THE
ALLEGORY.

IN long and painful silence, have my thoughts,

My pensive thoughts, revolved from day to day,

From year to year. Ev’n now, by MEMORY led,

An ever-active circling course they run

Around the central point of human life,

Where sad EXPERIENCE, laden with the gleanings,

Abundant gleanings, of that various harvest

Mown by the hand of TIME, deems herself rich

In wisdom and in knowledge: thence presumes,

With countenance austere, to cast a gloom

Athwart the smile of HOPE; or, with a voice

Formed to the trembling accents of distrust,

Recals, with harsh rebuke’s sententious lore,

The lovely wand’rer from that fair expanse

Thro’ which she wont to roam on vagrant wing,

Catching far-distant views of FAIRY LAND,

Romantically beauteous; or, from meads

Of more than vernal loveliness, where blooms

A mimic EDEN; and the roving eye

Along the smooth but swiftly-gliding stream,

Expatiates unwearied:—many a form

Of magical illusion, from the surface

Apparently reflected, but from objects

As unsubstantial as the forms that float

Upon the wat’ry mirror.—Here awhile,

’Mid the gay bow’rs of youth, I fondly stray’d,

And cull’d the flowers of FANCY, for they grew

In fair luxuriance.—HOPE with airy step

Still led me on thro’ mazes of DELIGHT;

And as the zephyr gently-sportive play’d

Amid the quivering foliage, that o’erhung

Our devious path, sequester’d from the eye

Of prying CURIOSITY, and all

The sick’ning tribe of ENVY, or the sons

Of soul-corroding CARE. Along the grove

Acrial notes of harmony divine

Dwelt on the ear enraptured, for awhile

In low vibration, then, with gentlest swell

Flow’d on the breeze, or on its bosom died

Amid the fragrance of a thousand balms,

Stol’n from SHEBAVAN’s vale, from groves of LAR,

From OBOLA’s jasmine borders, and the meads

That skirt MOSELLA’s stream; or, where amid

SHIRAZIAN gardens prodigal of blooms

The lonely minstrel that awakes the morn,

Bends o’er the new-blown rose, inebriate

With beauty and with love.—A trembling light

That seem’d as if the lucid powers that mourn

Confined within the caves of VIZAPORE,

Had burst their fated bonds, and beam’d at once

The mingled radiance of JAURABAD’s gems—

Now tinged with changeful gleam the light of heaven.

All was enchantment! yet the wizard power

So artfully conceal’d, that still the whole

Seem’d a fair region of reality,

Nor did the mind, assimilated softly

To the CHARM, once dare to deem it FICTION.

Here in fond admiration, as I gazed

On NATURE’s fairest FLOWER, whose lovely form,

Soft tinted hues, and odoriferous scent,

Might rival all the blooms of PARADISE,

My heedless foot press’d on a sleeping SNAKE

That sudden turn’d, and writhing round the limb,

Oped wide his venom’d jaws that threaten’d death,

And hissing, darted forth his forky tongue.

Aghast, I started back—HOPE hurrying fled

With more than arrowy speed. A phantom train

Of shapes infernal, dreadful as the band

Raised by infuriate FANCY to torment

Some wretched MANIAC in his wildest hours,

When ghastly DEMONS burst upon his eye,

When nought assail his ear but shrieks of woe,

And HORROR’s deadly fiend with iron hand

Grasps his convulsive heart:—’mid dusky clouds

That wildly roll’d around, the SPECTRES flew,

Now half obscured, now starting from the gloom,

Then vanishing again. A chilling blast

That rose in whirlwind eddies, now involved

The visionary throng in one dire mass

Of horrible confusion. Thro’ the midst

Led by a hand unseen,—with trembling step

And heart subdued by dread, beyond the power

Of utterance to express, o’er broken ground

Bestrew’d with thorns and over rugged rocks

I pass’d despondent, ’till by slow degrees

The cloudy veil dissolving into air,

Open’d my prospect to a scene more wild

Than e’er imagination yet could paint,

From many a rude romantic form combined,

Of mountain, forest, rock, and narrow’d vale,

Thro’ which the roaring waters wend their way,

Impatient of the day-beam that ne’er pierced

The gloomy Asghaubs, whence they burst to freedom,

Thro’ deep enchannell’d banks, rudely o’erhung

By half-fall’n aged trees, whose distant YOUTH

Enjoy’d its vigour, when proud AYRAN’s realm

Was blest and vigorous too.—AGE steals on ALL—

And happy they who meet it well prepared—

That meet it, like the heaven-devoted bard

Sheikh Mosla-eddin SAADI, whose pure song

Shall live whilst heart-felt harmony endures—

Long as divine benignity shall bless

BEN-ATHA’s pious strains, that sung of joy

Amid the desert waste.—These aiding oft

The sweet effusions of congenial minds—

KHACANI — virtuous KEMALEDDIN thine—

And thine sublime KERMANI, humbly great—

Who, leaving courtly grandeur, and the snares

Of soul-enfeebling luxury, didst retire

To temperance and a cottage—science fraught;

And, midst the plane-tree-shaded valley sing

Of that fair HOPE—DELIGHT—SERENITY—

Which pure intention of the heart alone

Yields the poor HADJY thro’ life’s pilgrimage.

These oft in faithful recollection dwell,

And charm my lonely hours—and grateful raise

To heavenly ardors this enkindling heart.

But lo! the torrent dashing down the steep,

Thro’ pendent woods, and over many a mass

Of jutting rock, and huge disjointed stone,

Rifted by lightnings from the cliffs above.

A broken pathway winding up the glen

Here lay before me:—whilst on either side

The high-embow’ring branches overspread

Fair slopes of liveliest verdure,—such as rise

Where PERI spirits join in festive dance

Beneath the myrtle shade, and hymn the hour

When NEURUZE first unfolds the blossom’d bud

Thro’ sweet MOURDESTAN’s forest, ever-green—

And almost ever-blooming:—lov’lier far,

Delightful SHIRAZ, than thy cypress groves,

That wave their spiring branches o’er the nest

Of the complacent turtle, who restrains

Her murmuring love-note, whilst the nightingale

Listens attentively to ZSHOOLEH’s lay.

So Angels hear the GOOD MAN’s song of praise

Flow from a humble heart. My friendly guide

Unseen, and scarcely felt, withdrew his hand,

While on mine ear a more than mortal voice

Thus broke divinely sweet.—‘ACHMED, forbear

To doubt that PROVIDENCE which hitherto

Has been thy guide, thy guard. O let thy soul

Resign’d in all to Heaven’s ETERNAL LORD,

Seek WISDOM from on high, and from the source

Of boundless LOVE receive th’ inspiring gift

Of fair BENEVOLENCE, that bids thee meet

The wide creation with expanded heart.

Do good to every creature that exists

Within thy field of action: for the world

Of INSECT or of VEGETABLE LIFE,

Alike display the wonders of his power,

Alike partake the bounties of his hand,

Alike obey the mandates of his will,

Alike advance the universal good,

With MAN’s more lordly race, or ANGEL powers,

That rise sublime above thy sphere, as man

Above the lowest reptile.—Yonder path,

Tho’ devious it appear, will lead thee on

Thro’ NATURE’s fair domain. At every step

New wonders will present, and every hour

The grateful heart new tribute will bestow

Of love and admiration.—If the forms

Or hues of BEAUTY can attract thine eye,

If sweet SIMPLICITY can charm thy heart,

Or TRUTH—eternal TRUTH, can e’er extend

Her empire o’er thy soul, there shalt thou find

A bliss, a heavenly bliss, that wayward MAN

Spurns from his crowded haunts, his camps, his courts,

And leaves the EXILED ACHMED to enjoy.

FINIS.