(“O! dis-moi, tu veux fuir?”) [Bk. IV, vii., Jan. 31, 1821.] Forget? Can I forget the scented breath Of breezes, sighing of thee, in mine ear; The strange awaking from a dream of death, The sudden thrill to find thee coming near? Our huts were desolate, and far away I heard thee calling me throughout […]

(“Amis! ennui nous tue.”) [Bk. IV. xv., March, 1825.] Aweary unto death, my friends, a mood by wise abhorred, Come to the novel feast I spread, thrice-consul, Nero, lord, The Caesar, master of the world, and eke of harmony, Who plays the harp of many strings, a chief of minstrelsy. My joyful call should instantly […]

(“Oui, le bonheur bien vite a passe.”) [Bk. V. ii., February, 1821.] Yes, Happiness hath left me soon behind! Alas! we all pursue its steps! and when We’ve sunk to rest within its arms entwined, Like the Phoenician virgin, wake, and find Ourselves alone again. Then, through the distant future’s boundless space, We seek the […]

(“Le voile du matin.”) [Bk. V. viii., April, 1822.] The mist of the morning is torn by the peaks, Old towers gleam white in the ray, And already the glory so joyously seeks The lark that’s saluting the day. Then smile away, man, at the heavens so fair, Though, were you swept hence in the […]

(“Le parfum d’un lis.”) [Bk. V. xiii.] The lily’s perfume pure, fame’s crown of light, The latest murmur of departing day, Fond friendship’s plaint, that melts at piteous sight, The mystic farewell of each hour at flight, The kiss which beauty grants with coy delay,– The sevenfold scarf that parting storms bestow As trophy to […]

(“Oui, ce front, ce sourire.”) [Bk. V. xxii., November, 1825.] That brow, that smile, that cheek so fair, Beseem my child, who weeps and plays: A heavenly spirit guards her ways, From whom she stole that mixture rare. Through all her features shining mild, The poet sees an angel there, The father sees a child. […]

(“Dors-tu? mere de notre mere.”) “To die–to sleep.”–SHAKESPEARE. Still asleep! We have been since the noon thus alone. Oh, the hours we have ceased to number! Wake, grandmother!–speechless say why thou art grown. Then, thy lips are so cold!–the Madonna of stone Is like thee in thy holy slumber. We have watched thee in sleep, […]

(“Ho, guerriers! je suis ne dans le pays des Gaules.”) [V., March 11, 1825.] Ho, warriors! I was reared in the land of the Gauls; O’er the Rhine my ancestors came bounding like balls Of the snow at the Pole, where, a babe, I was bathed Ere in bear and in walrus-skin I was enswathed. […]

(“Monseigneur le Duc de Bretagne.”) [VI., October, 1825.] My lord the Duke of Brittany Has summoned his barons bold– Their names make a fearful litany! Among them you will not meet any But men of giant mould. Proud earls, who dwell in donjon keep, And steel-clad knight and peer, Whose forts are girt with a […]

(“Accourez tous, oiseaux de proie!”) [VII., September, 1825.] Ho! hither flock, ye fowls of prey! Ye wolves of war, make no delay! For foemen ‘neath our blades shall fall Ere night may veil with purple pall. The evening psalms are nearly o’er, And priests who follow in our train Have promised us the final gain, […]

(“Ecoute-moi, Madeline.”) List to me, O Madelaine! Now the snows have left the plain, Which they warmly cloaked. Come into the forest groves, Where the notes that Echo loves Are from horns evoked. Come! where Springtide, Madelaine, Brings a sultry breath from Spain, Giving buds their hue; And, last night, to glad your eye, Laid […]

(“Ou vas-tu donc, jeune ame.”) [XV.] The Peri Beautiful spirit, come with me Over the blue enchanted sea: Morn and evening thou canst play In my garden, where the breeze Warbles through the fruity trees; No shadow falls upon the day: There thy mother’s arms await Her cherished infant at the gate. Of Peris I […]

(“La, voyez-vous passer, la nuee.”) I. Hast seen it pass, that cloud of darkest rim? Now red and glorious, and now gray and dim, Now sad as summer, barren in its heat? One seems to see at once rush through the night The smoke and turmoil from a burning site Of some great town in […]

(“Nous emmenions en esclavage.”) [VIII., March, 1828.] We’re bearing fivescore Christian dogs To serve the cruel drivers: Some are fair beauties gently born, And some rough coral-divers. We hardy skimmers of the sea Are lucky in each sally, And, eighty strong, we send along The dreaded Pirate Galley. A nunnery was spied ashore, We lowered […]

(“Si je n’etait captive.”) Oh! were I not a captive, I should love this fair countree; Those fields with maize abounding, This ever-plaintive sea: I’d love those stars unnumbered, If, passing in the shade, Beneath our walls I saw not The spahi’s sparkling blade. I am no Tartar maiden That a blackamoor of price Should […]

(“La lune etait sereine.”) [X., September, 1828.] Bright shone the merry moonbeams dancing o’er the wave; At the cool casement, to the evening breeze flung wide, Leans the Sultana, and delights to watch the tide, With surge of silvery sheen, yon sleeping islets lave. From her hand, as it falls, vibrates the light guitar. She […]

(“Qu’avez-vous, mes freres?”) [XI., September, 18288.] “Have you prayed tonight, Desdemona?” THE SISTER What has happened, my brothers? Your spirit to-day Some secret sorrow damps There’s a cloud on your brow. What has happened? Oh, say, For your eyeballs glare out with a sinister ray Like the light of funeral lamps. And the blades of […]

(“N’ai-je pas pour toi, belle juive.”) [XII., Oct. 27, 1828.] To please you, Jewess, jewel! I have thinned my harem out! Must every flirting of your fan Presage a dying shout? Grace for the damsels tender Who have fear to hear your laugh, For seldom gladness gilds your lips But blood you mean to quaff. […]

(“Un jour Ali passait.”) [XIII, Nov. 8, 1828.] Ali came riding by–the highest head Bent to the dust, o’ercharged with dread, Whilst “God be praised!” all cried; But through the throng one dervish pressed, Aged and bent, who dared arrest The pasha in his pride. “Ali Tepelini, light of all light, Who hold’st the Divan’s […]

(“Allah! qui me rendra-“) [XVL, May, 1828.] Oh, Allah! who will give me back my terrible array? My emirs and my cavalry that shook the earth to-day; My tent, my wide-extending camp, all dazzling to the sight, Whose watchfires, kindled numberless beneath the brow of night, Seemed oft unto the sentinel that watched the midnight […]