Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1832/The Water Palace, Mandoo
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THE WATER PALACE, - MANDOO.
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THE WATER PALACE, MANDOO.
He built it, for he was a king,
And wealth was at his will;
He had another mountain hold
Upon a mighty hill:
But that was built in times of war
With high and armed walls,
With midnight watchers in its towers,
And warriors in its halls;
But this sweet palace was for peace,
Built by the water-side,
When Zerid sheathed the sword and won
The Persian for his bride.
And beautiful round Ispahan
Spread gardens of the rose,
And 'mid her guarded solitude
The young queen pined for those;
The conqueror sought a lovely spot,
And built a lovely home;
Of porphyry was the shining floor,
Of crystal was the dome.
But lovelier were the cypresses
That hung the lake beside;
As beauties o'er their mirror bend,
So bent they o'er the tide.
Those giant warriors of the wood,
Palms with their leafy crest,
Like waving feathers caught each breeze,
That wandered from the west;
And every breeze, of red rose leaves
Brought down a crimson rain,
And fields of rice and scented grass
Made green each distant plain;
And cool and bright adown the stream
The water lilies swept,
As if within each silvery hold
The god Camdeo slept.
She came, the young and royal bride,
And if the place was fair,
Before her eyes shed sunshine round,
How fair when she was there!
An hundred maidens and their lutes
Came with their queen along;
The mornings passed, the evenings passed,
With story and with song:
His sword the conqueror forgot,
Her early home his bride—
Whenever they and summer sought
Their palace by the tide.
The early history of Mandoo is involved in much obscurity: it was first possessed by the Dhar Rajahs; to one of these the above verses refer.
Camdeo is the Indian Cupid. He is represented by the Hindoo writers as a beautiful youth, sometimes floating down the Ganges on a lotus; or, at others, riding on a loorie by moonlight, attended by dancing nymphs, the foremost of whom carries his banner, which displays a fish on a red ground. He bears four arrows, each headed by a different flower; his bow is formed of a sugar-cane, and strung with bees.—Sir W. Jones.
The lotus is a species of large lily, of which there are many varieties; some of a pure white, others tinged with a faint, others with a deep red. On a clear wave, the rich crimson has a splendid effect.—Asiatic Annual Register.