Whenthoucanstnot the strongfromoppressionrestrain! I abjure thy religion, I own not thy reign, To avenge me the cause of the just. New Monthly Magazine. ALI. OF Ali, we have spoken in our "Preliminary View." CANTO I. It was as beautiful a night As ever shadow'd earth and sky, Young Selim's bark across the flood Now broke across the widening gleam Save by the shining track that swept The wave, and still its lustre kept, You might have traced from Hermon's hill, Through Emerald vales is seen to wind, Are those the whispers of Autumn's breeze, Thus breaking the silence of midnight's hour By none but Zella's eye discern'd, And now e'en the night lamp is hid from the sight In the shadow of him for whom it burn'd. Though the way was far, and the crag was steep, And the bower of his beauty the fort of his foe, And his path lay o'er the faithless deep, Lest a footstep awaken the warder's sleep, Yet whither did love ever fear to go? There seems an easy way for him. And lives there one of Moslem faith Who would not brave e'en more than death To win the warm yet pure caresses Of those fond arms that now are thrown Around his neck, whose ebon tresses Flow darkly mingling with his own, While still his lip her smooth cheek presses In rapture but to lovers known? Yes, theirs was joy, but not unmix'd With untold fears of coming sorrow, For on the dread eventful morrow The weal or woe of both was fix'd ;Long ere another sun shall set, That youthful warrior's meteor-sword Must with the bosom-stream be wet Of those high turrets hoary lord :— Yon battlements, whose friendly shade Hath ne'er his nightly haunt betray'd, When, bounding to his beauteous maid, Their walls were dear to Selim's eyes As the blest bounds of Paradise, The first bright glimpse of opening heaven, That greets the Peri as he flies To his lost home, with sins forgiven,― His brand shall give to blackening flame, While crackling beam, and crashing tower, Shall echo through the blissful bower Where late his noiseless foot-step came To love away the moonlight hour. Yet ere that work of dread is over, The grave may close on Zella's lover, And quench the blaze of that full eye The maiden now is gazing at, As if the countless lights on high Were all concentrated in that. But, Oh! should Selim live no more, Where not a bosom beat to love thee, If Eden's fruits bloom'd fresh above thee. Though thou wert nurs'd in war's red lap, And scared by death in every shape, Yet meekest eyes can easier brook On thousand mangled forms to look, Of strangers in the death-grasp writhing, Than one loved face no longer breathing. Though (like the bud of Zeilan's palm When first its veil is rent asunder, Trembling beneath the deep ton'd thunder, That shakes the forest with alarm, And with loud prophet voice is heard Greeting with omens dire the birth Of that proud flower too highly rear'd Above each neighbouring child of earth) Thy cradled slumbers had been broken By the harsh trumpet's deadly clangor,— Though none but words of hate and anger E'en to thine infant ears were spoken, Though thy first sighs inhaled the air, The tainted breath of reeking war, Though pent within a fortress gloom, Like the steel helmet's quivering plume,Thy soul was not less mild than theirs, Who never felt the spicy grove Where from the din thy youth would rove, Who never felt the wildering cares, Alike extreme of hate or love, And thou no more couldst bear to see Than the calm ocean's printless glass "Yes, Selim, yes!-I know it now,- Sheds over all its crimson hue. Oh! better far hadst thou return'd, While my green kerchief still was waving, Soon as thy pinnace I discern'd On the wild tide these turrets laving. Far better hadst thou ta'en my warning, Than come and leave me now to weep Over a bright and transient dawning Of joy, like the light which gilds the steep, When the dull eye of drowsy morning Opes and again is closed in sleep." "My bird of beauty say not so; I might have shunn'd the beacon-blaze, |