Yet _one_ relief this glance of former years Brought mingled with its pain,--tears, floods of tears, Long frozen at her heart, but now like rills Let loose in spring-time from the snowy hills, And gushing warm after a sleep of frost, Thro" valleys where their flow had long been lost.
Sad and subdued, for the first time her frame Trembled with horror when the summons came (A summons proud and rare, which all but she, And she, till now, had heard with ecstasy,) To meet MOKANNA at his place of prayer, A garden oratory cool and fair By the stream"s side, where still at close of day The Prophet of the Veil retired to pray, Sometimes alone--but oftener far with one, One chosen nymph to share his orison.
Of late none found such favor in his sight As the young Priestess; and tho", since that night When the death-cavorns echoed every tone Of the dire oath that made her all his own, The Impostor sure of his infatuate prize Had more than once thrown off his soul"s disguise, And uttered such unheavenly, monstrous things, As even across the desperate wanderings Of a weak intellect, whose lamp was out, Threw startling shadows of dismay and doubt;-- Yet zeal, ambition, her tremendous vow, The thought, still haunting her, of that bright brow, Whose blaze, as yet from mortal eye concealed, Would soon, proud triumph! be to her revealed, To her alone;--and then the hope, most dear, Most wild of all, that her transgression here Was but a pa.s.sage thro" earth"s grosser fire, From which the spirit would at last aspire, Even purer than before,--as perfumes rise Thro" flame and smoke, most welcome to the skies-- And that when AZIM"s fond, divine embrace Should circle her in heaven, no darkening trace Would on that bosom he once loved remain.
But all be bright, be pure, be _his_ again!-- These were the wildering dreams, whose curst deceit Had chained her soul beneath the tempter"s feet, And made her think even d.a.m.ning falsehood sweet.
But now that Shape, which had appalled her view, That Semblance--oh how terrible, if true!
Which came across her frenzy"s full career With shock of consciousness, cold, deep, severe.
As when in northern seas at midnight dark An isle of ice encounters some swift bark, And startling all its wretches from their sleep By one cold impulse hurls them to the deep;-- So came that shock not frenzy"s self could bear, And waking up each long-lulled image there, But checkt her headlong soul to sink it in despair!
Wan and dejected, thro" the evening dusk, She now went slowly to that small kiosk, Where, pondering alone his impious schemes, MOKANNA waited her--too wrapt in dreams Of the fair-ripening future"s rich success, To heed the sorrow, pale and spiritless, That sat upon his victim"s downcast brow, Or mark how slow her step, how altered now From the quick, ardent Priestess, whose light bound Came like a spirit"s o"er the unechoing ground,-- From that wild ZELICA whose every glance Was thrilling fire, whose every thought a trance!
Upon his couch the Veiled MOKANNA lay, While lamps around--not such as lend their ray, Glimmering and cold, to those who nightly pray In holy KOOM,[45] or MECCA"S dim arcades,-- But brilliant, soft, such lights as lovely maids.
Look loveliest in, shed their luxurious glow Upon his mystic Veil"s white glittering flow.
Beside him, "stead of beads and books of prayer, Which the world fondly thought he mused on there, Stood Vases, filled with KISIIMEE"S[46] golden wine, And the red weepings of the SHIRAZ vine; Of which his curtained lips full many a draught Took zealously, as if each drop they quaft Like ZEMZEM"S Spring of Holiness[47] had power To freshen the soul"s virtues into flower!
And still he drank and pondered--nor could see The approaching maid, so deep his revery; At length with fiendish laugh like that which broke From EBLIS at the Fall of Man he spoke:-- "Yes, ye vile race, for h.e.l.l"s amus.e.m.e.nt given, "Too mean for earth, yet claiming kin with heaven; "G.o.d"s images, forsooth!--such G.o.ds as he "Whom INDIA serves, the monkey deity;[48]
"Ye creatures of a breath, proud things of clay, "To whom if LUCIFER, as gran-dams say, "Refused tho" at the forfeit of heaven"s light "To bend in worship, LUCIFER was right!
"Soon shall I plant this foot upon the neck "Of your foul race and without fear or check, "Luxuriating in hate, avenge my shame, "My deep-felt, long-nurst loathing of man"s name!-- "Soon at the head of myriads, blind and fierce "As hooded falcons, thro" the universe "I"ll sweep my darkening, desolating way, "Weak man my instrument, curst man my prey!
"Ye wise, ye learned, who grope your dull way on "By the dim twinkling gleams of ages gone, "Like superst.i.tious thieves who think the light "From dead men"s marrow guides them best at night[49]-- "Ye shall have honors--wealth--yes, Sages, yes-- "I know, grave fools, your wisdom"s nothingness; "Undazzled it can track yon starry sphere, "But a gilt stick, a bauble blinds it here.
"How I shall laugh, when trumpeted along "In lying speech and still more lying song, "By these learned slaves, the meanest of the throng; "Their wits brought up, their wisdom shrunk so small, "A sceptre"s puny point can wield it all!
"Ye too, believers of incredible creeds, "Whose faith enshrines the monsters which it breeds; "Who, bolder even than NEMROD, think to rise "By nonsense heapt on nonsense to the skies; "Ye shall have miracles, ay, sound ones too, "Seen, heard, attested, everything--but true.
"Your preaching zealots too inspired to seek "One grace of meaning for the things they speak: "Your martyrs ready to shed out their blood, "For truths too heavenly to be understood; "And your State Priests, sole venders of the lore, "That works salvation;--as, on AVA"S sh.o.r.e, "Where none _but_ priests are privileged to trade "In that best marble of which G.o.ds are made[50]; "They shall have mysteries--ay precious stuff "For knaves to thrive by--mysteries enough; "Dark, tangled doctrines, dark as fraud can weave, "Which simple votaries shall on trust receive, "While craftier feign belief till they believe.
"A Heaven too ye must have, ye lords of dust,-- "A splendid Paradise,--pure souls, ye must: "That Prophet ill sustains his holy call, "Who finds not heavens to suit the tastes of all; "Houris for boys, omniscience for sages, "And wings and glories for all ranks and ages.
"Vain things!--as l.u.s.t or vanity inspires, "The heaven of each is but what each desires, "And, soul or sense, whate"er the object be, "Man would be man to all eternity!
"So let him--EBLIS! grant this crowning curse, "But keep him what he is, no h.e.l.l were worse."
"Oh my lost soul!" exclaimed the shuddering maid, Whose ears had drunk like poison all he said: MOKANNA started--not abasht, afraid,-- He knew no more of fear than one who dwells Beneath the tropics knows of icicles!
But in those dismal words that reached his ear, "Oh my lost soul!" there was a sound so drear, So like that voice among the sinful dead In which the legend o"er h.e.l.l"s Gate is read, That, new as "twas from her whom naught could dim Or sink till now, it startled even him.
"Ha, my fair Priestess!"--thus, with ready wile, The impostor turned to greet her--"thou whose smile "Hath inspiration in its rosy beam "Beyond the Enthusiast"s hope or Prophet"s dream, "Light of the Faith! who twin"st religion"s zeal "So close with love"s, men know not which they feel, "Nor which to sigh for, in their trance of heart, "The heaven thou preachest or the heaven thou art!
"What should I be without thee? without thee "How dull were power, how joyless victory!
"Tho" borne by angels, if that smile of thine "Blest not my banner "twere but half divine.
"But--why so mournful, child? those eyes that shone "All life last night--what!--is their glory gone?
"Come, come--this morn"s fatigue hath made them pale, "They want rekindling--suns themselves would fail "Did not their comets bring, as I to thee, "From light"s own fount supplies of brilliancy.
"Thou seest this cup--no juice of earth is here, "But the pure waters of that upper sphere, "Whose rills o"er ruby beds and topaz flow, "Catching the gem"s bright color as they go.
"Nightly my Genii come and fill these urns-- "Nay, drink--in every drop life"s essence burns; ""Twill make that soul all fire, those eyes all light-- "Come, come, I want thy loveliest smiles to-night: "There is a youth--why start?--thou saw"st him then; "Lookt he not n.o.bly? such the G.o.dlike men, "Thou"lt have to woo thee in the bowers above;-- "Tho" _he_, I fear, hath thoughts too stern for love, "Too ruled by that cold enemy of bliss "The world calls virtue--we must conquer this; "Nay, shrink not, pretty sage! "tis not for thee "To scan the mazes of Heaven"s mystery: "The steel must pa.s.s thro" fire, ere it can yield "Fit instruments for mighty hands to wield.
"This very night I mean to try the art "Of powerful beauty on that warrior"s heart.
"All that my Haram boasts of bloom and wit, "Of skill and charms, most rare and exquisite, "Shall tempt the boy;--young MIRZALA"S blue eyes "Whose sleepy lid like snow on violets lies; "AROUYA"S cheeks warm as a spring-day sun "And lips that like the seal of SOLOMON "Have magic in their pressure; ZEBA"S lute, "And LILLA"S dancing feet that gleam and shoot "Rapid and white as sea-birds o"er the deep-- "All shall combine their witching powers to steep "My convert"s spirit in that softening trance, "From which to heaven is but the next advance;-- "That glowing, yielding fusion of the breast.
"On which Religion stamps her image best.
"But hear me, Priestess!--tho" each nymph of these "Hath some peculiar, practised power to please, "Some glance or step which at the mirror tried "First charms herself, then all the world beside: "There still wants _one_ to make the victory sure, "One who in every look joins every lure, "Thro" whom all beauty"s beams concentred pa.s.s, "Dazzling and warm as thro" love"s burning gla.s.s; "Whose gentle lips persuade without a word, "Whose words, even when unmeaning, are adored.
"Like inarticulate breathings from a shrine, "Which our faith takes for granted are divine!
"Such is the nymph we want, all warmth and light, "To crown the rich temptations of to-night; "Such the refined enchantress that must be "This hero"s vanquisher,--and thou art she!"
With her hands claspt, her lips apart and pale, The maid had stood gazing upon the Veil From which these words like south winds thro" a fence Of Kerzrah flowers, came filled with pestilence;[51]
So boldly uttered too! as if all dread Of frowns from her, of virtuous frowns, were fled, And the wretch felt a.s.sured that once plunged in, Her woman"s soul would know no pause in sin!
At first, tho" mute she listened, like a dream Seemed all he said: nor could her mind whose beam As yet was weak penetrate half his scheme.
But when at length he uttered, "Thou art she!"
All flasht at once and shrieking piteously, "Oh not for worlds! "she cried--"Great G.o.d! to whom "I once knelt innocent, is this my doom?
"Are all my dreams, my hopes of heavenly bliss, "My purity, my pride, then come to this,-- "To live, the wanton of a fiend! to be "The pander of his guilt--oh infamy!
"And sunk myself as low as h.e.l.l can steep "In its hot flood, drag others down as deep!
"Others--ha! yes--that youth who came to-day-- "_Not_ him I loved--not him--oh! do but say, "But swear to me this moment "tis not he, "And I will serve, dark fiend, will worship even thee!"
"Beware, young raving thing!--in time beware, "Nor utter what I can not, must not bear, "Even from _thy_ lips. Go--try thy lute, thy voice, "The boy must feel their magic;--I rejoice "To see those fires, no matter whence they rise, "Once more illuming my fait Priestess" eyes; "And should the youth whom soon those eyes shall warm, "Indeed resemble thy dead lover"s form, "So much the happier wilt thou find thy doom, "As one warm lover full of life and bloom "Excels ten thousand cold ones in the tomb.
"Nay, nay, no frowning, sweet!--those eyes were made "For love, not anger--I must be obeyed."
"Obeyed!--"tis well--yes, I deserve it all-- "On me, on me Heaven"s vengeance can not fall "Too heavily--but AZIM, brave and true "And beautiful--must _he_ be ruined too?
"Must _he_ too, glorious as he is, be driven "A renegade like me from Love and Heaven?
"Like me?--weak wretch, I wrong him--not like me; "No--he"s all truth and strength and purity!
"Fill up your maddening h.e.l.l-cup to the brim, "Its witchery, fiends, will have no charm for him.
"Let loose your glowing wantons from their bowers, "He loves, he loves, and can defy their powers!
"Wretch as I am, in his heart still I reign "Pure as when first we met, without a stain!
"Tho" ruined--lost--my memory like a charm "Left by the dead still keeps his soul from harm.
"Oh! never let him know how deep the brow "He kist at parting is dishonored now;-- "Ne"er tell him how debased, how sunk is she.
"Whom once he loved--once!--_still_ loves dotingly.
"Thou laugh"st, tormentor,--what!--thou it brand my name?
"Do, do--in vain--he"ll not believe my shame-- "He thinks me true, that naught beneath G.o.d"s sky "Could tempt or change me, and--so once thought I.
"But this is past--tho" worse than death my lot, "Than h.e.l.l--"tis nothing while _he_ knows it not.
"Far off to some benighted land I"ll fly, "Where sunbeam ne"er shall enter till I die; "Where none will ask the lost one whence she came, "But I may fade and fall without a name.
"And thou--curst man or fiend, whate"er thou art, "Who found"st this burning plague-spot in my heart, "And spread"st it--oh, so quick!--thro" soul and frame, "With more than demon"s art, till I became "A loathsome thing, all pestilence, all flame!-- "If, when I"m gone"--"Hold, fearless maniac, hold, "Nor tempt my rage--by Heaven, not half so bold "The puny bird that dares with teasing hum "Within the crocodile"s stretched jaws to come![52]
"And so thou"lt fly, forsooth?--what!--give up all "Thy chaste dominion in the Haram Hall, "Where now to Love and now to ALLA given, "Half mistress and half saint, thou hang"st as even "As doth MEDINA"S tomb, "twixt h.e.l.l and heaven!
"Thou"lt fly?--as easily may reptiles run, "The gaunt snake once hath fixt his eyes upon; "As easily, when caught, the prey may be "Pluckt from his loving folds, as thou from me.
"No, no, "tis fixt--let good or ill betide, "Thou"rt mine till death, till death MOKANNA"S bride!
"Hast thou forgot thy oath?"-- At this dread word, The Maid whose spirit his rude taunts had stirred Thro" all its depths and roused an anger there, That burst and lightened even thro" her despair-- Shrunk back as if a blight were in the breath That spoke that word and staggered pale as death.
"Yes, my sworn bride, let others seek in bowers "Their bridal place--the charnel vault was ours!
"Instead of scents and balms, for thee and me "Rose the rich steams of sweet mortality, "Gay, flickering death-lights shone while we were wed.
"And for our guests a row of goodly Dead, "(Immortal spirits in their time, no doubt,) "From reeking shrouds upon the rite looked out!
"That oath thou heard"st more lips than thine repeat-- "That cup--thou shudderest, Lady,--was it sweet?
"That cup we pledged, the charnel"s choicest wine, "Hath bound thee--ay--body and soul all mine; "Bound thee by chains that, whether blest or curst "No matter now, not h.e.l.l itself shall burst!
"Hence, woman, to the Haram, and look gay, "Look wild, look--anything but sad; yet stay-- "One moment more--from what this night hath past, "I see thou know"st me, know"st me _well_ at last.
"Ha! ha! and so, fond thing, thou thought"st all true, "And that I love mankind?--I do, I do-- "As victims, love them; as the sea-dog dotes "Upon the small, sweet fry that round him floats; "Or, as the Nile-bird loves the slime that gives "That rank and venomous food on which she lives!--
"And, now thou seest my _soul"s_ angelic hue, ""Tis time these _features_ were uncurtained too;-- "This brow, whose light--oh rare celestial light!
"Hath been reserved to bless thy favored sight; "These dazzling eyes before whose shrouded might "Thou"st seen immortal Man kneel down and quake-- "Would that they _were_ heaven"s lightnings for his sake!
"But turn and look--then wonder, if thou wilt, "That I should hate, should take revenge, by guilt, "Upon the hand whose mischief or whose mirth "Sent me thus mained and monstrous upon earth; "And on that race who, tho" more vile they be "Than moving apes, are demiG.o.ds to me!
"Here--judge if h.e.l.l, with all its power to d.a.m.n, "Can add one curse to the foul thing I am!"-- He raised his veil--the Maid turned slowly round, Looked at him--shrieked--and sunk upon the ground!
On their arrival next night at the place of encampment they were surprised and delighted to find the groves all around illuminated; some artists of Yamtcheou[53] having been sent on previously for the purpose. On each side of the green alley, which led to the Royal Pavilion, artificial sceneries of bamboo-work were erected, representing arches, minarets, towers, from which hung thousands of silken lanterns painted by the most delicate pencils of Canton.--Nothing could be more beautiful than the leaves of the mango-trees and acacias shining in the light of the bamboo-scenery which shed a l.u.s.tre round as soft as that of the nights of Peristan.
LALLA ROOKH, however, who was too much occupied by the sad story of ZELICA and her lover to give a thought to anything else, except perhaps him who related it, hurried on through this scene of splendor to her pavilion,--greatly to the mortification of the poor artists of Yamtcheou,--and was followed with equal rapidity by the Great Chamberlain, cursing, as he went, that ancient Mandarin, whose parental anxiety in lighting up the sh.o.r.es of the lake, where his beloved daughter had wandered and been lost, was the origin of these fantastic Chinese illuminations.[54]
Without a moment"s delay, young FERAMORZ was introduced, and FADLADEEN, who could never make up his mind as to the merits of a poet till he knew the religious sect to which he belonged, was about to ask him whether he was a Shia or a Sooni when LALLA KOOKH impatiently clapped her hands for silence, and the youth being seated upon the musnud near her proceeded:--
Prepare thy soul, young AZIM!--thou hast braved The bands of GREECE, still mighty tho" enslaved; Hast faced her phalanx armed with all its fame,-- Her Macedonian pikes and globes of fame, All this hast fronted with firm heart and brow, But a more perilous trial waits thee now,-- Woman"s bright eyes, a dazzling host of eyes From every land where woman smiles or sighs; Of every hue, as Love may chance to raise His black or azure banner in their blaze; And each sweet mode of warfare, from the flash That lightens boldly thro" the shadowy lash, To the sly, stealing splendors almost hid Like swords half-sheathed beneath the downcast lid;-- Such, AZIM, is the lovely, luminous host Now led against thee; and let conquerors boast Their fields of fame, he who in virtue arms A young, warm spirit against beauty"s charms, Who feels her brightness, yet defies her thrall, Is the best, bravest conqueror of them all.