  THE FIRST BOOK.How beautiful is night! A dewy freshness fills the silent air, No mist obscures, no little cloud Breaks the whole serene of heaven: In full-orbed glory the majestic moon Rolls thro the dark blue depths. Beneath her steady ray The desert circle spreads, Like the round ocean, girdled with the sky. How beautiful is night! Who at this untimely hour Wanders o’er the desert sands? No station is in view, No palm-grove islanded amid the waste. The mother and her child, The widow and the orphan at this hour Wander o’er the desert sands. Alas! the setting sun Saw Zeinab in her bliss, Hodeirah’s wife beloved. Alas! the wife beloved, The fruitful mother late, Whom when the daughters of Arabia named They wished their lot like her’s; She wanders o’er the desert sands A wretched widow now, The fruitful mother of so fair a race, With only one preserved, She wanders o’er the wilderness. No tear relieved the burthen of her heart; Stunned with the heavy woe she felt like one Half-wakened from a midnight dream of blood. But sometimes when her boy Would wet her hand with tears, And looking up to her fixed countenance, Amid his bursting sobs Say the dear name of Mother, then would she Utter a feeble groan. At length collecting, Zeinab turned her eyes To heaven, exclaiming, “praised be the Lord! “He gave, “The Lord our God is good!” “Good is he?” cried the boy, “Why are my brethren and my sisters slain? “Why is my father killed? “Did ever we neglect our prayers, “Or ever lift a hand unclean to heaven? “Did ever stranger from our tent “Unwelcomed turn away? “Mother, he is not good!” Then Zeinab beat her breast in agony, “O God forgive my child! “He knows not what he says! “Thou know’st I did not teach him thoughts like these, “O Prophet, pardon him!” She had not wept till that assuaging prayer.... The fountains of her eyes were opened then, And tears relieved her heart. She raised her swimming eyes to Heaven, “Allah, thy will be done! “Beneath the dispensation of thy wrath “I groan, but murmur not. “The Day of the Trial will come, “When I shall understand how profitable “It is to suffer now.” Young Thalaba in silence heard reproof, His brow in manly frowns was knit, With manly thoughts his heart was full. “Tell me who slew my father?” cried the boy. Zeinab replied and said, “I knew not that there lived thy father’s foe. “The blessings of the poor for him “Went daily up to Heaven, “In distant lands the traveller told his praise. “I did not think there lived “Hodeirah’s enemy.” “But I will hunt him thro’ the earth!” Young Thalaba exclaimed. “Already I can bend my father’s bow, “Soon will my arm have strength “To drive the arrow-feathers to his heart.” Zeinab replied, “O Thalaba, my child, “Thou lookest on to distant days, “And we are in the desert far from men!” Not till that moment her afflicted heart Had leisure for the thought. She cast her eyes around, Alas! no tents were there Beside the bending sands; No palm tree rose to spot the wilderness. The dark blue sky closed round And rested Upon the circling waste. She cast her eyes around, Famine and Thirst were there. Then the mother bowed her head, And wept upon her child. ... Sudden a cry of wonder From Thalaba aroused her, She raised her head, and saw Where high in air a stately palace rose. Amid a grove embowered Stood the prodigious pile, Trees of such ancient majesty Towered not on Yemen’s happy hills, Nor crowned the stately brow of Lebanon. Fabric so vast, so lavishly enriched, For Idol, or for Tyrant, never yet Raised the slave race of men In Rome, nor in the elder Babylon, Nor old Persepolis, Nor where the family of Greece Hymned Eleutherian Jove. Here studding azure And rayed with feeble light, Star-like the ruby and the diamond shone: Here on the golden towers The yellow moon-beam lay; Here with white splendour floods the silver wall. Less wonderous pile and less magnificent Sennamar Sealed with one stone the ample edifice And made its colours, like the serpents skin Play with a changeful beauty: him, its Lord Jealous lest after-effort might surpass The now unequalled palace, from its height Dashed on the pavement down. They entered, and through aromatic paths Wondering they went along. At length upon a mossy bank Beneath a tall mimosa’s shade That o’er him bent its living canopy, They saw a man reclined. Young he appeared, for on his cheek there shone The morning glow of health, And the brown beard curled close around his chin. He slept, but at the sound Of coming feet awakening, fixed his eyes In wonder, on the wanderer and her child. “Forgive us,” Zeinab cried, “Distress hath made us bold. “Relieve the widow and the fatherless. “Blessed are they who succour the distrest “For them hath God appointed Paradise.” He heard, and he looked up to heaven, And tears ran down his cheeks: “It is a human voice! “I thank thee, O my God! “How many an age has past “Since the sweet sounds have visited mine ear! “I thank thee, O my God, “It is a human voice!” To Zeinab turning then he cried “O mortal who art thou “Whose gifted eyes have pierced “The shadow of concealment that hath wrapt “These bowers, so many an age, “From eye of mortal man? “For countless years have past “And never foot of man “The bowers of Irem trod. “Save only I, a miserable wretch “From Heaven and Earth shut out!” Fearless, and scarce surprized, For grief in Zeinab’s soul All other feebler feelings overpowered, She answered, “Yesterday “I was a wife beloved, “The fruitful mother of a numerous race. “I am a widow now, “Of all my offspring this alone is left. “Praise to the Lord our God, “He gave, he takes away!” Then said the stranger, “Not by Heaven unseen “Nor with unguided feet “Thy steps have reached this secret place “Nor for light purpose is the Veil, “That from the Universe hath long shut out “These ancient bowers, withdrawn. “Hear thou my words, O mortal, in thy heart “Treasure the wonders I shall tell; “And when amid the world “Thou shall emerge again “Repeat the warning tale. “Why have the Fathers suffered, but to make “The Children wisely safe?” “The Paradise of Irem “And that the palace pile “Which Shedad built, the King. “Alas! in the days of my youth “The hum of the populous world “Was heard in yon wilderness waste! “O’er all the winding sands “The tents of Ad were pitch’d; “Happy Al-Ahkaf then, “For many and brave were her sons, “Her daughters were many and fair. “My name was Aswad then. “Alas! alas! how strange “The sound so long unheard! “Of noble race I came, “One of the wealthy of the earth my Sire, “An hundred horses in my father’s stalls “Stood ready for his will; “Numerous his robes of silk, “The number of his camels was not known. “These were my heritance, “O God! thy gifts were these; “But better had it been for Aswad’s soul “To have asked alms on earth, “And begged the crumbs that from his table fell, “So he had known thy word. “Boy who hast reached this solitude, “Fear the Lord in the days of thy youth! “My knee was never taught “To bend before my God, “My voice was never taught “To shape one holy prayer. “We worshipped Idols, wood and stone, “The work of our own foolish hands “We worshipped in our foolishness. “Vainly the Prophet’s voice “Its frequent warning raised, “Repent, and be forgiven!”— “We mocked the messenger of God, “We mocked the Lord, long-suffering, slow to wrath. “A mighty work the pride of Shedad planned, “Here in the wilderness to form “A garden more surpassing fair “Than that before whose gate, “The lightning of the Cherub’s fiery sword “Waves wide to bar access “Since Adam, the transgressor, thence was driven. “Here too would Shedad build “A kingly pile sublime, “The palace of his pride. “For this exhausted mines “Supplied their golden store, “For this the central caverns gave their gems; “For this the woodman’s axe “Opened the cedar forest to the sun; “The silkworm of the East “Spun her sepulchral egg; “The hunter African “Provoked the danger of the elephant’s wrath; “The Ethiop, keen of scent “Detects the ebony, “That deep-inearthed, and hating light, “A leafless tree and barren of all fruit, “With darkness feeds her boughs of raven grain.... “Such were the treasures lavished in yon pile; “Ages have past away “And never mortal eye “Gazed on their vanity. “The garden’s copious springs “Blest that delightful spot, “And every flower was planted here “That makes the gale of evening sweet. “He spake, and bade the full-grown forest rise “His own creation; should the King “Wait for slow Nature’s work? “All trees that bend with luscious fruit, “Or wave with feathery boughs, “Or point their spiring heads to heaven, “Or spreading wide their shadowy arms “Invite the traveller to repose at noon, “Hither, uprooted with their native soil, “The labour and the pain of multitudes, “Mature in beauty, bore them. “Here, frequent in the walks “The marble statue stood “Of heroes and of chiefs. “The trees and flowers remain “By Nature’s care perpetuate and self-sown. “The marble statues long have lost all trace “Of heroes and of chiefs, “Huge shapeless stones they lie “O’er-grown with many a flower. “The work of pride went on.... “Often the Prophet’s voice “Denounced impending woe.... “We mocked at the words of the Seer. “We mocked at the wrath of the Lord. “A long continued drought first troubled us, “Three years no cloud had formed, “Three years no rain had fallen. “The wholesome herb was dry, “The corn matured not for the food of man, “The wells and fountains failed. “O hard of heart, in whom the punishment “Awoke no sense of guilt! “Headstrong to ruin, obstinately blind, “To Idols “Sakia we invoked for rain, “We called on Razeka for food.... “They did not hear our prayers, they could not hear! “No cloud appeared in Heaven, “No nightly dews came down. “Then to the place of concourse, “Were sent to Mecca, where the nations came, “Round the Red Hillock, kneeling, to implore “God in his favoured place, “We sent to call on God; “Ah fools! unthinking that from all the earth “The heart ascends to him. “We sent to call on God; “Ah fools! to think the Lord “Would hear their prayers abroad “Who made no prayers at home! “Meantime the work of pride went on, “And still before our Idols, wood and stone, “We bowed the impious knee. “Turn men of Ad, and call upon the Lord,” “The Prophet Houd exclaimed. “Turn men of Ad and look to Heaven, “And fly the wrath to come. “We mocked the Prophet’s words; “Now dost thou dream old man. “Or art thou drunk with wine? “Future woe and wrath to come, “Still thy prudent voice forebodes; “When it comes will we believe, “Till it comes will we go on “In the way our fathers went. “Now are thy words from God? “Or dost thou dream, old man, “Or art thou drunk with wine?” “So spake the stubborn race “The unbelieving ones, “I too of stubborn unbelieving heart “Heard him and heeded not. “It chanced my father went the way of man, “He perished in his sins. “The funeral rites were duly paid, “We bound a camel to his grave “And left it there to die, “So if the resurrection “Together they might rise. “I past my father’s grave, “I heard the Camel moan. “She was his favourite beast, “One that carried me in infancy, “The first that by myself I learnt to mount. “Her limbs were lean with famine, and her eyes “Looked ghastlily with want. “She knew me as I past, “She stared “My heart was touched, had it been human else? “I thought no eye was near, and broke her bonds, “And drove her forth to liberty and life. “The Prophet Houd beheld, “He lifted up his voice, “Blessed art thou, young man, “Blessed art thou, O Aswad, for the deed! “In the day of visitation, “In the fearful hour of judgment, “God will remember thee!” “The day of visitation was at hand, “The fearful hour of judgment hastened on. “Lo Shedad’s mighty pile complete, “The palace of his pride. “Would ye behold its wonders, enter in! “I have no heart to visit it! “Time hath not harmed the eternal monument, “Time is not here, nor days, nor months, nor years, “An everlasting now of misery!... “Ye must have heard their fame, “Or likely ye have seen “The mighty Pyramids, “For sure those mighty piles shall overlive “The feeble generations of mankind. “What tho’ unmoved they bore “Survivors of the ruined world? “What tho’ their founder filled with miracles “And wealth miraculous their ample vaults? “Compared with yonder fabric, and they shrink “The baby wonders of a woman’s work! “Her emerald columns o’er the marble courts “Fling their green rays, as when amid a shower “The sun shines loveliest on the vernal corn. “Here Shedad bade the sapphire floor be laid, “As tho’ with feet divine “To trample azure light, “Like the blue pavement of the firmament. “Here self-suspended hangs in air, “As its pure substance loathed material touch, “The living “Sun of the lofty dome “Darkness has no dominion o’er its beams; “Intense it glows, an ever-flowing tide “Of glory, like the day-flood in its source. “Impious! the Trees of vegetable gold, “Such as in Eden’s groves “Yet innocent it “Impious! he made his boast, tho’ heaven had hidden “So deep the baneful ore, “That they should branch and bud for him, “That art should force their blossoms and their fruit, “And re-create for him, “Whate’er was lost in Paradise. “Therefore at Shedad’s voice “Here towered the palm, a silver trunk, “The fine gold net-work “Loose from its rugged boughs. “Tall as the Cedar of the mountain, here “Rose the gold branches, hung with emerald leaves, “Blossomed with pearls, and rich with ruby fruit, “O Ad! my country! evil was the day “That thy unhappy sons “Crouched at this Nimrod’s throne, “And placed him on the pedestal of power, “And laid their liberties beneath his feet, “Robbing their children of the heritance “Their fathers handed down. “What was to him the squandered wealth? “What was to him the burthen of the land, “The lavished misery? “He did but speak his will, “And like the blasting Siroc of the East, “The ruin of the royal voice “Found its way every-where. “I marvel not that he, whose power “No earthly law, no human feeling curbed, “Mocked at the living God! “And now the King’s command went forth “Among the people, bidding old and young, “Husband and wife, the master and the slave, “All the collected multitudes of Ad, “Here to repair, and hold high festival, “That he might see his people, they behold “Their King’s magnificence and power. “The day of festival arrived, “Hither they came, the old man and the boy, “Husband and wife, the master and the slave, “Hither they came. From yonder high tower top, “The loftiest of the Palace, Shedad looked “Down on his tribe: their tents on yonder sands “Rose like the countless billows of the sea. “Their tread and voices like the ocean roar, “One deep confusion of tumultuous sounds. “They saw their King’s magnificence; beheld “His Palace sparkling like the Angel domes “Of Paradise; his garden like the bowers “Of early Eden, and they shouted out “Great is the King, a God upon the earth! “Intoxicate with joy and pride “He heard their blasphemies, “And in his wantonness of heart he bade “The Prophet Houd be brought, “And o’er the marble courts, “And o’er the gorgeous rooms “Glittering with gems and gold, “He led the Man of God. “Is not this a stately pile?” “Cried the Monarch in his joy. “Hath ever eye beheld, “Hath ever thought conceived, “Place more magnificent? “Houd, they saw that Heaven imparted “To thy lips the words of wisdom! “Look at the riches round “And value them aright, “If so thy wisdom can.” “The Prophet heard his vaunt “And answered with an aweful smile, “Costly thy palace King! “But only in the hour “Man learns to value things like these aright. “Hast thou a fault to find “In all thine eyes have seen? “Again the King exclaimed. “Yes!” said the man of God; “The walls are weak, the building ill secured. “Azrael can enter in! “The Sarsar can pierce thro’, “The Icy Wind of Death. “I was beside the Monarch when he spake.... “Gentle the Prophet spake, “But in his eye there dwelt “A sorrow that disturbed me while I gazed, “The countenance of Shedad fell, “And anger sate upon his paler lips. “He to the high tower top the Prophet led, “And pointed to the multitude, “And as again they shouted out “Great is the King! a God upon the Earth!” “Turned with a threatful smile to Houd, “Say they aright, O Prophet? is the King “Great upon earth, a God among mankind?” “The Prophet answered not, “His eye rolled round the infinite multitude, “And into tears he burst. “Sudden an uproar rose, “A cry of joy below, “The Messenger is come! “Kail from Mecca comes, “He brings the boon obtained!” “Forth as we went we saw where overhead “There hung a deep black cloud, “On which the multitude “With joyful eyes looked up “And blest the coming rain. “The Messenger addrest the King “And told his tale of joy. “To Mecca I repaired, “By the Red Hillock knelt “And called on God for rain. “My prayer ascended and was heard; “Three clouds appeared in heaven. “One white, and like the flying cloud of noon, “One red as it had drunk the evening beams, “One black and heavy with its load of rain. “A voice went forth from heaven “Chuse Kail of the three!” “I thanked the gracious Power, “And chose the black cloud, heavy with its wealth.” “Right! right! a thousand tongues exclaimed, “And all was merriment and joy. “Then stood the Prophet up and cried aloud, “Woe, woe, to Irem! woe to Ad! “Death is gone up into her palaces! “Woe! woe! a day of guilt and punishment, “A day of desolation!” “As he spake “His large eye rolled in horror, and so deep “His tone, it seemed some Spirit from within “Breathed thro’ his moveless lips “All looks were turned to him. “O Ad!” he cried, “Dear native land, by all rememberances “Of childhood, by all joys of manhood dear; “O Vale of many Waters! morn and night “My age must groan for you, and to the grave “Go down in sorrow. Thou wilt give thy fruits, “But who shall gather them? thy grapes will ripen, “But who shall tread the wine-press? Fly the wrath, “Ye who would live and save your souls alive! “For strong is his right hand that bends the Bow, “The Arrows that he shoots are sharp, “And err not from their aim!” “With that, a faithful few “Prest thro’ the throng to join him. Then arose “Mockery and mirth; “go bald head!” and they mixed “Curses with laughter. He set forth, yet once “Looked back,—his eye fell on me, and he called “Aswad!”... it startled me,... it terrified,... “Aswad!” again he called,... and I almost “Had followed him. O moment fled too soon! “O moment irrecoverably lost! |
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