"It taught me?" Ay, to hold my tongue,

To keep a-light, and yet burn slowly,

To break ill spells around me flung

As with the enchanted whiff of Moly.

This nargileh, whose hue betrays

Perique from soft Louisiana,

In Egypt once beguiled the days

Of Tewfik's dreamy-eyed Sultana.

Speaking of color,—do you know

A maid with eyes as darkly splendid