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THE MAIDEN TO HER LOVER.
BEFORE the winning breeze could steal | |
| Morn’s sprinkled pearl-drops from this rose, | |
| I cull’d it, that it might reveal | |
| The tale my lips dare not disclose. | |
| |
| Its leaves of virgin tenderness, | 5 |
| Where I have press’d a kiss for thee,— | |
| Its blush of maiden bashfulness,— | |
| Both tell of love and secrecy. | |
| |
| For they have bound my flowing curls, | |
| And told me, that ere eve’s mild hour, | 10 |
| They ’ll deck me with their gems and pearls, | |
| To shine the queen of Irad’s bower. | |
| |
| But I will toil and tempest brave, | |
| And roam the desert at thy side, | |
| And kiss thy feet, and live thy slave, | 15 |
| Rather than be proud Irad’s bride. | |
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THE LOVER’S REPLY.
THOU bright one!—let thy lover calm | |
| The breast that heaves such throbbing sighs, | |
| And still thy quivering lips, whose balm | |
| Is like the breath of Paradise. | 20 |
| |
| For, by thy token-flower, that brought | |
| The seal thy crimson lips impress’d,— | |
| By these thin leaves, with sweetness fraught, | |
| Like shrines where spikenard blossoms rest;— | |
| |
| By thy pure eyes, whose diamond glow | 25 |
| Steals through their lashes timidly; | |
| By thy dark locks, that loosely flow, | |
| In glossy curls, luxuriantly;— | |
| |
| And by that bosom’s snowy light, | |
| Which ’neath the veil swells half-conceal’d— | 30 |
| As oft through clouds of fleecy white | |
| A heaven of beauty is reveal’d;— | |
| |
| By these, and by my blade, I swear, | |
| That little blue-vein’d foot of thine | |
| Shall never tread the soft couch, where | 35 |
| The silken tents of Irad shine. | |
| |
| But thou thy Kosru’s bride shalt be, | |
| And seek, with him, rich Cashmir’s vale; | |
| There, thou shalt wander, wild and free | |
| As the young fawn, o’er hill and dale. | 40 |
| |
| There, like the notes of Eden’s bowers, 1 | |
| Thy strains shall listless time beguile; | |
| There I will gaily pass the hours, | |
| In the clear sunshine of thy smile. | |
