"Youth past in penitence and age
"In long and painful pilgrimage
"Shall leave no traces of the flame
"That wastes me now--nor shall his name
"E'er bless my lips but when I pray
"For his dear spirit, that away
"Casting from its angelic ray
"The eclipse of earth, he too may shine
"Redeemed, all glorious and all Thine!
"Think--think what victory to win
"One radiant soul like his from sin,
"One wandering star of virtue back
"To its own native, heavenward track!
"Let him but live, and both are Thine,
"Together Thine--for blest or crost,
"Living or dead, his doom is mine,
"And if _he_ perish, both are lost!"
The next evening LALLA ROOKH was entreated by her Ladies to continue the
relation of her wonderful dream; but the fearful interest that hung round
the fate of HINDA and her lover had completely removed every trace of it
from her mind;--much to the disappointment of a fair seer or two in her
train, who prided themselves on their skill in interpreting visions, and
who had already remarked, as an unlucky omen, that the Princess, on the
very morning after the dream, had worn a silk dyed with the blossoms of
the sorrowful tree, Nilica.[255]
FADLADEEN, whose indignation had more than once broken out during the
recital of some parts of this heterodox poem, seemed at length to have
made up his mind to the infliction; and took his seat this evening with
all the patience of a martyr while the Poet resumed his profane and
seditious story as follows:--
To tearless eyes and hearts at ease
The leafy shores and sun-bright seas
That lay beneath that mountain's height
Had been a fair enchanting sight.
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