Chinese and Arabian Literature - E. Wilson - The Search For Mecca

6
SELECTIONS FROM ARABIAN POETRY 8i
No more let sleep's seductive charms
Upon your torpid souls be shed
A crash like this, such dire alarms,
Might burst the slumbers of the dead.
Think where your dear companions lie
Survey their fate, and hear their woes
How some thro' trackless deserts fly,
Some in the vulture's maw repose;
:
—
While some more wretched still, must bear
The tauntings of a Christian's tongue
Hear this—and blush ye not to wear
The silken robe of peace so long?
Remember what ensanguin'd showers
The Syrian plains with crimson dyed,
And think how many blooming flowers
In Syrian forts their beauties hide.
Arabian youths ! In such a cause
Can ye the voice of glory slight ?
Warriors of Persia ! Can
ye pause.
Or fear to mingle in the fight ?
If neither piety nor shame
Your breasts can warm, your souls can move,
Let emulation's bursting flame
Wake you to vengeance and to love.
Almodhafer Alahiwerdy.
TO A LADY
No, Abla, no—when Selimi tells
Of many an unknown grace that dwells
In Abla's face and mien.
When he describes the sense refin'd,
That lights thine eye and fills thy mind,
By thee alone unseen.
'Tis not that drunk with love he sees
Ideal charms, which only please
Thro' passion's partial veil,
Vol. IVa.—