THE DEATH OF HIS MISTRESS[3]

Dost thou wonder that I flew

Charm'd to meet my Leila's view?

Dost thou wonder that I hung

Raptur'd on my Leila's tongue?

If her ghost's funereal screech

Thro' the earth my grave should reach,

On that voice I lov'd so well

My transported ghost would dwell:--

If in death I can descry

Where my Leila's relics lie,

Saher's dust will flee away,

There to join his Leila's clay.

_Abu Saher Alhedily_.

[3] The sentiment contained in this production determines its

antiquity. It was the opinion of the Pagan Arabs that upon the

death of any person a bird, by them called Manah, issued from his

brain, which haunted the sepulchre of the deceased, uttering a

lamentable scream.

The Literature of Arabia With Critical and Biographical Sketches by Epiphanius Wilson · 第 20 / 89 题