"I knew but to obtain or die.

"I die but first I have possessed, "And come what may,

I have been blest.

"Shall I the doom I sought upbraid?
"Noreft of all, yet undismayed
"But for the thought of Leila slain,
"Give me the pleasure with the pain,
"So would I live and love again.
"I grieve, but not, my holy guide!
"For him who dies, but her who died:
"She sleeps beneath the wandering wave -
"Ah! had she but an earthly grave,

"This breaking heart and throbbing head
"Should seek and share her narrow bed.
"She was a form of life and light,

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1124

"That, seen, became a part of sight;

"And rose, where'er I turned mine eye,

"The Morning-star of Memory!

1130

"Yes, Love indeed is light from heaven;

"A spark of that immortal fire

"With angels shared, by Alla given,
"To lift from earth our low desire.
"Devotion wafts the mind above,
"But Heaven itself descends in love;

1155

"A feeling from the Godhead caught,
"To wean from self each sordid thought;
"A Ray of him who formed the whole;
"A Glory circling round the soul!
"I grant my love imperfect, all
"That mortals by the name miscall;
"Then deem it evil, what thou wilt;

"But say,
oli say, hers was not guilt!
"She was my life's unerring light,

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1145

"That quenched, what beam shall break my

night?

"Oh! would it shone to lead me still,

"Although to death or deadliest ill!

"Why marvel ye, if they who lose

"This present joy, this future hope, "No more with sorrow meekly cope;

1150

"In phrenzy then their fate accuse:

"In madness do those fearful deeds

"That seem to add but guilt to woe?

"Alas! the breast that inly bleeds

1155

"Hath nought to dread from outward blow:

"Who falls from all he knows of bliss,

"Cares little into what abyss.

"Fierce as the gloomy vulture's now

"To thee, old man, my deeds

appear:

"I read abhorence on thy brow,

"And this too was I born to bear!
""Tis true, that, like that bird of prey,
"With havock have I marked my way:
"But this was taught me by the dove,
"To die and know no second love.
"This lesson yet hath man to learn,
"Taught by the thing he dares to spurn:
"The bird that sings within the brake,
"The swan that swims upon the lake,
"One mate, and one alone, will take.
“And let the fool still prone to range,
"And sneer on all who cannot change,
"Partake his jest with boasting boys;
"I envy not his varied joys,

"But deem such feeble, heartless man,
"Less than yon solitary swan;
"Far, far beneath the shallow maid
"He left believing and betrayed.
"Such shame at least was never mine
"Leila! each thought was only thine!
"My good, mv guilt, my weal, my woe,

1161

1165

1170

1175

180

"My hope on high

my all below.

"Earth holds no other like to thee, "Or if it doth, in vain for me:

1185

"For worlds I dare not view the dame
"Resembling thee, yet not the same.
“The very crimes that mar my youth,
"This bed of death attest my truth!
"Tis all too late thou wert, thou art

"The cherished madness of my heart!

1190

"And the was lost

and yet I breathed,

"But not the breath of human life:

"A serpent round my heart was wreathed, "And stung my every thought to strife, "Alike all time, abhorred all place, "Shuddering I shrunk from Nature's face, 1196 "Where every hue that charmed before

"The blackness of my bosom wore. "The rest thou dost already know,

"And all my sins, and half my woe.

"But talk no more of penitence);

"Thou see'st I soon shall part from hence: "And if thy holy tale were true,

"The deed that's done can'st thou undo?

"Think me not thankless but this grief

"Looks not to priesthood for relief.

"My soul's estate in secret guess:
"But would'st thon pity more, say less.

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1204

"When thou can'st bid my Leila live,
"Then will I sue thee to forgive;
"Then plead my cause in that high place
"Where purchased masses proffer grace.
"Go, when the hunter's hand hath wrung
"From forest-cave her shrieking young,
"And calm the lonely lioness:

"But soothe not

mock not my distress!

"In earlier days, and calmer hours,

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1216

"When heart with heart delights to blend, "Where bloom my native valley's bowers

"I had Ah! have I now?

a friend!

"To him this pledge I charge thee send,

"Memorial of a youthful vow;

"I would remind him of my end:

"Though souls absorbed like mine allow 1242 "Brief thought to distant friendship's claim, "Yet dear him my blighted name.

"Tis strange he prophesied my doom,

"And warn

-

I recked not what

"When Prudence would his voice assume, 1230 the while: "But now remembrance whispers o'er

"Those accents scarcely marked before.