Short Poems

FRAGMENT OF G AZEL

When I saw my love's hair, ambergris-hued, o'er her visage shake,
" Strange, " I thought, " a moon, musk-shedding, 'midst the flowers its bed should make! "
How thy locks, moon-face, are fallen o'er thy cheek in many a curl!
As in day he lies reposing, so in strength doth gain the snake.
From thy cheek the rose and tulip tint and scent have stol'n indeed;
Therefore through the b a z a r round they bear them, bounden to the stake.

REFUTING A SLANDER .

Do you think I could slander my Life,
Who is dearer than both of my eyes?
Oh, no! If I could, I should never
Consume with such passionate fever.
But whenever a horror is rife,
'T is you and the Sot give it rise.

You came, you went, as angels go,
A fleeting guest within our land.
Whence and where to? — We only know:
Forth from God's hand into God's hand.

Absence is union dear
When hearts are one;
Union is absence drear,
When love is done.

O wanderer heart! avoid that haunted grove,
The body of thy love;
Nor in her bosom stray, wild mountain fells
Where Love, the robber, dwells.

I, like a poor fakir,
Wander from door to door,
Bearing my load of pain;
But thou, O Ever-Dear,
Thou comest never more
Unto my door again.

If I behold her, I am mad;
And if I see her not, I die;
O Love, to tender hearts like mine
Thou art a great calamity.

What thou hast done, never an enemy
Would practise on a bitterly-hated foe;
And yet, my friend,
I took thee for a friend, and did not know.

Although your gate bar my way,
You cannot check the spring's play;
For free above your proud wall
There hangs one apricot spray.

Each morn I see the Sun in majesty
Come back to shine thy rival as before,
But O what ages has it taken thee
To come to me — if thou wilt come — once more!