"Lady, look forth on yonder tower,
There spend I morn and midnight's hour,
Beneath that lonely peepul tree—*[1]
Well may its branches wave o’er me,
For their dark wreaths are ever shed,
The mournful tribute to the dead—
There sit I, in fond wish to cheer
A captive’s sad and lonely ear,
And strive his drooping hopes to raise,
With songs that breathe of happier days.
Lady, methinks I scarce need tell
The name that I have loved so well;
’Tis Moohreeb, captured by the sword
Of him, thy own unconquered lord.
Lady, one word—one look from thee,
And Murad sets that captive free."
"And you will follow at his side?"
"Ah, no, he hath another bride;
And if I pity, can’st thou bear
To think upon her lone despair?
No, break the mountain-chieftain’s chain,
Give him to hope, home, love again."
Her cheek with former beauty blushed,
The crimson to her forehead rushed,
Her eyes rekindled, till their light
Flashed from the lash’s summer night.
So eager was her prayer, so strong
The love that bore her soul along.
Ah! many loves for many hearts;
But if mortality has known
One which its native heaven imparts
To that fine soil where it has grown;
’Tis in that first and early feeling,
Passion's most spiritual revealing;
Half dream, all poetry—whose hope
Colours life’s charmed horoscope
With hues so beautiful, so pure—
Whose nature is not to endure.
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- ↑ * Bishop Heber mentions a picturesque custom prevalent in one of the Rajpoot tribes. The death of a warrior is only announced to his family by branches of the peepul-tree strewed before his door.
