One sad and sole relief she knows,
The sting she nourish'd for her foes,
Whose venom never yet was vain,
Gives but one pang, and cures all pain,
And darts into her desperate brain:

430

So do the dark in soul expire,

Or live like Scorpion girt by fire ; (17)

So writhes the mind Remorse hath riven,

435

Unfit for earth, undoom'd for heaven,
Darkness above, despair beneath,

Not thus was Hassan wont to fly
When Leila dwelt in his Serai.
Doth Leila there no longer dwell?

445

That tale can only Hassan tell :

Strange rumours in our city say
Upon that eve she fled away

When Rhamazan's (18) last sun was set,

And flashing from each minaret

Millions of lamps proclaim'd the feast

Of Bairam through the boundless East. "Twas then she went as to the bath, Which Hassan vainly search'd in wrath;

450

For she was flown her master's rage

455

In likeness of a Georgian page,

And far beyond the Moslem's power

Had wrong'd him with the faithless Giaour.
Somewhat of this had Hassan deem'd;

But still so fond, so fair she seem'd,
Too well he trusted to the slave
Whose treachery deserved a grave:
And on that eve had gone to mosque,
And thence to feast in his kiosk.

460

470

Was seen, but seen alone to speed
With bloody spur along the shore,

Nor maid nor page behind him bore.

Her eye's dark charm 'twere vain to tell,

But gaze on that of the Gazelle,

It will assist thy fancy well;

As large, as languishingly dark,

475

But Soul beam'd forth in every spark
That darted from beneath the lid,
Bright as the jewel of Giamchid. (20)
Yea, Soul, and should our prophet say

480

That form was nought but breathing clay,

By Alla! I would answer nay;

Though on Al-Sirat's (21) arch I stood,

Which totters o'er the fiery flood,

With Paradise within my view,

485

And all his Houris beckoning through.
Oh! who young Leila's glance could read
And keep that portion of his creed (22)
Which saith that woman is but dust,
A soulless toy for tyrant's lust?
On her might Muftis gaze, and own

490

That through her eye the Immortal shone;
On her fair cheek's unfading hue

The young pomegranate's (23) blossoms strew
Their bloom in blushes ever new ;

495

Her hair in hyacinthine (24) flow,

When left to roll its folds below,
As midst her handmaids in the hall
She stood superior to them all,
Hath swept the marble where her feet

Gleam'd whiter than the mountain sleet
Ere from the cloud that gave it birth
It fell, and caught one stain of earth.
The cygnet nobly walks the water;
So moved on earth Circassia's daughter,
The loveliest bird of Franguestan! (25)
As rears her crest the ruffled Swan,

500

505

And spurns the wave with wings of pride,

When pass the steps of stranger man

Along the banks that bound her tide;

510

Thus rose fair Leila's whiter neck:

Thus arm'd with beauty would she check
Intrusion's glance, till folly's gaze

Shrunk from the charms it meant to praise.

Thus high and graceful was her gait;

Her heart as tender to her mate;

Her mate-stern Hassan, who was he?
Alas! that name was not for thee!

Stern Hassan hath a journey ta'en
With twenty vassals in his train,
Each arm'd, as best becomes a man,
With arquebuss and ataghan;
The chief before, as deck'd for war,
Bears in his belt the scimitar

515

520

Stain'd with the best of Arnaut blood,

525

When in the pass the rebels stood,

And few return'd to tell the tale

Of what befell in Parne's vale.

The pistols which his girdle bore

Were those that once a pasha wore,

580

Which still, though gemm'd and boss'd with gold,

Even robbers tremble to behold.

'Tis said he goes to woo a bride

More true than her who left his side;

The faithless slave that broke her bower,
And, worse than faithless, for a Giaour!

585

The sun's last rays are on the hill, And sparkle in the fountain rill,

Whose welcome waters cool and clear,

540

Draw blessings from the mountaineer:
Here may the loitering merchant Greek
Find that repose 'twere vain to seek
In cities lodged too near his lord,
And trembling for his secret hoard—
Here may he rest where none can see,
In crowds a slave, in deserts free;
And with forbidden wine may stain
The bowl a Moslem must not drain.

545

The foremost Tartar's in the gap,
Conspicuous by his yellow cap;
The rest in lengthening line the while
Wind slowly through the long defile:
Above, the mountain rears a peak,

550

Where vultures whet the thirsty beak,

And theirs may be a feast to-night,

555

Each side the midway path there lay
Small broken crags of granite gray,