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'Tis he of Gazna,

fierce in wrath

He comes, and India's diadems

Lie scattered in his ruinous path.

His blood-hounds he adorns with gems, Torn from the violated necks

Of many a young and loved Sultana ;→→→ Maidens within their pure Zenana, Priests in the very fane he slaughters, And choaks up with the glittering wrecks Of golden shrines the sacred waters !

Downward the Peri turns her gaze ;
And, through the war-field's bloody haze,
Beholds a youthful warrior stand

Alone, beside his native river,

The red blade broken in his hand,
And the last arrow in his quiver.

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'Live,' said the conqueror, Live to share

The trophies and the crowns I bear!'
Silent that youthful warrior stood

Silent he pointed to the flood

All crimson with his country's blood,
Then sent his last remaining dart
For answer to the invader's heart.

False flew the shaft, though pointed well;
The tyrant lived, the hero fell ! 20.
Yet marked the Peri where he lay;

And when the rush of war was past,
Swiftly descending on a ray

Of morning light, she caught the lastLast glorious drop his heart had shed, Before its free-born spirit fled!

'Be this,' she cried, as she winged her flight,
'My welcome gift at the gates of light;
Though foul are the drops that oft distil

On the field of warfare, blood like this,
For liberty shed, so holy is,

It would not stain the purest rill,

That sparkles among the bowers of bliss!
Oh! if there be, on this earthly sphere,`·

A boon, an offering heaven holds dear,

'Tis the last libation liberty draws

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From the heart that bleeds and breaks in her cause!'

Sweet,' said the angel, as she gave

The gift into his radiant hand,

'Sweet is our welcome of the brave,

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Who die thus for their native land.—

But see-alas!-the crystal bar

Of Eden moves not holier far

Than even this drop the boon must be,
That opes the gates of heaven for thee !'

Her first fond hope of Eden blighted,
Now among Afric's Lunar mountains,
Far to the south, the Peri lighted;
And sleeked her plumage at the fountains
Of that Egyptian tide, whose birth
Is hidden from the sons of earth,
Deep in those solitary woods
Whereof the Genii of the floods
Dance round the cradle of their Nile,
And hail the new-born giant's smile!
Thence over Egypt's palmy groves,
Her grots and sepulchres of kings,
The exiled spirit sighing roves;
And now hangs listening to the doves
In warm Rosetta's vale-now loves
To watch the moonlight on the wings
Of the white pelicans that break
The azure calm of Moris' lake.
'Twas a fair scene- -a land more bright,
Never did mortal eye behold! I
Who could have thought that saw this night,
Those valleys and their fruits of gold

Basking in heaven's serenest light ;-
Those groups of lovely date-trees bending
Languidly their leaf-crowned heads,

Like youthful maids, when sleep descending,
Warns them to their silken beds;
Those virgin lilies all the night

Bathing their beauties in the lake,

That they may rise more fresh and bright,
When their beloved sun's awake,

Those ruined shrines and towers that seem
The relics of a splendid dream;

Amid whose fairy loneliness

Nought but the lap-wing's cry is heard,
Nought seen but (when the shadows flitting,
Fast from the moon, unsheath its gleam)
Some purple-winged Sultana sitting

Upon a column motionless,

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And glittering like an idol bird!

Who could have thought, that there, even there,

Amid those scenes so still and fair,

The demon of the plague hath cast

From his hot wing a deadlier blast,

More mortal far than ever came

From the red desert's sands of flame!
So quick, that every living thing

Of human shape touched by his wing,

Like plants, where the Simoom hath past,
At once falls black and withering!

The sun went down on many a brow,
Which full of bloom and freshness then,

The

Is rankling in the pest-house now,
And ne'er will feel that sun again!
And oh! to see the unburied heaps
On which the lonely moonlight sleeps→
very vultures turn away,
And sicken at so foul a prey!
Only the fierce byæna stalks
Throughout the city's desolate walks
At midnight, and his carnage plies-
Woe to the half-dead wretch, who meets
The glaring of those large blue eyes
Amid the darkness of the streets!

'Poor race of men!' said the pitying spirit, 'Dearly ye pay for your primal fall;

Some flowerets of Eden ye still inherit,

But the trail of the serpent is over them all!'

She wept-the air grew pure and clear

Around her, as the bright drops ran,

For there's a magic in each tear,

Such kindly spirits weep for man!

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