Classic Poem

M USEDDES

A stately Cypress yesterday her shade threw o'er my head;
Her form was heart-ensnaring, heart-delighting her light tread;
When speaking, sudden opened she her smiling rubies red,
There a pistachio I beheld that drops of candy shed.
" This casket can it be a mouth? Ah! deign! " I said; said she:
" Nay, nay, 'tis balm to cure thy hidden smart; aye, truly thine! "

Down o'er her crescents she had pressed the turban she did wear,
By which, from many broken hearts, sighs raised she of despair;
She loosed her tresses — hid within the cloud her moon so fair,
And o'er her visage I beheld the curls of her black hair.
" Those curling locks, say, are they then a chain? " I said; said she:
" That round my cheek, a noose to take thy heart; aye, truly thine! "

The taper bright, her cheek, illumined day's lamp in the sky;
The rose's branch was bent before her figure, cypress-high;
She, cypress-like, her foot set down upon the fount, my eye,
But many a thorn did pierce her foot, she suffered pain thereby.
" What thorn unto the roseleaf-foot gives pain? " I said; said she:
" The lash of thy wet eye doth it impart; aye, truly thine! "

Promenading, to the garden did that jasmine-cheeked one go;
With many a bright adornment in the early springtide's glow;
The hyacinths their musky locks did o'er the roses throw;
That Picture had tattooed her lovely feet rose-red to show.
" The tulip's hue whence doth the dog-rose gain? " I said; said she:
" From blood of thine shed 'neath my glance's dart; aye, truly thine! "

To earth within her ward my tears in torrents rolled apace;
The accents of her ruby lip my soul crazed by their grace;
My heart was taken in the snare her musky locks did trace,
That very moment when my eyes fell on her curls and face.
" Doth Scorpio the bright Moon's House contain? " I said; said she:
" Fear! threatening this Conjunction dread, thy part; aye, truly thine! "

Her hair with ambergris perfumed was waving o'er her cheek,
On many grieving, passioned souls it cruel woe did wreak;
Her graceful form and many charms my wildered heart made weak;
The eye beheld her figure fair, then heart and soul did seek.
" Ah! what bright thing this cypress of the plain? " I said; said she:
" 'Tis that which thy fixed gaze beholds apart; aye, truly thine! "

When their veil her tulip and dog-rose had let down yesterday,
The morning breeze tore off that screen which o'er these flow'rets lay;
Came forth that Envy of the sun in garden fair to stray,
Like lustrous pearls the dew-drops shone, a bright and glistening spray.
" Pearls, say, are these, aye pearls from " Aden's main? " I said; said she:
" Tears, these, of poor Fuz u l i , sad of heart; aye, truly thine! "