamp Is trimmed, and heeds not the Sirocco's damp: Then shall my handmaids while the time along, And join with me the dance, or wake the song; Or my guitar, which still thou lov'st to hear, Shall soothe or lull--or, should it vex thine ear, We'll turn the tale, by Ariosto told, Of fair Olympia loved and left of old.[204] 440 Why, thou wert worse than he who broke his vow To that lost damsel, should thou leave me _now_-- Or even that traitor chief--I've seen thee smile, When the clear sky showed Ariadne's Isle, Which I have pointed from these cliffs the while: And thus half sportive--half in fear--I said, Lest Time should raise that doubt to more than dread, Thus Conrad, too, will quit me for the main: And he deceived me--for--he came again!"