PLAINTS, CONSOLATIONS, AND DELIGHTS
OF
ACHMED ARDEBEILI
CONTENTS.
	PAGE
TITLE PAGE
SUBSCRIBERS
ERRATA
INTRODUCTION	i
YESTERDAY.
Say, ye studious grave and old,	1
THE VOLUPTUARY.
The toils, the dangers now of war are o’er,	3
NIGHTINGALE AND ROSE.
The plaintive minstrel of the midnight grove,	6
BLISSFUL MOMENTS.
Care enough, enough of sorrow	8
TO SELIMA.
Fair blooms the rose, but more than doubly fair	10
TO SELIMA.
Lo! spring, all sportively with verdure crown’d,	12
THE ORPHAN BOY.
Whence art thou whose warblings wild,	13
TO SELIMA.
Thou, Selima, hast seen the tender fawn	16
TO SELIMA.
When the fair rose, amidst her flowery train	17
THE OLD SOLDIER.
Rest awhile, disabled Soldier	19
TO SELIMA.
Unrivall’d maid! whose heart-alluring eyes	23
TO THE POPPY.
Let the bards of Yemen praise	25
INSTABILITY OF FAVOR.
Let not the man, sustained by royal smile,	28
THE PLAINT OF MORAD.
Vain was the youthful hope that fir’d my soul	30
TO SELIMA.
Ten thousand tulips bloom in Mavra’s vale,	33
ACHMED’s DREAM.
When violence deforms a Sultan’s sway,	35
ACHMED’s RESOLVE.
Shall I, because a tyrant’s will	40
‘FORGIVE, AND TIME SHALL TEACH THEE TO FORGET.’
Say, will commiseration meet the man	42
TO THE TYRANT BAYSANGOR.
Perish the name of Rostam from the earth,	47
DANGERS.
The interminable desert spreads around,	49
CONSOLATION.
Though midnight shades involve the world in gloom,	51
TO SELIMA.
The blast of death howls o’er the Caspian wave,	52
TO SELIMA.
Far from my Selima, my soul’s delight,	54
BLESSINGS.
When will my wand’rings end, O gracious heaven!	56
EMANCIPATION.
Cease, Achmed! cease, to goad thy harass’d mind!	58
TO SELIMA.
Though exil’d, solitary, and forlorn,	61
THE RETROSPECT.
’Twas Achmed’s prayer, ere fate should seal his doom,	64
THE RESTING PLACE.
Dead lay the vanquish’d lion at my feet,	68
THE VOW.
Amid your solitudes, ye forests wild,	70
“COMPARE—’TWILL LESSEN GRIEF.”
Whence heaves my bosom with that swelling sigh?	72
FRAGMENT.
O wherefore was I born? or on the day	73
SOCIAL LOVE.
Man, as he came from his Creator’s hand,	76
SERENITY.
The gliding brook’s soft murmurs lull to rest,	80
TO THE POPPY.
Mid the vast regions of etherial space.	81
SELF DEFENCE.
With man I war not.—If he war on me,	83
MID-DAY.
The fervid blaze of noon now scorches wide,	84
THE BEDAVI.
Far o’er the plains the wand’ring shepherd strays,	85
THE VINDICATION.
Suppose one moment, Achmed, thy retreat	89
INSCRIPTION ON ACHMED’s SCYMETAR.
Keen as the blasts from Bulak’s desert blow,	92
OMNIPRESENCE.
Why was this Spirit, ardent still to rise	93
TO THE JASMINE.
Let the wild olive rise with towering pride,	95
THE INVITATION.
Why, hapless man, consume thy lingering life,	98
THE TURTLE DOVES.
Here, Achmed, let thy wearied frame once more,	100
TO SELIMA.
Where are you flown, ye hours of gay delight?	105
TO THE TYRANT SON OF ABBAS.
Flattery was ne’er my tribute to the great.	107
TO THE LUXURIOUS.
Ye, who beneath rich canopies of state	110
FREEDOM.
Fill, fill, the cup with generous wine,	112
TO ENVY.
Distraction, monster! seize thy every thought!	114
MORNING.
To western climes, as speed the goblin crew,	117
TRANSITION.
How blest the day, when bursting from the chains	120
BENEFICENCE.
If possess’d of golden treasure,	122
TO THE SNAKE.
Let the false world with dark reproach compare	125
TO NATURE.
Who can behold thy wildly-varied forms	127
MIDNIGHT REFLECTIONS.
The savage-haunted forest spreads around,	129
TO THE CAMEL.
Emblem of persevering patient toil,	133
THE ECLIPSE.
Without a shade where beams the orient light,	135
EXPANSION.
Shall we not trace the various charms that please,	136
TO AZRAEL, THE ANGEL OF DEATH.
What’s life? what’s death? fate’s sun-shine, or its gloom?	139
VIRTUE INSEPARABLE FROM NATURE.
Let Luxury her sancied wants deplore,	141
TO DISEASE.
Unwelcome harbinger of languid woe,	144
THE TEMPEST.
Wild tumult bursting from the depths of hell,	146
TO AMBITION.
What are the dazzling objects of thine aim?	148
THE TOMB OF FORTUNE.
Through all the mazes of delusive art,	152
SOLITUDE.
The azure face of heaven no cloud enveils,	154
THE DERVISH.
Without assistance of the reasoning power,	157
TO THE NIGHTINGALE.
While light-wing’d Zephyrs waft each tender note,	161
DEPENDANCE ON THE SUPREME BEING.
Nature degenerates not; why then should man?	164
TO THE SUN FLOWER.
Where is the man who thus can nobly say,	166
WAR.
O sacred fire! O ever active flame!	168
TO PEACE.
The trumpet and the tebble’s sound, no more	170
VIRTUE AND RESIGNATION.
The few who bravely and sublimely dare	172
“NATURE ALONE CAN LEAD TO TRUE DELIGHT.”
To notes of joy my lute was lightly strung,	175
ADVERSITY.
Why do thine hours, thy days, thy years, O time	178
TO THE EVENING STAR.
Hail! beauteous planet! whose unrivall’d ray	181
TO THE LAMP.
Sweet solace of the dark and dreary hour,	183
THE PURSUITS OF MAN.
Poor human life! perplex’d and painful span,	186
THE LOVE OF NATURE.
Now the grey dawn along the Eastern sky	188
ASTEKHER.
With moss hung shaggy stands the shatter’d pine,	192
THE FLOATING SUN BEAMS.
The tranquil water’s glassy surface glows	196
TO THE KIDS.
Ye wanton kids that brouze beside my bowers.	198
THE ADVANCES OF AGE.
The wither’d leaves that float adown the stream,	201
TO HOPE.
Hope! thou false inmate of the human breast,	204
THE BATTLE.
What mean those deep’ning shouts that rend the sky?	206
THE ALARM.
From whence? what art thou? ghastly spectre, say?	208
TO THE STRANGER.
Is then this tranquil life so irksome grown,	213
THE ALLEGORY.
In long and painful silence, have my thoughts	221