HASSAN; OR THE CAMEL-DRIVER.
4.
I made him a visit, still hoping to find,
He had took better care for improving his mind.
He told me his dreams, talked of eating and drinking; But he scarce reads his Bible, and never loves thinking.
Said I then to my heart, Here's a lesson for me,
This man's but a picture of what I might be ;
But thanks to my friends for their care in my breeding, Who taught me betimes to love working and reading.'
HASSAN; OR THE CAMEL-DRIVER.
Scene, The Desert-Time, Mid-day.
IN silent horror, o'er the boundless waste,
The driver Hassan with his camels passed;
One cruise of water on his back he bore,
And his light scrip contained a scanty store;
A fan of painted feathers in his hand,
To guard his shaded face from scorching sand.
The sultry sun had gained the middle sky,
And not a tree and not an herb was nigh;
The beasts with pain their dusty way pursue,
Shrill roared the winds, and dreary was the view!
With desperate sorrow wild, the affrighted man
Thrice sighed, thrice struck his breast, and thus began:
'Sad was the hour, and luckless was the day,
When first from Schiraz' walls I bent my way!'
Ah! little thought I of the blasting wind,
The thirst or pinching hunger that I find!
Bethink thee, Hassan! where shall thirst assuage,
When fails this cruise, his unrelenting rage?
Soon shall this scrip its precious load resign,
Then what but tears and hunger shall be thine?
Ye mute companions of my toils, that bear
In all my griefs a more than equal share!
Here, where no springs in murmurs break away,
Or moss-crowned fountains mitigate the day,
In vain ye hope the green delight to know
Which plains more blessed or verdant vales bestow;
Here rocks alone and tasteless sands are found,
And faint and sickly winds for ever howl around.
'Sad was the hour, and luckless was the day,
When first from Schiraz' walls I bent my way!'
Cursed be the gold and silver which persuade
Weak men to follow far fatiguing trade!
The lily peace outshines the silver store,
And life is dearer than the golden ore;
Yet money tempts us o'er the desert brown,
To every distant mart and wealthy town :
Full oft we tempt the land, and oft the sea;
And are we only yet repaid by thee?
Ah! why was ruin so attractive made,
Or why fond man so easily betrayed?
Why heed we not, while mad we haste along,
The gentle voice of Peace, or Pleasure's song?
Or wherefore think the flowery mountain's side,
The fountain's murmurs, and the valley's pride;
Why think we these less pleasing to behold
Than dreary deserts, if they lead to gold?
'Sad was the hour, and luckless was the day,
When first from Schiraz' walls I bent my way!'
HASSAN; OR THE CAMEL-DRIVER.
O cease, my fears !—All frantic as I go,
When thought creates unnumbered scenes of woe,
What if the lion in his rage I meet !——
Oft in the dust I view his printed feet;
And fearful oft, when Day's declining light
Yields her pale empire to the mourner Night,
By hunger roused, he scours the groaning plain,
Gaunt wolves, and sullen tigers in his train;
Before them Death with shrieks directs their way,
Fills the wild yell, and leads them to their prey.
'Sad was the hour, and luckless was the day,
When first from Schiraz' walls I bent my way!'
At that dead hour the silent asp shall creep,
If aught of rest I find, upon my sleep;
Or some swoln serpent twist his scales around,
And wake to anguish with a burning wound.
Thrice happy they, the wise contented poor,
From lust of wealth and dread of death secure!
They tempt no deserts, and no griefs they find;
Peace rules the day where reason rules the mind.
'Sad was the hour, and luckless was the day,
When first from Schiraz' walls I bent my way!'
O hapless youth! for she thy love hath won,
The tender Zara! will be most undone.
Big swelled my heart, and owned the powerful maid,
When fast she dropped her tears, as thus she said :
'Farewell the youth whom sighs could not detain,
Whom Zara's breaking heart implored in vain!
Yet as thou goest, may every blast arise
Weak and unfelt as these rejected sighs;
Safe o'er the wild no perils may'st thou see,
No griefs endure, nor weep, false youth! like me.'
'O! let me safely to the fair return,
Say with a smile, she must not, shall not mourn; O! let me teach my heart to lose its fears, Recalled by Wisdom's voice and Zara's tears.'
He said, and called on Heaven to bless the day When back to Schiraz' walls he bent his way.
ALL hail! thou lovely queen of night,
Bright empress of the starry sky!
The meekness of thy silvery light
Beams gladness on the gazer's eye,
While from thy peerless throne on high
Thou shinest bright as cloudless noon,
And bidd'st the shades of darkness fly
Before thy glory-Harvest Moon!
In the deep stillness of the night,
When weary labour is at rest,
How lovely is the scene!-how bright
The wood-the lawn-the mountain's breast,
When thou, fair moon of harvest! hast
Thy radiant glory all unfurled,
And sweetly smilest in the west,
Far down upon the silent world.
Dispel the clouds, majestic orb!
That round the dim horizon brood,
And hush the winds that would disturb,
The deep, the awful solitude,
That rests upon the slumbering flood,
The dewy fields, and silent grove,
When midnight hath thy zenith viewed,
And felt the kindness of thy love.
Lo scattered wide beneath thy throne,
The hope of millions richly spread,
That seems to court thy radiance down,
To rest upon its dewy bed:
O let thy cloudless glory shed
Its welcome brilliance from on high,
Till hope be realised-and fled
The omens of a frowning sky!
Shine on, fair orb of light! and smile
Till autumn months have passed away,
And labour hath forgot the toil
He bore in summer's sultry ray;
And when the reapers end the day,
Tired with the burning heat of noon, They'll come with spirits light and gay,
And bless thee-lovely Harvest Moon!
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