The Light Of The Haram Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCDEEFGFGHHIIJJIIKK LLMIMININ LLLOOPIPIQMIIII RSRSIILLTTMMUUVVAAWW XXYYOOGVGVOZOZ IIAA2ISISJJSSJJGGB2C 2LLMMIIIIBBGGMMIIJJ AA AASSJJD2D2JJ JJAAIIIIIIIIIIIIKKSS IIGGIISSAAE2KBBAAAAS S F2F2JIIJJIIAAAA G2B2JJH2I2IJJ2KJ2K K2K2AAJJKL2M2M2AASA B2JB2JIIJJJIJI JJKKJJAAJJJIIEEII IISJJSJN2N2IIAA SASAJJKKKAASSAAO2O2J JP2P2Q2JQ2JR2R2JJAAS S JJS2S2JJJJAAAAIIJJJJ JJJJIJISIIJJSSIIJAJA JJJJJIIIISSIIIIIIIJJ SSIAIAIIIIIIIIJJAAT2 T2SSII SSSSJJJ IJIJAAAAJJJ IJIJU2JU2JJJJ JV2JV2JJJ W2W2SSIIIIIGIGM2AM2A II X2SY2SJN2JN2X2Y2Z2A3 B3V2 IIIIGAGS SSJJIB2IC2 AAL2AE2A IIA3A3KSKSX2Y2Z2A3B3 V2 L2L2V2V2GIGIKKKKIC3I C3 SISIIIGN2GN2 SJSJAAJJIIIIIJD3JD3 SASAIIAAIIIIGG AASSEKIISSJIJIJJIIII JJJJ C3C3SISIE3E3IJIJIIII SJSJIISSSGE3IE3GI F3F3JE3JE3F2IF2IJB3J B3 JSJSIIIIIIIII IE3IE3P2IP2I SISIP2IP2I B2IB2IG3IP2I JJJJGIGISSJJE3IE3I JSJSP2IP2I IIIIJJE3E3IIII IIJJIIII H3H3II IIII JJJJ IIE3E3 E3E3II E3E3E3E3 IIJJ CCII CCE3E3 IJIJE3E3I3I3J3IJ3IJJ IE3IE3 JJJJIIIIIIII

Who has not heard of the Vale of CASHMERE	A
With its roses the brightest that earth ever gave	B
Its temples and grottos and fountains as clear	A
As the love lighted eyes that hang over their wave	B
	-
Oh to see it at sunset when warm o'er the Lake	C
Its splendor at parting a summer eve throws	D
Like a bride full of blushes when lingering to take	C
A last look of her mirror at night ere she goes	D
When the shrines thro' the foliage are gleaming half shown	E
And each hallows the hour by some rites of its own	E
Here the music of prayer from a minaret swells	F
Here the Magian his urn full of perfume is swinging	G
And here at the altar a zone of sweet bells	F
Round the waist of some fair Indian dancer is ringing	G
Or to see it by moonlight when mellowly shines	H
The light o'er its palaces gardens and shrines	H
When the water falls gleam like a quick fall of stars	I
And the nightingale's hymn from the Isle of Chenars	I
Is broken by laughs and light echoes of feet	J
From the cool shining walks where the young people meet	J
Or at morn when the magic of daylight awakes	I
A new wonder each minute as slowly it breaks	I
Hills cupolas fountains called forth every one	K
Out of darkness as if but just born of the Sun	K
When the Spirit of Fragrance is up with the day	L
From his Haram of night flowers stealing away	L
And the wind full of wantonness wooes like a lover	M
The young aspen trees	I
till they tremble all over	M
When the East is as warm as the light of first hopes	I
And day with his banner of radiance unfurled	N
Shines in thro' the mountainous portal that opes	I
Sublime from that Valley of bliss to the world	N
	-
But never yet by night or day	L
In dew of spring or summer's ray	L
Did the sweet Valley shine so gay	L
As now it shines all love and light	O
Visions by day and feasts by night	O
A happier smile illumes each brow	P
With quicker spread each heart uncloses	I
And all is ecstasy for now	P
The Valley holds its Feast of Roses	I
The joyous Time when pleasures pour	Q
Profusely round and in their shower	M
Hearts open like the Season's Rose	I
The Floweret of a hundred leaves	I
Expanding while the dew fall flows	I
And every leaf its balm receives	I
	-
'Twas when the hour of evening came	R
Upon the Lake serene and cool	S
When day had hid his sultry flame	R
Behind the palms of BARAMOULE	S
When maids began to lift their heads	I
Refresht from their embroidered beds	I
Where they had slept the sun away	L
And waked to moonlight and to play	L
All were abroad the busiest hive	T
On BELA'S hills is less alive	T
When saffron beds are full in flower	M
Than lookt the Valley in that hour	M
A thousand restless torches played	U
Thro' every grove and island shade	U
A thousand sparkling lamps were set	V
On every dome and minaret	V
And fields and pathways far and near	A
Were lighted by a blaze so clear	A
That you could see in wandering round	W
The smallest rose leaf on the ground	W
Yet did the maids and matrons leave	X
Their veils at home that brilliant eve	X
And there were glancing eyes about	Y
And cheeks that would not dare shine out	Y
In open day but thought they might	O
Look lovely then because 'twas night	O
And all were free and wandering	G
And all exclaimed to all they met	V
That never did the summer bring	G
So gay a Feast of Roses yet	V
The moon had never shed a light	O
So clear as that which blest them there	Z
The roses ne'er shone half so bright	O
Nor they themselves lookt half so fair	Z
	-
And what a wilderness of flowers	I
It seemed as tho' from all the bowers	I
And fairest fields of all the year	A
The mingled spoil were scattered here	A2
The lake too like a garden breathes	I
With the rich buds that o'er it lie	S
As if a shower of fairy wreaths	I
Had fallen upon it from the sky	S
And then the sounds of joy the beat	J
Of tabors and of dancing feet	J
The minaret crier's chant of glee	S
Sung from his lighted gallery	S
And answered by a ziraleet	J
From neighboring Haram wild and sweet	J
The merry laughter echoing	G
From gardens where the silken swing	G
Wafts some delighted girl above	B2
The top leaves of the orange grove	C2
Or from those infant groups at play	L
Among the tents that line the way	L
Flinging unawed by slave or mother	M
Handfuls of roses at each other	M
Then the sounds from the Lake the low whispering in boats	I
As they shoot thro' the moonlight the dipping of oars	I
And the wild airy warbling that everywhere floats	I
Thro' the groves round the islands as if all the shores	I
Like those of KATHAY uttered music and gave	B
An answer in song to the kiss on each wave	B
But the gentlest of all are those sounds full of feeling	G
That soft from the lute of some lover are stealing	G
Some lover who knows all the heart touching power	M
Of a lute and a sigh in this magical hour	M
Oh best of delights as it everywhere is	I
To be near the loved One what a rapture is his	I
Who in moonlight and music thus sweetly may glide	J
O'er the Lake of CASHMERE with that One by his side	J
	-
If woman can make the worst wilderness dear	A
Think think what a Heaven she must make of CASHMERE	A
	-
So felt the magnificent Son of ACBAR	A
When from power and pomp and the trophies of war	A
He flew to that Valley forgetting them all	S
With the Light of the HARAM his young NOURMAHAL	S
When free and uncrowned as the Conqueror roved	J
By the banks of that Lake with his only beloved	J
He saw in the wreaths she would playfully snatch	D2
From the hedges a glory his crown could not match	D2
And preferred in his heart the least ringlet that curled	J
Down her exquisite neck to the throne of the world	J
	-
There's a beauty for ever unchangingly bright	J
Like the long sunny lapse of a summer day's light	J
Shining on shining on by no shadow made tender	A
Till Love falls asleep in its sameness of splendor	A
This was not the beauty oh nothing like this	I
That to young NOURMAHAL gave such magic of bliss	I
But that loveliness ever in motion which plays	I
Like the light upon autumn's soft shadowy days	I
Now here and now there giving warmth as it flies	I
From the lip to the cheek from the cheek to the eyes	I
Now melting in mist and now breaking in gleams	I
Like the glimpses a saint hath of Heaven in his dreams	I
When pensive it seemed as if that very grace	I
That charm of all others was born with her face	I
And when angry for even in the tranquillest climes	I
Light breezes will ruffle the blossoms sometimes	I
The short passing anger but seemed to awaken	K
New beauty like flowers that are sweetest when shaken	K
If tenderness touched her the dark of her eye	S
At once took a darker a heavenlier dye	S
From the depth of whose shadow like holy revealings	I
From innermost shrines came the light of her feelings	I
Then her mirth oh 'twas sportive as ever took wing	G
From the heart with a burst like the wild bird in spring	G
Illumed by a wit that would fascinate sages	I
Yet playful as Peris just loosed from their cages	I
While her laugh full of life without any control	S
But the sweet one of gracefulness rung from her soul	S
And where it most sparkled no glance could discover	A
In lip cheek or eyes for she brightened all over	A
Like any fair lake that the breeze is upon	E2
When it breaks into dimples and laughs in the sun	K
Such such were the peerless enchantments that gave	B
NOURMAHAL the proud Lord of the East for her slave	B
And tho' bright was his Haram a living parterre	A
Of the flowers of this planet tho' treasures were there	A
For which SOLIMAN'S self might have given all the store	A
That the navy from OPHIR e'er winged to his shore	A
Yet dim before her were the smiles of them all	S
And the Light of his Haram was young NOURMAHAL	S
	-
But where is she now this night of joy	F2
When bliss is every heart's employ	F2
When all around her is so bright	J
So like the visions of a trance	I
That one might think who came by chance	I
Into the vale this happy night	J
He saw that City of Delight	J
In Fairy land whose streets and towers	I
Are made of gems and light and flowers	I
Where is the loved Sultana where	A
When mirth brings out the young and fair	A
Does she the fairest hide her brow	A
In melancholy stillness now	A
	-
Alas how light a cause may move	G2
Dissension between hearts that love	B2
Hearts that the world in vain had tried	J
And sorrow but more closely tied	J
That stood the storm when waves were rough	H2
Yet in a sunny hour fall off	I2
Like ships that have gone down at sea	I
When heaven was all tranquillity	J
A something light as air a look	J2
A word unkind or wrongly taken	K
Oh love that tempests never shook	J2
A breath a touch like this hath shaken	K
	-
And ruder words will soon rush in	K2
To spread the breach that words begin	K2
And eyes forget the gentle ray	A
They wore in courtship's smiling day	A
And voices lose the tone that shed	J
A tenderness round all they said	J
Till fast declining one by one	K
The sweetnesses of love are gone	L2
And hearts so lately mingled seem	M2
Like broken clouds or like the stream	M2
That smiling left the mountain's brow	A
As tho' its waters ne'er could sever	A
Yet ere it reach the plain below	S
Breaks into floods that part for ever	A
	-
Oh you that have the charge of Love	B2
Keep him in rosy bondage bound	J
As in the Fields of Bliss above	B2
He sits with flowerets fettered round	J
Loose not a tie that round him clings	I
Nor ever let him use his wings	I
For even an hour a minute's flight	J
Will rob the plumes of half their light	J
Like that celestial bird whose nest	J
Is found beneath far Eastern skies	I
Whose wings tho' radiant when at rest	J
Lose all their glory when he flies	I
	-
Some difference of this dangerous kind	J
By which tho' light the links that bind	J
The fondest hearts may soon be riven	K
Some shadow in Love's summer heaven	K
Which tho' a fleecy speck at first	J
May yet in awful thunder burst	J
Such cloud it is that now hangs over	A
The heart of the Imperial Lover	A
And far hath banisht from his sight	J
His NOURMAHAL his Haram's Light	J
Hence is it on this happy night	J
When Pleasure thro' the fields and groves	I
Has let loose all her world of loves	I
And every heart has found its own	E
He wanders joyless and alone	E
And weary as that bird of Thrace	I
Whose pinion knows no resting place	I
	-
In vain the loveliest cheeks and eyes	I
This Eden of the Earth supplies	I
Come crowding round the cheeks are pale	S
The eyes are dim tho' rich the spot	J
With every flower this earth has got	J
What is it to the nightingale	S
If there his darling rose is not	J
In vain the Valley's smiling throng	N2
Worship him as he moves along	N2
He heeds them not one smile of hers	I
Is worth a world of worshippers	I
They but the Star's adorers are	A
She is the Heaven that lights the Star	A
	-
Hence is it too that NOURMAHAL	S
Amid the luxuries of this hour	A
Far from the joyous festival	S
Sits in her own sequestered bower	A
With no one near to soothe or aid	J
But that inspired and wondrous maid	J
NAMOUNA the Enchantress one	K
O'er whom his race the golden sun	K
For unremembered years has run	K
Yet never saw her blooming brow	A
Younger or fairer than 'tis now	A
Nay rather as the west wind's sigh	S
Freshens the flower it passes by	S
Time's wing but seemed in stealing o'er	A
To leave her lovelier than before	A
Yet on her smiles a sadness hung	O2
And when as oft she spoke or sung	O2
Of other worlds there came a light	J
From her dark eyes so strangely bright	J
That all believed nor man nor earth	P2
Were conscious of NAMOUNA'S birth	P2
All spells and talismans she knew	Q2
From the great Mantra which around	J
The Air's sublimer Spirits drew	Q2
To the gold gems of AFRIC bound	J
Upon the wandering Arab's arm	R2
To keep him from the Siltim's harm	R2
And she had pledged her powerful art	J
Pledged it with all the zeal and heart	J
Of one who knew tho' high her sphere	A
What 'twas to lose a love so dear	A
To find some spell that should recall	S
Her Selim's smile to NOURMAHAL	S
	-
'Twas midnight thro' the lattice wreathed	J
With woodbine many a perfume breathed	J
From plants that wake when others sleep	S2
From timid jasmine buds that keep	S2
Their odor to themselves all day	J
But when the sunlight dies away	J
Let the delicious secret out	J
To every breeze that roams about	J
When thus NAMOUNA 'Tis the hour	A
That scatters spells on herb and flower	A
And garlands might be gathered now	A
That twined around the sleeper's brow	A
Would make him dream of such delights	I
Such miracles and dazzling sights	I
As Genii of the Sun behold	J
At evening from their tents of gold	J
Upon the horizon where they play	J
Till twilight comes and ray by ray	J
Their sunny mansions melt away	J
Now too a chaplet might be wreathed	J
Of buds o'er which the moon has breathed	J
Which worn by her whose love has strayed	J
Might bring some Peri from the skies	I
Some sprite whose very soul is made	J
Of flowerets' breaths and lovers' sighs	I
And who might tell	S
For me for me	I
Cried NOURMAHAL impatiently	I
Oh twine that wreath for me to night	J
Then rapidly with foot as light	J
As the young musk roe's out she flew	S
To cull each shining leaf that grew	S
Beneath the moonlight's hallowing beams	I
For this enchanted Wreath of Dreams	I
Anemones and Seas of Gold	J
And new blown lilies of the river	A
And those sweet flowerets that unfold	J
Their buds on CAMADEVA'S quiver	A
The tuberose with her silvery light	J
That in the Gardens of Malay	J
Is called the Mistress of the Night	J
So like a bride scented and bright	J
She comes out when the sun's away	J
Amaranths such as crown the maids	I
That wander thro' ZAMARA'S shades	I
And the white moon flower as it shows	I
On SERENDIB'S high crags to those	I
Who near the isle at evening sail	S
Scenting her clove trees in the gale	S
In short all flowerets and all plants	I
From the divine Amrita tree	I
That blesses heaven's habitants	I
With fruits of immortality	I
Down to the basil tuft that waves	I
Its fragrant blossom over graves	I
And to the humble rosemary	I
Whose sweets so thanklessly are shed	J
To scent the desert and the dead	J
All in that garden bloom and all	S
Are gathered by young NOURMAHAL	S
Who heaps her baskets with the flowers	I
And leaves till they can hold no more	A
Then to NAMOUNA flies and showers	I
Upon her lap the shining store	A
With what delight the Enchantress views	I
So many buds bathed with the dews	I
And beams of that blest hour her glance	I
Spoke something past all mortal pleasures	I
As in a kind of holy trance	I
She hung above those fragrant treasures	I
Bending to drink their balmy airs	I
As if she mixt her soul with theirs	I
And 'twas indeed the perfume shed	J
From flowers and scented flame that fed	J
Her charmed life for none had e'er	A
Beheld her taste of mortal fare	A
Nor ever in aught earthly dip	T2
But the morn's dew her roseate lip	T2
Filled with the cool inspiring smell	S
The Enchantress now begins her spell	S
Thus singing as she winds and weaves	I
In mystic form the glittering leaves	I
	-
I know where the winged visions dwell	S
That around the night bed play	S
I know each herb and floweret's bell	S
Where they hide their wings by day	S
Then hasten we maid	J
To twine our braid	J
To morrow the dreams and flowers will fade	J
	-
The image of love that nightly flies	I
To visit the bashful maid	J
Steals from the jasmine flower that sighs	I
Its soul like her in the shade	J
The dream of a future happier hour	A
That alights on misery's brow	A
Springs out of the silvery almond flower	A
That blooms on a leafless bough	A
Then hasten we maid	J
To twine our braid	J
To morrow the dreams and flowers will fade	J
	-
The visions that oft to worldly eyes	I
The glitter of mines unfold	J
Inhabit the mountain herb that dyes	I
The tooth of the fawn like gold	J
The phantom shapes oh touch not them	U2
That appal the murderer's sight	J
Lurk in the fleshly mandrake's stem	U2
That shrieks when pluckt at night	J
Then hasten we maid	J
To twine our braid	J
To morrow the dreams and flowers will fade	J
	-
The dream of the injured patient mind	J
That smiles at the wrongs of men	V2
Is found in the bruised and wounded rind	J
Of the cinnamon sweetest then	V2
Then hasten we maid	J
To twine our braid	J
To morrow the dreams and flowers will fade	J
	-
No sooner was the flowery crown	W2
Placed on her head than sleep came down	W2
Gently as nights of summer fall	S
Upon the lids of NOURMAHAL	S
And suddenly a tuneful breeze	I
As full of small rich harmonies	I
As ever wind that o'er the tents	I
Of AZAB blew was full of scents	I
Steals on her ear and floats and swells	I
Like the first air of morning creeping	G
Into those wreathy Red Sea shells	I
Where Love himself of old lay sleeping	G
And now a Spirit formed 'twould seem	M2
Of music and of light so fair	A
So brilliantly his features beam	M2
And such a sound is in the air	A
Of sweetness when he waves his wings	I
Hovers around her and thus sings	I
	-
From CHINDARA'S warbling fount I come	X2
Called by that moonlight garland's spell	S
From CHINDARA'S fount my fairy home	Y2
Wherein music morn and night I dwell	S
Where lutes in the air are heard about	J
And voices are singing the whole day long	N2
And every sigh the heart breathes out	J
Is turned as it leaves the lips to song	N2
Hither I come	X2
From my fairy home	Y2
And if there's a magic in Music's strain	Z2
I swear by the breath	A3
Of that moonlight wreath	B3
Thy Lover shall sigh at thy feet again	V2
	-
For mine is the lay that lightly floats	I
And mine are the murmuring dying notes	I
That fall as soft as snow on the sea	I
And melt in the heart as instantly	I
And the passionate strain that deeply going	G
Refines the bosom it trembles thro'	A
As the musk wind over the water blowing	G
Ruffles the wave but sweetens it too	S
	-
Mine is the charm whose mystic sway	S
The Spirits of past Delight obey	S
Let but the tuneful talisman sound	J
And they come like Genii hovering round	J
And mine is the gentle song that bears	I
From soul to soul the wishes of love	B2
As a bird that wafts thro' genial airs	I
The cinnamon seed from grove to grove	C2
	-
'Tis I that mingle in one sweet measure	A
The past the present and future of pleasure	A
When Memory links the tone that is gone	L2
With the blissful tone that's still in the ear	A
And Hope from a heavenly note flies on	E2
To a note more heavenly still that is near	A
	-
The warrior's heart when touched by me	I
Can as downy soft and as yielding be	I
As his own white plume that high amid death	A3
Thro' the field has shone yet moves with a breath	A3
And oh how the eyes of Beauty glisten	K
When Music has reached her inward soul	S
Like the silent stars that wink and listen	K
While Heaven's eternal melodies roll	S
So hither I come	X2
From my fairy home	Y2
And if there's a magic in Music's strain	Z2
I swear by the breath	A3
Of that moonlight wreath	B3
Thy Lover shall sigh at thy feet again	V2
	-
'Tis dawn at least that earlier dawn	L2
Whose glimpses are again withdrawn	L2
As if the morn had waked and then	V2
Shut close her lids of light again	V2
And NOURMAHAL is up and trying	G
The wonders of her lute whose strings	I
Oh bliss now murmur like the sighing	G
From that ambrosial Spirit's wings	I
And then her voice 'tis more than human	K
Never till now had it been given	K
To lips of any mortal woman	K
To utter notes so fresh from heaven	K
Sweet as the breath of angel sighs	I
When angel sighs are most divine	C3
Oh let it last till night she cries	I
And he is more than ever mine	C3
	-
And hourly she renews the lay	S
So fearful lest its heavenly sweetness	I
Should ere the evening fade away	S
For things so heavenly have such fleetness	I
But far from fading it but grows	I
Richer diviner as it flows	I
Till rapt she dwells on every string	G
And pours again each sound along	N2
Like echo lost and languishing	G
In love with her own wondrous song	N2
	-
That evening trusting that his soul	S
Might be from haunting love released	J
By mirth by music and the bowl	S
The Imperial SELIM held a feast	J
In his magnificent Shalimar	A
In whose Saloons when the first star	A
Of evening o'er the waters trembled	J
The Valley's loveliest all assembled	J
All the bright creatures that like dreams	I
Glide thro' its foliage and drink beams	I
Of beauty from its founts and streams	I
And all those wandering minstrel maids	I
Who leave how can they leave the shades	I
Of that dear Valley and are found	J
Singing in gardens of the South	D3
Those songs that ne'er so sweetly sound	J
As from a young Cashmerian's mouth	D3
	-
There too the Haram's inmates smile	S
Maids from the West with sun bright hair	A
And from the Garden of the NILE	S
Delicate as the roses there	A
Daughters of Love from CYPRUS rocks	I
With Paphian diamonds in their locks	I
Light PERI forms such as there are	A
On the gold Meads of CANDAHAR	A
And they before whose sleepy eyes	I
In their own bright Kathaian bowers	I
Sparkle such rainbow butterflies	I
That they might fancy the rich flowers	I
That round them in the sun lay sighing	G
Had been by magic all set flying	G
	-
Every thing young every thing fair	A
From East and West is blushing there	A
Except except oh NOURMAHAL	S
Thou loveliest dearest of them all	S
The one whose smile shone out alone	E
Amidst a world the only one	K
Whose light among so many lights	I
Was like that star on starry nights	I
The seaman singles from the sky	S
To steer his bark for ever by	S
Thou wert not there so SELIM thought	J
And every thing seemed drear without thee	I
But ah thou wert thou wert and brought	J
Thy charm of song all fresh about thee	I
Mingling unnoticed with a band	J
Of lutanists from many a land	J
And veiled by such a mask as shades	I
The features of young Arab maids	I
A mask that leaves but one eye free	I
To do its best in witchery	I
She roved with beating heart around	J
And waited trembling for the minute	J
When she might try if still the sound	J
Of her loved lute had magic in it	J
	-
The board was spread with fruits and wine	C3
With grapes of gold like those that shine	C3
On CASBIN hills pomegranates full	S
Of melting sweetness and the pears	I
And sunniest apples that CAUBUL	S
In all its thousand gardens bears	I
Plantains the golden and the green	E3
MALAYA'S nectared mangusteen	E3
Prunes of BOCKHARA and sweet nuts	I
From the far groves of SAMARCAND	J
And BASRA dates and apricots	I
Seed of the Sun from IRAN'S land	J
With rich conserve of Visna cherries	I
Of orange flowers and of those berries	I
That wild and fresh the young gazelles	I
Feed on in ERAC's rocky dells	I
All these in richest vases smile	S
In baskets of pure santal wood	J
And urns of porcelain from that isle	S
Sunk underneath the Indian flood	J
Whence oft the lucky diver brings	I
Vases to grace the halls of kings	I
Wines too of every clime and hue	S
Around their liquid lustre threw	S
Amber Rosolli the bright dew	S
From vineyards of the Green Sea gushing	G
And SHIRAZ wine that richly ran	E3
As if that jewel large and rare	I
The ruby for which KUBLAI KHAN	E3
Offered a city's wealth was blushing	G
Melted within the goblets there	I
	-
And amply SELIM quaffs of each	F3
And seems resolved the flood shall reach	F3
His inward heart shedding around	J
A genial deluge as they run	E3
That soon shall leave no spot undrowned	J
For Love to rest his wings upon	E3
He little knew how well the boy	F2
Can float upon a goblet's streams	I
Lighting them with his smile of joy	F2
As bards have seen him in their dreams	I
Down the blue GANGES laughing glide	J
Upon a rosy lotus wreath	B3
Catching new lustre from the tide	J
That with his image shone beneath	B3
	-
But what are cups without the aid	J
Of song to speed them as they flow	S
And see a lovely Georgian maid	J
With all the bloom the freshened glow	S
Of her own country maidens' looks	I
When warm they rise from Teflis' brooks	I
And with an eye whose restless ray	I
Full floating dark oh he who knows	I
His heart is weak of Heaven should pray	I
To guard him from such eyes as those	I
With a voluptuous wildness flings	I
Her snowy hand across the strings	I
Of a syrinda and thus sings	I
	-
Come hither come hither by night and by day	I
We linger in pleasures that never are gone	E3
Like the waves of the summer as one dies away	I
Another as sweet and as shining comes on	E3
And the love that is o'er in expiring gives birth	P2
To a new one as warm as unequalled in bliss	I
And oh if there be an Elysium on earth	P2
It is this it is this	I
	-
Here maidens are sighing and fragrant their sigh	S
As the flower of the Amra just oped by a bee	I
And precious their tears as that rain from the sky	S
Which turns into pearls as it falls in the sea	I
Oh think what the kiss and the smile must be worth	P2
When the sigh and the tear are so perfect in bliss	I
And own if there be an Elysium on earth	P2
It is this it is this	I
	-
Here sparkles the nectar that hallowed by love	B2
Could draw down those angels of old from their sphere	I
Who for wine of this earth left the fountains above	B2
And forgot heaven's stars for the eyes we have here	I
And blest with the odor our goblet gives forth	G3
What Spirit the sweets of his Eden would miss	I
For oh if there be an Elysium on earth	P2
It is this it is this	I
	-
The Georgian's song was scarcely mute	J
When the same measure sound for sound	J
Was caught up by another lute	J
And so divinely breathed around	J
That all stood husht and wondering	G
And turned and lookt into the air	I
As if they thought to see the wing	G
Of ISRAFIL the Angel there	I
So powerfully on every soul	S
That new enchanted measure stole	S
While now a voice sweet as the note	J
Of the charmed lute was heard to float	J
Along its chords and so entwine	E3
Its sounds with theirs that none knew whether	I
The voice or lute was most divine	E3
So wondrously they went together	I
	-
There's a bliss beyond all that the minstrel has told	J
When two that are linkt in one heavenly tie	S
With heart never changing and brow never cold	J
Love on thro' all ills and love on till they die	S
One hour of a passion so sacred is worth	P2
Whole ages of heartless and wandering bliss	I
And oh if there be an Elysium on earth	P2
It is this it is this	I
	-
'Twas not the air 'twas not the words	I
But that deep magic in the chords	I
And in the lips that gave such power	I
As music knew not till that hour	I
At once a hundred voices said	J
It is the maskt Arabian maid	J
While SELIM who had felt the strain	E3
Deepest of any and had lain	E3
Some minutes rapt as in a trance	I
After the fairy sounds were o'er	I
Too inly touched for utterance	I
Now motioned with his hand for more	I
	-
Fly to the desert fly with me	I
Our Arab's tents are rude for thee	I
But oh the choice what heart can doubt	J
Of tents with love or thrones without	J
Our rocks are rough but smiling there	I
The acacia waves her yellow hair	I
Lonely and sweet nor loved the less	I
For flowering in a wilderness	I
	-
Our sands are bare but down their slope	H3
The silvery footed antelope	H3
As gracefully and gayly springs	I
As o'er the marble courts of kings	I
	-
Then come thy Arab maid will be	I
The loved and lone acacia tree	I
The antelope whose feet shall bless	I
With their light sound thy loneliness	I
	-
Oh there are looks and tones that dart	J
An instant sunshine thro' the heart	J
As if the soul that minute caught	J
Some treasure it thro' life had sought	J
	-
As if the very lips and eyes	I
Predestined to have all our sighs	I
And never be forgot again	E3
Sparkled and spoke before us then	E3
	-
So came thy every glance and tone	E3
When first on me they breathed and shone	E3
New as if brought from other spheres	I
Yet welcome as if loved for years	I
	-
Then fly with me if thou hast known	E3
No other flame nor falsely thrown	E3
A gem away that thou hadst sworn	E3
Should ever in thy heart be worn	E3
	-
Come if the love thou hast for me	I
Is pure and fresh as mine for thee	I
Fresh as the fountain under ground	J
When first 'tis by the lapwing found	J
	-
But if for me thou dost forsake	C
Some other maid and rudely break	C
Her worshipt image from its base	I
To give to me the ruined place	I
	-
Then fare thee well I'd rather make	C
My bower upon some icy lake	C
When thawing suns begin to shine	E3
Than trust to love so false as thine	E3
	-
There was a pathos in this lay	I
That even without enchantment's art	J
Would instantly have found its way	I
Deep in to SELIM'S burning heart	J
But breathing as it did a tone	E3
To earthly lutes and lips unknown	E3
With every chord fresh from the touch	I3
Of Music's Spirit 'twas too much	I3
Starting he dasht away the cup	J3
Which all the time of this sweet air	I
His hand had held untasted up	J3
As if 'twere fixt by magic there	I
And naming her so long unnamed	J
So long unseen wildly exclaimed	J
Oh NOURMAHAL oh NOURMAHAL	I
Hadst thou but sung this witching strain	E3
I could forget forgive thee all	I
And never leave those eyes again	E3
	-
The mask is off the charm is wrought	J
And SELIM to his heart has caught	J
In blushes more than ever bright	J
His NOURMAHAL his Haram's Light	J
And well do vanisht frowns enhance	I
The charm of every brightened glance	I
And dearer seems each dawning smile	I
For having lost its light awhile	I
And happier now for all her sighs	I
As on his arm her head reposes	I
She whispers him with laughing eyes	I
Remember love the Feast of Roses	I

Thomas Moore

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