MUSEDDES

A stately Cypress yesterday her shade threw o'er my head;

Her form was heart-ensnaring, heart-delighting her light tread;

When speaking, sudden opened she her smiling rubies red,

There a pistachio I beheld that drops of candy shed.

"This casket can it be a mouth? Ah! deign!" I said; said she:

"Nay, nay, 'tis balm to cure thy hidden smart; aye, truly thine!"

Down o'er her crescents she had pressed the turban she did wear,

By which, from many broken hearts, sighs raised she of despair;

She loosed her tresses—hid within the cloud her moon so fair,