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

86
SELECTIONS FROM ARABIAN POETRY
Tho' lions howling round the shade,
My footsteps haunt, my walks invade,
No fears shall drive me from the grove,
If Abla listen to my love.
— —
Ah, Selim! shall the spells of ease
* Thy friendship chain, thine ardor freeze
— !
Wilt thou enchanted thus, decline
Each gen'rous thought, each bold design?
Then far from men some cell prepare;
Or build a mansion in the air
But yield to us, ambition's tide,
Who fearless on its waves can ride
Enough for thee if thou receive
The scatter'd spray the billows leave.
Contempt and want the wretch await
Who slumbers in an abject state
'Midst rushing crowds, by toil and pain
The meed of Honor we must gain ;
At Honor's call, the camel hastes
Thro' trackless wilds and dreary wastes.
Till in the glorious race she find
The fleetest coursers left behind:
By toils like these alone, he cries,
Th' adventurous youths to greatness rise;
If bloated indolence were fame,
And pompous ease our noblest aim,
The orb that regulates the day
Would ne'er from Aries' mansion stray.
;
—
I've bent at Fortune's shrine too long
Too oft she heard my suppliant tongue
Too oft has mock'd my idle prayers,
While fools and knaves engross'd her cares,
Awake for them, asleep to me,
Heedless of worth she scorn'd each plea.
Ah ! had her eyes, more just survey'd
The difif'rent claims which each display'd.
Those eyes from partial fondness free
Had slept to them, and wak'd for me.