THIRD EPISTLE
Once upon a time a Sultan, ruler over nomad bands,
Roaming with their herds and seeking pastures new in many lands,
On the earth lay sleeping, pillowed was his head upon his arm,
But his eyes, beneath closed lashes, now awoke in dream’s sweet charm.
From the sky down gliding gently, all in silver dress arrayed,
Came the moon towards him descending as a pure and lovely maid,
On her pathway, all, around her, as on mild spring’s step did bloom,
Yet her eyes were full of shadows born of secret sorrow’s gloom,
All the woods with so much beauty charmed were thrilling with delight,
All the brooks and rivers quivered with their limpid faces bright,
Diamond dust was lightly falling from above like finest rain,
Glitt’ring in the air, on flowers, over all in nature’s reign,
In the night resplendent rainbows arching on the sky were seen,
And bewitching, softly whispered, sounded music sweet, serene…
Lovely arms she streched towards him as he lay, her raven hair
Fell like silken waves down streaming on her snowy shoulders bare:
—„Let our lives be bound together, come, belovèd, to my breast,
Soothing balm to my sweet sorrow be thy sorrow, near me rest…
This in Life’s book for all ages on the stars did Fate record:
I must be thy sovereign lady, thou must be my life’s dear lord.“
As to her he looked and listened, darkening she disappeared;
From his heart sprang up a tree that towards the sky its branches reared,
And it grew, it grew in moments as in ages long, this tree
Shot its boughs with massy foliage over all, on land and sea,
Underneath the shadows creeping over all the world disperse,
One great shadow now embracing all the boundless universe.
On the four points of th’horizon the gigantic mountain ranges,
Atlas, Caucasus and Taurus, and the Balkans hoar with ages,
And the Tigris, the Euphrates and the Nile, the Danube old,
