Their weapons various--some equipt for speed,
With javelins of the light Kathaian reed;[1]
Or bows of buffalo horn and shining quivers
Filled with the stems[2]
that bloom on IRAN'S rivers;[3]
While some, for war's more terrible attacks,
Wield the huge mace and ponderous battle-axe;
And as they wave aloft in morning's beam
The milk-white plumage of their helms, they seem
Like a chenar-tree grove[4] when winter throws
O'er all its tufted heads his feathery snows.
Between the porphyry pillars that uphold
The rich moresque-work of the roof of gold,
Aloft the Haram's curtained galleries rise,
Where thro' the silken net-work, glancing eyes,
From time to time, like sudden gleams that glow
Thro' autumn clouds, shine o'er the pomp below.--
What impious tongue, ye blushing saints, would dare
To hint that aught but Heaven hath placed you there?
Or that the loves of this light world could bind,
In their gross chain, your Prophet's soaring mind?
- ↑ "Our dark javelins, exquisitely wrought of Khathaian reeds, slender and delicate."--Poem of Amru.
- ↑ Pichula, used anciently for arrows by the Persians.
- ↑ The Persians call this plant Gaz. The celebrated shaft of Isfendiar, one of their ancient heroes, was made of it.--"Nothing can be more beautiful than the appearance of this plant in flower during the rains on the banks of rivers, where it is usually interwoven with a lovely twining asclepias."--Sir W. Jones.
- ↑ The oriental plane. "The chenar is a delightful tree; its bole is of a fine white and smooth bark; and its foliage, which grows in a tuft at the summit, is of a bright green."--Morier's Travels.
