At length slept on the couch his bride possess'd,
And, wakening, saw her mingled with the bless'd.
There still lay stretch'd his body many a day,
Protected by his faithful beasts of prey;
Whose presence fill'd with terror all around,

2979

Who sought to know where Majnún might be found:
Listening they heard low murmurs on the breeze,
Now loud and mournful, like the hum of bees;
But still supposed him seated in his place,
Watch'd by those sentinels of the savage race.
-A year had pass'd, and still their watch they kept,
As if their sovereign was not dead, but slept;
Some had been call'd away, and some had died—
At last the mouldering relics were descried;
And when the truth had caught the breath of fame,
Assembled friends from every quarter came;
Weeping, they wash'd his bones, now silvery white,

With ceaseless tears perform'd the funeral rite,
And, opening the incumbent tablet wide,
Mournfully laid him by his Laili's side.

One promise bound their faithful hearts-one bed
Of cold, cold earth united them when dead.
Sever'd in life, how cruel was their doom!

Ne'er to be join'd but in the silent tomb!

THE minstrel's legend-chronicle

Which on their woes delights to dwell,
H 2

2990

3000

Their matchless purity and faith,

And how their dust was mix'd in death,
Tells how the sorrow-stricken Zyd

Saw, in a dream, the beauteous bride,
With Majnún seated side by side.
In meditation deep, one night,
The other world flush'd on his sight
With endless vistas of delight-
The world of spirits;-as he lay
Angels appear'd in bright array,

Circles of glory round them gleaming,
Their eyes with holy rapture beaming;
He saw the ever-verdant bowers,

With golden fruit and blooming flowers;
The bulbul heard, their sweets among,
Warbling his rich mellifluous song;

The ring-dove's murmuring, and the swell
Of melody from harp and shell:

He saw within a rosy glade,

Beneath a palm's extensive shade,

A throne, amazing to behold,

Studded with glittering gems and gold;

Celestial carpets near it spread

Close where a lucid streamlet stray'd;

Upon that throne, in blissful state,

The long-divided lovers sate,

Resplendent with seraphic light :—

They held a cap, with diamonds bright;

3010

3020

Their lips, by turns, with nectar wet,

In pure ambrosial kisses met;

Sometimes to each their thoughts revealing,

Each clasping each with tenderest feeling.

3030

-The dreamer who this vision saw

Demanded, with becoming awe,

What sacred names the happy pair

In Irem-bowers were wont to bear.

A voice replied:-" That sparkling moon
Is Lailí still-her friend, Majnún;

Deprived in your frail world of bliss,

They reap their great reward in this!"

3040

Zyd, wakening from his wonderous dream,

Now dwelt upon the mystic theme,

And told to all how faithful love

Receives its recompense above.

O ye, who thoughtlessly repose
On what this flattering world bestows,
Reflect how transient is your stay!
How soon e'en sorrow fades away !
The pangs of grief the heart may wring
In life, but Heaven removes the sting;

3050

The world to come makes bliss secure,

The world to come, eternal, pure.

What other solace for the human soul,

But everlasting rest-virtue's unvarying goal!

SAKI! Nazámi's strain is sung;

The Persian poet's pearls are strung;
Then fill again the goblet high!

Thou wouldst not ask the reveller why?

Fill to the love that changes never!

Fill to the love that lives for ever!
That, purified by earthly woes,

At last with bliss seraphic glows.

3060

Saki-cup-bearer. The cup-bearer and his ruby wine stand in about the same relation in Persia's poetry, as the muse and "Castalia's stream” in the Greek. The cup-bearer is the great inspirer. Indeed, the Muses were the tutelar goddesses of festivals and banquets.

Line 42.

That wine, which to the fever'd lip,
With anguish parch'd, when given to sip,
Imparts a rapturous smile, and throws
A veil o'er all distracting woes.

The Nepenthe of Homer.

Line 48.

And lifts the mind, now grown elate,
To Jamshid's glory, Jamshid's state.

The story of Jamshid is finely told in the Shahnameh. He was one of the early rulers of Persia, a prince surrounded with peculiar splendour and magnificence: he was, however, suddenly precipitated from his throne, and put to a terrible death; his body being fastened between two planks, and divided with a saw. See the Shahnameh, abridged, in prose and verse, by the author of the present work.