She sits her down by a fountain's side, and gazes on the
waterfall. Her cheek reclines upon her arm, like fruit upon a graceful
bough. Very pensive is the face of that bright and beauteous lady. She
starts; a warm voluptuous lip presses her soft and idle hand. It is her
own gazelle. With his large and lustrous eyes, more eloquent than many
a tongue, the fond attendant mutely asks the cause of all her
thoughtfulness.
'Ah! bright gazelle! Ah! bright gazelle!' the princess cried, the
princess cried; 'thy lips are softer than the swan, thy lips are softer
than the swan; but his breathed passion when they pressed, my bright
gazelle! my bright gazelle!
'Ah! bright gazelle! Ah! bright gazelle!' the princess cried, the
princess cried; 'thine eyes are like the stars of night, thine eyes are
like the stars of night; but his glanced passion when they gazed, my
bright gazelle! my bright gazelle!'
She seized her lute, she wildly threw her fingers o'er its thrilling
strings, and, gazing on the rosy sky, to borrow all its poetry, thus,
thus she sang--thus, thus she sang:
He rose in beauty like the morn
That brightens in bur Syrian skies;
Dark passion glittered in his eyes,
And Empire sparkled in his form!
My soul! thou art the dusky earth,
On which his sunlight fell;
The dusky earth, that dim no longer,
Now breathes with light, now beams with love!
He rose in beauty, like the morn
That brightens in our Syrian skies;
Dark passion glittered in his eyes,
And Empire sparkled in his form!
[Illustration: page174]
'Once more, once more! Ah! sing that strain once more!'
The princess started and looked round.
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