O what an ocean of unbounded bliss

Around me then its circling tide shall roll!
Thou Pearl of Beauty! mid that deep abyss,
Shalt reign the sovereign treasure of my soul !

A SONG,

BY HAFIZ.

SWEET

WEET maid, if thou wouldst charm my sight,

And bid these arms thy neck infold;

That rosy cheek, that lily hand,
Would give thy poet more delight

Than all Bocara's vaunted gold,
Than all the gems of Samarcand.

Boy, let yon liquid ruby flow,
And bid thy pensive heart be glad,
Whate'er the frowning zealots say:
Tell them, their Eden cannot show
A stream so clear as Rocnabad,
A bower so sweet as Mosellay.

C

O! when these fair perfidious maids,
Whose eyes our secret haunts infest,
Their dear destructive charms display;
Each glance my tender breast invades,
And robs my wounded soul of rest,
As Tartars seize their destin'd prey.

Speak not of fate :-ah! change the theme,
And talk of odors, talk of wine,

Talk of the flowers that round us bloom: "Tis all a cloud, 'tis all a dream;

To love and joy thy thoughts confine,
Nor hope to pierce the sacred gloom.
Beauty has such resistless power,
That ev'n the chaste Egyptian dame
Sigh'd for the blooming Hebrew boy;
For her how fatal was the hour,

When to the banks of Nilus came
A youth so lovely and so coy!

What cruel answer have I heard!
And yet by heav'n I love thee still:
Can ought be cruel from thy lip ?
Yet say, how fell that bitter word
From lips which streams of sweetness fill,
Which nought but drops of honey sip?

Go boldly forth, my simple lay,
Whose accents flow with artless ease,
Like orient pearls at random strung:
Thy notes are sweet the damsels say;
But oh! far sweeter, if they please

The nymph for whom these notes are sung.

TO SELIMA.

BY ACHMED ARDEBEILI.

WHERE are you flown, ye hours of

gay delight, When countless Beauties crowding on my view,

Seem'd by some mystic concord to unite,
In forms of fair enjoyment, ever new?

When, as the nectar'd goblet pour'd around
Its smiling treasures to the sons of Joy :

The echoing roofs learnt only to resound,

• These, these are pleasures that can never cloy.'

Then, spurning every fear of Fortune's frown,
Time's rapid progress, or the shafts of Fate;
I fondly call'd thee, Selima, my own,
And deem'd my raptures of no mortal date.

'Let holy Dervishes of Eden dream,

And clasp the visions of celestial bliss,

They ne'er beheld thy heavenly beauty's beam, 'Nor from thy lips received a Houri's kiss.

O let my soul, transported as I gaze, Proclaim thy triumph o'er the rising day; 'See light-wing'd clouds obscure his blushful blaze, • While gladden'd Nature hails thy living ray!

O Selima! Enchantment reigns around,
< Whene'er thy magic fingers touch the lyre;
But when thy voice accords its sweeter sound,
Ev'n list'ning seraphs with delight expire!'

Thus I, exulting in each rapturous hour,

Ne'er bade my heart with grateful ardors glow,
To Him whose goodness gave-his vengeful power
Reversed each charm, and plunged me deep in woe.

Yet, can my wounded spirit e'er repine? Has it not known the heart's supremest joy? The blest Idea ever shall be mine,

Nor can Eternity that bliss destroy.

A GAZEL,

BY HAFIZ.

ZEPHYR, should'st thou chance to rove

By the mansion of my love,
From her locks ambrosial bring
Choicest odors on thy wing.

Could'st thou waft me from her breast

Tender sighs to say I'm blest,

As she lives! my soul would be

Sprinkled o'er with extacy.

But if Heav'n the boon deny,
Round her stately footsteps fly,

With the dust that thence may rise,

Stop the tears which bathe these eyes.