Exists the remnant of a line Such as the Doric mothers bore; Trust not for freedom to the Franks Place me on Sunium's marbled steep- THE SULTANA GULBEYAZ When he was gone, there was a sudden change: Her form had all the softness of her sex, Eve, and paved (God knows how) the road to evil; The sun himself was scarce more free from specks Than she from aught at which the eye could cavil; Yet somehow there was something somewhere wanting, As if she rather order'd than was granting. Something imperial, or imperious, threw A chain o'er all she did; that is, a chain Her very smile was haughty, though so sweet; There was a self-will even in her small feet, As though they were quite conscious of her stationThey trod as upon necks; and to complete Her state, (it is the custom of her nation), A poniard deck'd her girdle, as the sign She was a sultan's bride, (thank Heaven, not mine.) "To hear and to obey" had been from birth The law of all around her; to fulfil All phantasies which yielded joy or mirth, Had been her slaves' chief pleasure, as her will: Her blood was high, her beauty scarce of earth: Judge, then, if her caprices e'er stood still: Had she but been a Christian, I've a notion We should have found out the " perpetual motion." Whate'er she saw and coveted was brought; And when 'twas found straightway the bargain There was no end unto the things she bought, [closed: Nor to the trouble which her fancies caused; Yet even her tyranny had such a grace, The women pardon'd all except her face. HAIDEE DISCOVERING JUAN. There, breathless, with his digging nails he clung Save one, a corpse, from out the famish'd three, Who died two days before, and now had found An unknown barren beach for burial ground. And, as he gazed, his dizzy brain spun fast, And down he sunk; and, as he sunk, the sand Swam round and round, and all his senses passed: He fell upon his side, and his stretch'd hand Droop'd dripping on the oar (their jury mast), And, like a wither'd lily, on the land His slender frame and pallid aspect lay, As fair a thing as e'er was form'd of clay. How long in his damp trance young Juan lay He knew not, till each painful pulse and limb, And tingling vein, seemed throbbing back to life, For death, though vanquish'd, still retired with strife. His eyes he open'd, shut, again unclosed, For all was doubt and dizziness; he thought He still was in the boat, and had but dozed, And felt again with his despair o'erwrought, And wish'd it death in which he had reposed, And then once more his feelings back were brought, And slowly by his swimming eyes were seen A lovely female face of seventeen. 'Twas bending close o'er his, and the small mouth Seem'd almost prying into his for breath; And chafing him, the soft warm hand of youth Then was the cordial pour'd, and mantle flung And her transparent cheek, all pure and warm, His dewy curls, long drench'd by every storm; And watched with eagerness each throb that drew A sigh from his heaved bosom-and hers too. And lifting him with care into the cave, The gentle girl, and her attendant,- -one Young, yet her elder, and of brow less grave, And more robust of figure-then begun To kindle fire, and as the new flames gave Light to the rocks that roof'd them, which the sun Her brow was overhung with coins of gold, They nearly reach'd her heel; and in her air Her hair, I said, was auburn; but her eyes Were black as death, their lashes the same hue, Ne'er with such force the swiftest arrow flew : 'Tis as the snake late coil'd, who pours his length, And hurls at once his venom and his strength. Her brow was white and low, her cheek's pure dye (A race of mere impostors, when all's doneI've seen much finer women, ripe and real, Than all the nonsense of their stone ideal.) |