hine,
And plaintive murm'rings are thy part,
And silent grief and tears are mine.

_Serage Alwarak_.

ON A THUNDER STORM

Bright smil'd the morn, till o'er its head
The clouds in thicken'd foldings spread
A robe of sable hue;
Then, gathering round day's golden king,
They stretch'd their wide o'ershadowing wing,
And hid him from our view.

The rain his absent beams deplor'd,
And, soften'd into weeping, pour'd
Its tears in many a flood;
The lightning laughed with horrid glare;
The thunder growl'd, in rage; the air
In silent sorrow stood.

_Ibrahim Ben Khiret Abou Isaac_.

TO MY FAVORITE MISTRESS

I saw their jealous eyeballs roll,
I saw them mark each glance of mine,
I saw thy terrors, and my soul
Shar'd ev'ry pang that tortur'd thine.

In vain to wean my constant heart,
Or quench my glowing flame, they strove;
Each deep-laid scheme, each envious art,
But wak'd my fears for her I love.

'Twas this compelled the stern decree,
That forc'd thee to those distant towers,
And left me nought but love for thee,
To cheer my solitary hours.

Yet let not Abla sink deprest,
Nor separation's pangs deplore;
We meet not--'tis to meet more blest;
We parted--'tis to part no more.

_Saif Addaulet, Sultan of Aleppe_.

CRUCIFIXION OF EBN BAKIAH[25]

Whatever thy fate, in life and death,
Thou'rt doom'd above us still to rise,
Whilst at a distance far beneath
We view thee with admiring eyes.

The gazing crowds still round thee throng,
Still to thy well-known voice repair,
As when erewhile thy hallow'd tongue
Pour'd in the Mosque the solemn prayer.

Still, generous Vizir, we survey
Thine arms extended o'er our head,
As lately, in the festive day,
When they were stretch'd thy gifts to shed.

Earth's narrow boundaries strove in vain
To limit thy aspiring mind,
And now we see thy dust disdain
Within her breast to be confin'd.

The earth's too small for one so great,
Another mansion thou shalt have--
The clouds shall be thy winding sheet,
The spacious vault of heaven thy grave.

_Abou Hassan Alanbary_.

[25] Ebn Bakiah was vizir to Azzad Addaulet or Bachteir, Emir Alomra
of Bagdad, under the Caliphs Moti Lillah and Tay Lillah; but Azzad
Addaulet being deprived of his office, and driven from Bagdad by
Adhed Addaulet, Sultan of Persia,