My father sent it: when I call, he hears.
Nay ... thou hast fabled with me! and art like
The forms that wait upon my solitude,
Human to eye alone;... thy hunger would not
Question so idly else.
THALABA.
I will not eat!
It came by magic! fool to think that aught
But fraud and danger could await me here!
Let loose my cloak!...
LAILA.
Begone then, insolent!
Why dost thou stand and gaze upon my face?
Aye! watch the features well that threaten thee
With fraud and danger! in the wilderness
They shall avenge me,... in the hour of want
Rise on thy view, and make thee feel
How innocent I am:
And this remembered cowardice and insult
With a more painful shame will burn thy cheek
Than now beats mine in anger!
THALABA.
Mark me Lady!
Many and restless are my enemies;
My daily paths have been beset with snares
Till I have learnt suspicion, bitter sufferings
Teaching the needful vice, if I have wronged you,
And yours should be the face of innocence,
I pray you pardon me! in the name of God,
And of his Prophet, I partake your food.
LAILA.
Lo now! thou wert afraid of sorcery,
And yet hast said a charm!
THALABA.
A charm?
LAILA.
And wherefore?
Is it not not delicate food? what mean thy words?
I have heard many spells and many names
That rule the Genii and the Elements,
But never these.
THALABA.
How! never heard the names
Of God and of the Prophet?
LAILA.
Never ... nay now
Again that troubled eye? thou art a strange man
And wonderous fearful ... but I must not twice
Be charged with fraud! if thou suspectest still,
Depart and leave me!
THALABA.
And you do not know
The God that made you?
LAILA.
Made me, man! my Father
Made me. He made this dwelling, and the grove,
And yonder fountain-fire, and every morn
He visits me, and takes the snow, and moulds
Women and men, like thee; and breathes into them
Motion, and life, and sense,... but to the touch
They are chilling cold, and ever when night closes
They melt away again, and leave me here
Alone and sad. Oh then how I rejoice
When it is day and my dear Father comes,
And chears me with kind words and kinder looks!
My dear, dear, Father! were it not for him,
I am so weary of this loneliness,
That I should wish I also were of snow
That I might melt away, and cease to be.
THALABA.
And have you always had your dwelling here
Amid this solitude of snow?
LAILA.
I think so.
I can remember with unsteady feet
Tottering from room to room, and finding pleasure
In flowers and toys and sweetmeats, things that long
Have lost their power to please; that when I see them
Raise only now a melancholy wish
I were the little trifler once again
That could be pleased so lightly!
THALABA.
Then you know not
Your Father's art?
LAILA.
No. I besought him once
To give me power like his, that where he went
I might go with him: but he shook his head,
And said it was a power too dearly bought,
And kist me with the tenderness of tears.
THALABA.
And wherefore has he hidden you thus far
From all the ways of humankind?
LAILA.
'Twas fear,
Fatherly fear and love. He read[167] the stars
And saw a danger in my destiny,
And therefore placed me here amid the snows,
And laid a spell that never human eye,
If foot of man by chance should reach the depth
Of this wide waste, shall see one trace of grove,
Garden, or dwelling-place, or yonder fire,
That thaws and mitigates the frozen sky.
And more than this, even if the enemy
Should come, I have a guardian here.
THALABA.
A guardian?
LAILA.
'Twas well that when my sight unclosed upon thee
There was no dark suspicion in thy face.
Else I had called his succour! wilt thou see him?
But if a Woman can have terrified thee,
How wilt thou bare his unrelaxing brow
And lifted lightnings?
THALABA.
Lead me to him, Lady!
She took him by the hand
And thro' the porch they past.
Over the garden and the grove
The fountain streams of fire
Poured a broad light like noon.
A broad unnatural light
That made the Rose's blush of beauty pale,
And dimmed the rich Geranium's scarlet blaze.
The various verdure of the grove
Now wore one undistinguishable grey,
Checqured with blacker shade.
Suddenly Laila stopt,
"I do not think thou art the enemy,"
She said, "but He will know!
"If thou hast meditated wrong
"Stranger, depart in time....
"I would not lead thee to thy death!"
The glance of Laila's eye
Turned anxiously toward the Arabian youth.
"So let him pierce my heart," cried Thalaba,
"If it hide thought to harm you!"
LAILA.
'Tis a figure,
Almost I fear to look at!... yet come on.
'Twill ease me of a heaviness that seems
To sink my heart; and thou mayest dwell here then.
In safety;... for thou shalt not go to-morrow,
Nor on the after, nor the after day,
Nor ever! it was only solitude
That made my misery here,...
And now that I can see a human face,
And hear a human voice....
Oh no! thou wilt not leave me!
THALABA.
Alas I must not rest!
The star that ruled at my nativity
Shone with a strange and blasting influence.
O gentle Lady! I should draw upon you
A killing curse.
LAILA.
But I will ask my Father
To save you from all danger, and you know not
The wonders he can work, and when I ask
It is not in his power to say me nay.
Perhaps thou knowest the happiness it is
To have a tender father?
THALABA.
He was one
Whom like a loathsome leper I have tainted
With my contagious destiny. At evening
He kist me as he wont, and laid his hands
Upon my head, and blest me ere I slept.
His dying groan awoke me, for the Murderer
Had stolen upon our sleep! for me was meant
The midnight blow of death; my father died,
The brother play-mates of my infancy,
The baby at the breast, they perished all,
All in that dreadful hour: but I was saved
To remember and revenge.
She answered not, for now
Emerging from the o'er-arched avenue
The finger of her upraised hand
Marked where the Guardian of the garden stood.
It was a brazen[168] Image, every limb
And swelling vein and muscle, true to life:
The left knee bending on,
The other straight, firm planted, and his hand
Lifted on high to hurl
The Lightning that it grasped.
When Thalaba approached,
The charmed Image knew Hodeirah's son,
And hurled the lightning at the dreaded foe.
The Ring! the saviour Ring!
Full in his face the lightning-bolt was driven,
The scattered fire recoiled.
Like the flowing of a summer gale he felt
Its ineffectual force,
His countenance was not changed,
Nor a hair of his head was singed.
He started and his glance
Turned angrily upon the Maid,
The sight disarmed suspicion ... breathless, pale,
Against a tree she stood.
Her wan lips quivering, and her eye
Upraised, in silent supplicating fear.
She started with a scream of joy
Seeing her Father there,
And ran and threw her arms around his neck,
"Save me!" she cried, "the Enemy is come!
"Save me! save me! Okba!"
"Okba!" repeats the youth,
For never since that hour
When in the Tent the Spirit told his name,
Had Thalaba let slip
The memory of his Father's murderer;
"Okba!"... and in his hand
He graspt an arrow-shaft.
And he rushed on to strike him.
"Son of Hodeirah!" the Old Man replied,
"My hour is not yet come."
And putting forth his hand
Gently he repelled the Youth.
"My hour is not yet come!
"But thou mayest shed this innocent Maiden's blood,
"That vengeance God allows thee."
Around her Father's neck
Still Laila's hands were clasped.
Her face was turned to Thalaba,
A broad light floated o'er its marble paleness,
As the wind waved the fountain fire.
Her large, dilated eye in horror raised
Watched his every movement.
"Not upon her," said he,
"Not upon her Hodeirah's blood cries out
"For vengeance!" and again his lifted arm
Threatened the Sorcerer,
Again withheld it felt
The barrier that no human strength could burst.
"Thou dost not aim the blow more eagerly,"
Okba replied, "than I would rush to meet it!
"But that were poor revenge.
"O Thalaba, thy God
"Wreaks on the innocent head
"His vengeance;... I must suffer in my child!
"Why dost thou pause to strike thy victim? Allah
"Permits, commands the deed."
"Liar!" quoth Thalaba.
And Laila's wondering eye
Looked up, all anguish to her Father's face,
"By Allah and the Prophet," he replied,
"I speak the words of truth.
"Misery, misery,
"That I must beg mine enemy to speed
"The inevitable vengeance now so near!
"I read it in her horoscope,
"Her birth-star warned me of Hodeirah's race.
"I laid a spell, and called a Spirit up.
"He answered one must die
"Laila or Thalaba....
"Accursed Spirit! even in truth
"Giving a lying hope!
"Last, I ascended the seventh Heaven
"And on the everlasting[169] Table there
"In characters of light,
"I read her written doom.
"The years that it has gnawn me! and the load
"Of sin that it has laid upon my soul!
"Curse on this hand that in the only hour
"The favouring stars allowed
"Reeked with other blood than thine.
"Still dost thou stand and gaze incredulous?
"Young man, be merciful, and keep her not
"Longer in agony!"
Thalaba's unbelieving frown
Scowled on the Sorcerer,
When in the air the rush of wings was heard
And Azrael stood among them.
In equal terror at the sight
The Enchanter, the Destroyer stood,
And Laila, the victim maid.
"Son of Hodeirah!" said the Angel of Death,
"The accursed fables not.
"When from the Eternal Hand I took
"The yearly[170] scroll of fate,
"Her name was written there.
"This is the hour, and from thy hands
"Commissioned to receive the Maid I come."
"Hear me O Angel!" Thalaba replied,
"To avenge my Father's death,
"To work the will of Heaven,
"To root from earth the accursed sorcerer race,
"I have dared danger undismayed,
"I have lost all my soul held dear,
"I am cut off from all the ties of life,
"Unmurmuring; for whate'er awaits me still,
"Pursuing to the end the enterprize,
"Peril or pain, I bear a ready heart.
"But strike this Maid! this innocent!
"Angel, I dare not do it."
"Remember," answered Azrael, "all thou sayest
"Is written down for judgement! every word
"In the balance of[171] thy trial must be weighed!"
"So be it!" said the Youth.
"He who can read the secrets of the heart
"Will judge with righteousness!
"This is no doubtful path,
"The voice of God within me cannot lie....
"I will not harm the innocent."
He said, and from above,
As tho' it were the Voice of Night,
The startling answer came.
"Son of Hodeirah, think again!
"One must depart from hence,
"Laila, or Thalaba;
"She dies for thee, or thou for her,
"It must be life for life!
"Son of Hodeirah, weigh it well,
"While yet the choice is thine!"
He hesitated not,
But looking upward spread his hands to Heaven,
"Oneiza, in thy bower of Paradise
"Receive me, still unstained!"
"What!" exclaimed Okba, "darest thou disobey,
"Abandoning all claim
"To Allah's longer aid?"
The eager exultation of his speech
Earthward recalled the thoughts of Thalaba.
"And dost thou triumph, Murderer? dost thou deem
"Because I perish, that the unsleeping lids
"Of Justice shall be closed upon thy crime?
"Poor, miserable man! that thou canst live
"With such beast-blindness in the present joy
"When o'er thy head the sword of God
"Hangs for the certain stroke!"
"Servant of Allah, thou hast disobeyed,
"God hath abandoned thee,
"This hour is mine!" cried Okba,
And shook his Daughter off,
And drew the dagger from his vest.
And aimed the deadly blow.
All was accomplished. Laila rushed between
To save the saviour Youth.
She met the blow and sunk into his arms,
And Azrael from the hands[172] of Thalaba
Received her parting soul.
THE ELEVENTH BOOK.
THE ELEVENTH BOOK.
O fool to think thy human hand
Could check the chariot-wheels of Destiny
To dream of weakness in the all-knowing Mind
That his decrees should change!
To hope that the united Powers
Of Earth, and Air, and Hell,
Might blot one letter from the Book of Fate,
Might break one link of the eternal chain!
Thou miserable, wicked, poor old man,
Fall now upon the body of thy child,
Beat now thy breast, and pluck the bleeding hairs
From thy grey beard, and lay
Thine ineffectual hand to close her wound.
And call on Hell to aid,
And call on Heaven to send
Its merciful thunderbolt!
The young Arabian silently
Beheld his frantic grief.
The presence of the hated youth
To raging anguish stung
The wretched Sorcerer.
"Aye! look and triumph!" he exclaimed,
"This is the justice of thy God!
"A righteous God is he, to let
"His vengeance fall upon the innocent head!
"Curse thee, curse thee, Thalaba!"
All feelings of revenge
Had left Hodeirah's son.
Pitying and silently he heard
The victim of his own iniquities,
Not with the busy hand
Of Consolation, fretting the sore wound
He could not hope to heal.
So as the Servant of the Prophet stood,
With sudden motion the night air
Gently fanned his cheek.
'Twas a Green Bird whose wings
Had waved the quiet air.
On the hand of Thalaba
The Green Bird perched, and turned
A mild eye up, as if to win
The Adventurer's confidence.
Then springing on flew forward,
And now again returns
To court him to the way;
And now his hand perceives
Her rosy feet press firmer, as she leaps
Upon the wing again.
Obedient to the call,
By the pale moonlight Thalaba pursued
O'er trackless snows his way;
Unknowing he what blessed messenger
Had come to guide his steps,
That Laila's Spirit went before his path.
Brought up in darkness and the child of sin,
Yet as the meed of spotless innocence,
Just Heaven permitted her by one good deed
To work her own redemption, after death;
So till the judgement day
She might abide in bliss,
Green[173] warbler of the Bowers of Paradise.
The morning sun came forth,
Wakening no eye to life
In this wide solitude;
His radiance with a saffron hue, like heat,
Suffused the desert snow.
The Green Bird guided Thalaba,
Now oaring with slow wing her upward way,
Descending now in slant descent
On out-spread pinions motionless,
Floating now with rise and fall alternate,
As if the billows of the air
Heaved her with their sink and swell.
And when, beneath the noon,
The icey glitter of the snow
Dazzled his aching sight,
Then on his arm alighted the Green Bird
And spread before his eyes
Her plumage of refreshing hue.
Evening came on; the glowing clouds
Tinged with a purple ray the mountain ridge
That lay before the Traveller.
Ah! whither art thou gone,
Guide and companion of the youth, whose eye
Has lost thee in the depth of Heaven?
Why hast thou left alone
The weary wanderer in the wilderness?
And now the western clouds grow pale
And Night descends upon his solitude.
The Arabian youth knelt down,
And bowed his forehead to the ground
And made his evening prayer.
When he arose the stars were bright in heaven,
The sky was blue, and the cold Moon
Shone over the cold snow.
A speck in the air!
Is it his guide that approaches?
For it moves with the motion of life!
Lo! she returns and scatters from her pinions
Odours diviner than the gales of morning
Waft from Sabea.
Hovering before the youth she hung,
Till from her rosy feet that at his touch
Uncurled their grasp, he took
The fruitful bough they bore.
He took and tasted, a new life
Flowed thro' his renovated frame;
His limbs that late were sore and stiff
Felt all the freshness of repose,
His dizzy brain was calmed.
The heavy aching of his lids
At once was taken off,
For Laila from the Bowers of Paradise
Had borne the healing[174] fruit.
So up the mountain steep
With untired foot he past,
The Green Bird guiding him
Mid crags, and ice, and rocks,
A difficult way, winding the long ascent.
How then the heart of Thalaba rejoiced
When bosomed in the mountain depths,
A sheltered Valley opened on his view!
It was the Simorg's vale,
The dwelling of the ancient Bird.
On a green and mossy bank.
Beside a rivulet
The Bird of Ages stood.
No sound intruded on his solitude,
Only the rivulet was heard
Whose everlasting flow
From the birth-day of the world had made
The same unvaried murmuring.
Here dwelt the all-knowing Bird
In deep tranquillity,
His eyelids ever closed
In full enjoyment of profound repose.
Reverently the youth approached
That old and only[175] Bird,
And crossed his arms upon his breast,
And bowed his head and spake.
"Earliest of existing things,
"Earliest thou, and wisest thou,
"Guide me, guide me, on my way!
"I am bound to seek the caverns
"Underneath the roots of Ocean
"Where the Sorcerer brood are nurst.
"Thou the eldest, thou the wisest,
"Guide me, guide me, on my way!"
The ancient Simorg on the youth
Unclosed his thoughtful eyes,
And answered to his prayer.
"Northward by the stream proceed,
"In the fountain of the rock
"Wash away thy worldly stains,
"Kneel thou there, and seek the Lord
"And fortify thy soul with prayer.
"Thus prepared ascend the Sledge,
"Be bold, be wary, seek and find!
"God hath appointed all."
The ancient Simorg then let fall his lids
Returning to repose.
Northward along the rivulet
The adventurer went his way,
Tracing its waters upward to their source.
Green Bird of Paradise
Thou hast not left the youth;...
With slow associate flight
She companies his way,
And now they reach the fountain of the rock.
There in the cold clear well
Thalaba washed away his earthly stains,
And bowed his face before the Lord,
And fortified his soul with prayer.
The while upon the rock
Stood the celestial Bird,
And pondering all the perils he must pass,
With a mild melancholy eye
Beheld the youth beloved.
And lo! beneath yon lonely pine, the sledge....
And there they stand the harnessed Dogs,
Their wide eyes watching for the youth,
Their ears erected turned towards his way.
They were lean as lean might be,
Their furrowed ribs rose prominent,
And they were black from head to foot,
Save a white line on every breast
Curved like the crescent moon.
And he is seated in the sledge,
His arms are folded on his breast,
The bird is on his knees;
There is fear in the eyes of the Dogs,
There is fear in their pitiful moan,
And now they turn their heads,
And seeing him there, Away!
The Youth with the start of their speed
Falls back to the bar of the sledge,
His hair floats straight in the stream of the wind
Like the weeds in the running brook.
They wind with speed the upward way,
An icey path thro' rocks of ice,
His eye is at the summit now,
And thus far all is dangerless,
And now upon the height
The black Dogs pause and pant,
They turn their eyes to Thalaba
As if to plead for pity,
They moan and moan with fear.
Once more away! and now
The long descent is seen,
A long, long, narrow path.
Ice-rocks aright and hills of snow,
Aleft the giddy precipice.
Be firm, be firm, O Thalaba!
One motion now, one bend,
And on the crags below
Thy shattered flesh will harden in the frost.
Why howl the Dogs so mournfully?
And wherefore does the blood flow fast
All purple o'er their sable hair?
His arms are folded on his breast,
Nor scourge nor goad has he,
No hand appears to strike,
No sounding lash is heard:
But piteously they moan and moan
And track their way with blood.
And lo! on yonder height
A giant Fiend aloft
Waits to thrust down the tottering Avalanche!
If Thalaba looks back he dies,
The motion of fear is death.
On ... on ... with swift and steady pace
Adown that dreadful way!
The youth is firm, the Dogs are fleet,
The Sledge goes rapidly,
The thunder of the avalanche
Re-echoes far behind.
On ... on ... with swift and steady pace
Adown that dreadful way!
The Dogs are fleet, the way is steep
The Sledge goes rapidly,
They reach the plain below.
A wide, wide plain, all desolate,
Nor tree, nor bush, nor herb!
On go the Dogs with rapid step,
The Sledge slides after rapidly,
And now the Sun went down.
They stopt and looked at Thalaba,
The Youth performed his prayer;
They knelt beside him as he prayed
They turned their heads to Mecca
And tears ran down their cheeks.
Then down they laid them in the snow
As close as they could lie,
They laid them down and slept.
And backward in the sledge
The Adventurer laid him down,
There peacefully slept Thalaba,
And the Green Bird of Paradise
Lay in his bosom warm.
The Dogs awoke him at the dawn,
They knelt and wept again;
Then rapidly they journeyed on,
And still the plain was desolate,
Nor tree, nor bush, nor herb!
And ever at the hour of prayer
They stopt, and knelt, and wept;
And still that green and graceful Bird
Was as a friend to him by day,
And ever when at night he slept
Lay in his bosom warm.
In that most utter solitude
It cheered his heart to hear
Her soft and soothing voice;
Her voice was soft and sweet,
It swelled not with the blackbird's thrill,
Nor warbled rich like the dear bird, that holds
The solitary man
A loiterer in his thoughtful walk at eve;
But if no overflowing joy
Spake in its tones of tenderness
They soothed the softened soul.
Her bill was not the beak of blood;
There was a human meaning in her eye,
Its mild affection fixed on Thalaba
Woke wonder while he gazed
And made her dearer for the mystery.
Oh joy! the signs of life appear,
The first and single Fir
That on the limits of the living world
Strikes in the ice its roots.
Another, and another now;
And now the Larch that flings its arms
Down arching like the falling wave;
And now the Aspin's scattered leaves
Grey glitter on the moveless twig;
The Poplar's varying verdure now,
And now the Birch so beautiful,
Light as a Lady's plumes.
Oh joy! the signs of life! the Deer
Hath left his slot beside the way;
The little Ermine now is seen
White wanderer of the snow;
And now from yonder pines they hear
The clatter of the Grouse's wings:
And now the snowy Owl pursues
The Traveller's sledge in hope of food;
And hark! the rosy-breasted bird
The Throstle of sweet song!
Joy! joy! the winter-wilds are left!
Green bushes now and greener grass,
Red thickets here all berry-bright,
And here the lovely flowers!
When the last morning of their way arrived,
After the early prayer,
The Green Bird fixed on Thalaba
A sad and supplicating eye,
And with a human voice she spake,
"Servant of God, I leave thee now.
"If rightly I have guided thee,
"Give me the boon I beg!"
"O gentle Bird," quoth Thalaba,
"Guide and companion of my dangerous way,
"Friend and sole solace of my solitude,
"How can I pay thee benefits like these!
"Ask what thou wilt that I can give,
"O gentle Bird, the poor return
"Will leave me debtor still!"
"Son of Hodeirah!" she replied,
"When thou shalt see an Old Man crushed beneath
"The burthen of his earthly punishment,
"Forgive him, Thalaba!
"Yea, send a prayer to God on his behalf!"
A flush o'erspread the young Destroyer's cheek,
He turned his eye towards the Bird
As if in half repentance; for he thought
Of Okba; and his Father's dying groan
Came on his memory. The celestial Bird
Saw and renewed her speech.
"O Thalaba, if she who in thine arms
"Received the dagger-blow and died for thee,
"Deserve one kind remembrance ... save, O save
"The Father that she loved from endless death!"
"Laila! and is it thou?" the youth replied:
"What is there that I durst refuse to thee?
"This is no time to harbour in my heart
"One evil thought ... here I put off revenge,
"The last rebellious feeling ... be it so!
"God grant to me the pardon that I need
"As I do pardon him!
"But who am I that I should save
"The sinful soul alive?"
"Enough!" said Laila. "When the hour shall come
"Remember me! my task is done.
"We meet again in Paradise!"
She said and shook her wings, and up she soared
With arrow-swiftness thro' the heights of Heaven.
His aching eye pursued her path,
When starting onward went the Dogs,
More rapidly they hurried on
In hope of near repose.
It was the early morning yet
When by the well-head of a brook
They stopt, their journey done.
The spring was clear, the water deep,
A venturous man were he and rash
That should have probed its depths,
For all its loosened bed below
Heaved strangely up and down,
And to and fro, from side to side
It heaved, and waved, and tossed,
And yet the depths were clear,
And yet no ripple wrinkled o'er
The face of that fair Well.
And on that Well so strange and fair
A little boat there lay,
Without on oar, without a sail,
One only seat it had, one seat
As if for only Thalaba.
And at the helm a Damsel stood
A Damsel bright and bold of eye,
Yet did a maiden modesty
Adorn her fearless brow.
She seemed sorrowful, but sure
More beautiful for sorrow.
To her the Dogs looked wistful up,
And then their tongues were loosed,
"Have we done well, O Mistress dear!
"And shall our sufferings end?"