Page:Poems Angier.djvu/201

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THE CIRCASSIAN SLAVE.
See Cashmere's peerless daughter
  Within the harem stand;
A princely sum hath bought her,
  The fairest of the land;
Clad in a robe of snowy white,
  Pure as her maiden soul;
Her pea:-ls were tears, heart-gushing tears,
  Which through dark lashes stole.

With heavy heart and downcast eye,
  She heeded not his voice
Who welcomed her, the harem's queen,
  Of many slaves his choice:
She shunned him, as some poisonous thing,
  She spurned his proffered wreath;
A noble bird, with fettered wing,
  Hear how she prays for death.

"May He who gave, recall my breath"—
'Tis an awful prayer, this prayer for death,
For love of life with life is born;
The heart may bleed, the flesh be torn,