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.