Classic Poem

Lo! stretched beneath the clust'ring palm
The stately noble lies
Around him dwells a holy calm
Breathed softly from the skies

The zephyrs fan with sweet caress
Recumbent majesty
And loud winds of the wilderness
All silently pass by

The Lion from his desert lair
Comes forth to fierce foray
His red eyes fired by hunger glare
In eager search of prey

He spies him in his dreamless sleep
All on the moonlit ground
And away as with a whirlwind sweep
Behold the monster bound

For holy, holy, is thy rest
Though in the desert laid
A spirit's spell is o'er thee cast
Amid that palmy shade

O clouds come o'er that vision bright
And soft it fades away
The witchery of mem'ry's might
Inviting still it's stay.

But vainly, where my warrior slept
The cold sad moonbeams lie
And where sabean odours wept
The winds of midnight sigh

But while the ocean wilder'd spreads
Afar her thundring plain
And while the light of heaven sheds
Still splendour on the main

I'll ne'er forget that stately form
That eye's entrancing light
Whence oft the wildest passion storm
Flashed forth in sudden might

Or in those dark orbs lustre lay
Borne from the worlds of thought
But brightest shone that wondrous ray
From holy regions brought

Where spirits of the favoured few
Alone may ever dwell
Where clearer than Parnanssian dew
A hundred fountains well

The fountains sweet of poesy
That nectar of the sky
Where wreaths of imortality
In hallowed beauty lie

But Lo Diana's silver bow
Hath quitted human ken
And the chill night winds coldly blow
Adown this lonely glen

O happy may his slumber be
This night in lands afar
Beneath the desert plaintain tree
Beneath the silver star

Or in his gorgeous Indian home
On slave-surrounded bed
All underneath some glorious dome
Whence lamps their glories shed

His dreams are are of some other world
His mighty soul is free
His spirits pinions all unfurled
rise high in radiancy

And music all on earth unknown
Floats solemnly around
And sweeter swells each following tone
With clear seraphic sound

No being of this low earth born
Is worthy of his love
Doth the royal rider of the storm
E're look upon the dove

Then farewell each rebellious thought
And welcome peace again
Adversity hath wisdom taught
But who shall break the chain

The long long chain, of memory
Which leads to other hours
To other days when happily
I dwelt 'mid Indian bowers

And from the dim clouds of the past
Sweet smiles & glances glide
From those bright lips & dark eyes cast
Where dwells the light of pride

Smiles faded from his lofty brow
Sweet glances past away
For fell upon another now
Their all desired-ray

And now my rivals hated form
Salutes my mental eye
And envys dark unhallowed storm
O'ercasts the tranquil sky

Methinks I see her ringlets play
In the starlight soft & fair
Methinks I see her eyes still ray
Illume the dusky air

O she was fairer than the rose
With morning dew All bright
She shone among a hundred foes
The central orb of light

Their spirit's were of kindred mould
From the same sweet fountain sprung
And melody of heaven rolled
In music when she sung

How oft beneath the orange grove
By Gambia's rolling tide
While shone on high the star of love
He wandered with his bride

And while faint light fell on the wave
And fainter music rung
From the green banks which their waters lave
How sweet that lady sung

Between each pause so still & calm
The whispering leaflets spoke
Or wandering zephyr's soft as balm
Her harps wild echos woke

All winged minstrels of the vale
Now silently repose
And voiceless is the dewy gale
That breathing flower-scents blows

Slow sailing through the clear wide sky
Earths handmaid journeys free
Tracking to all eternity
An ever shoreless sea

The solemn airs of evening sigh
Throug[h] wood & grove & bower
Charged with the mystic harmony
Which thrills this hallowed hour

O once this happiness was mine
When came still even-tide
How often in that balmy time
I've wandered by his side.

And while I heard his eloquence
And watched his kindling eye
I saw a lustre beaming thence
Bright as the stars on high

It was as though his spirit lay
Far in those wells of light
As though his souls irradiate day
Shone bright as heaven is bright

But never more O never more
That lustre may I see
A thousand waves between us roar,
Howl, thunder heavily.

And might that distant orient land
Again salute mine eye
And might I walk its burning strand
Beneath its burning sky

Yet cold as sunbeams on the snow
That light would fall on me
Then raging waters ever flow
& thunder heavily

But dim dawn rises in the east
The air with matins rings
I'll seek my wild, lone place of rest
W[h]ere the stream in silence sings.