The minaret-cryer's chaunt of glee Sung from his lighted gallery,' And answer'd by a ziraleet From neighbouring Haram, wild and sweet; The merry laughter, echoing From gardens, where the silken swing Wafts some delighted girl above The top leaves of the orange grove; And the sounds from the Lake, the low whisp'ring in boats, As they shoot through the moonlight; - the dipping of oars, And the wild, airy warbling that every where floats, Through the groves, round the islands, as if all the shores 9 "It is the custom among the women to employ the Maazeen to chaunt from the gallery of the nearest minaret, which on that occasion is illuminated, and the women assembled at the house respond at intervals with a ziraleet or joyous chorus.". Russell. "At. the keeping of the Feast of Roses we beheld an infinite number of tents pitched, with such a crowd of men, women, boys and girls, with music, dances," &c. &c. - Herbert. Like those of KATHAY utter'd music, and gave But the gentlest of all are those sounds, full of feeling, Oh! best of delights as it every where is To be near the lov'd One, - what a rapture is his, Who in moonlight and music thus sweetly may glide O'er the Lake of CASHMERE, with that One by his side! If Woman can make the worst wilderness dear, Think, think what a Heav'n she must make of CASHMERE! So felt the magnificent Son of Acbar, 3 When from power and pomp and the trophies of war 2 “An old commentator of the Chou-King says, the ancients having remarked that a current of water made some of the stones near its banks send forth a sound, they detached some of them, and being charmed with the delightful sound they emitted, constructed King or musical instruments of them.". Grosier. 3 Jehanguire was the son of the Great Acbar. He saw, in the wreaths she would playfully snatch From the hedges, a glory his crown could not match, And preferr'd in his heart the least ringlet that curl❜d Down her exquisite neck to the throne of the world! There's a beauty, for ever unchangingly bright, New beauty, like flow'rs that are sweetest when shaken. If tenderness touch'd her, the dark of her eye At once took a darker, a heavenlier dye, From the depth of whose shadow, like holy revealings From innermost shrines, came the light of her feelings! Then her mirth-oh! 'twas sportive as ever took wing From the heart with a burst, like the wild-bird in spring;Illum'd by a wit that would fascinate sages, 4 Yet playful as Peris just loos'd from their cages. + 4 In the wars of the Dives with the Peris, whenever the former took the latter prisoners, "they shut them up in iron cages, and hung them on the highest trees. Here they were visited by their companions, who brought them the choicest odours."— Richardson. 5 In the Malay language the same word signifies women and flowers. Yet dim before her were the smiles of them all, But where is she now, this night of joy, So like the visions of a trance, That one might think, who came by chance Into the vale this happy night, He saw that City of Delight" In Fairy-land, whose streets and towers When mirth brings out the young and fair, In melancholy stillness now? Alas -how light a cause may move Dissension between hearts that love! Hearts that the world in vain had tried, And sorrow but more closely tied; That stood the storm, when waves were rough, Yet in a sunny hour fall off, 6 The capital of Shadukiam. v. note, p. 160. |