ONEIZA.
Thalaba
Thou wouldest not have me mirthful! am I not
An orphan,... among strangers?
THALABA.
But with me.
ONEIZA.
My Father,...
THALABA.
Nay be comforted! last night
To what wert thou exposed! in what a peril
The morning found us! safety, honour, wealth
These now are ours. This instant who thou wert
The Sultan asked. I told him from our childhood
We had been plighted;... was I wrong Oneiza?
And when he said with bounties he would heap
Our nuptials,... wilt thou blame me if I blest
His will, that bade me fix the marriage day!
In tears Oneiza?...
ONEIZA.
Remember Destiny
Hath marked thee from mankind!
THALABA.
Perhaps when Aloadin was destroyed
The mission ceased, else would wise Providence
With its rewards and blessings strew my path
Thus for accomplished service?
ONEIZA.
Thalaba!
THALABA.
Or if haply not, yet whither should I go?
Is it not prudent to abide in peace
Till I am summoned?
ONEIZA.
Take me to the Deserts!
THALABA.
But Moath is not there; and wouldest thou dwell
In a Stranger’s tent? thy father then might seek
In long and fruitless wandering for his child.
ONEIZA.
Take me then to Mecca!
There let me dwell a servant of the Temple.
Bind thou thyself my veil,... to human eye
It never shall be lifted. There, whilst thou
Shalt go upon thine enterprize, my prayers,
Dear Thalaba! shall rise to succour thee,
And I shall live,... if not in happiness;
Surely in hope.
THALABA.
Oh think of better things!
The will of Heaven is plain: by wonderous ways
It led us here, and soon the common voice
Shall tell what we have done, and how we dwell
Under the shadow of the Sultan’s wing,
So shall thy father hear the fame, and find us
What he hath wished us ever.... Still in tears!
Still that unwilling eye! nay... nay.... Oneiza....
Has then another since I left the tent....
ONEIZA.
Thalaba! Thalaba!
With song, with music, and with dance
The bridal pomp proceeds.
Following on the veiled Bride
Fifty female slaves attend
In costly robes that gleam
With interwoven gold,
And sparkle far with gems.
An hundred slaves behind them bear
Vessels of silver and vessels of gold
And many a gorgeous garment gay
The presents that the Sultan gave.
On either hand the pages go
With torches flaring thro’ the gloom,
And trump and timbrel merriment
Accompanies their way;
And multitudes with loud acclaim
Shout blessings on the Bride.
And now they reach the palace pile,
The palace home of Thalaba,
And now the marriage feast is spread
And from the finished banquet now
The wedding guests are gone.
Who comes from the bridal chamber?
It is Azrael, the Angel of Death.
THALABA THE DESTROYER. BOOK VIII.
WOMAN.
Go not among the Tombs, Old Man!
There is a madman there.
OLD MAN.
Will he harm me if I go?
WOMAN.
Not he, poor miserable man!
But ’tis a wretched sight to see
His utter wretchedness.
For all day long he lies on a grave,
And never is he seen to weep,
And never is he heard to groan.
Nor ever at the hour of prayer
Bends his knee, nor moves his lips.
I have taken him food for charity
And never a word he spake,
But yet so ghastly he looked
That I have awakened at night
With the dream of his ghastly eyes.
Now go not among the Tombs, Old Man!
OLD MAN.
Wherefore has the wrath of God
So sorely stricken him?
WOMAN.
He came a Stranger to the land,
And did good service to the Sultan,
And well his service was rewarded.
The Sultan named him next himself,
And gave a palace for his dwelling,
And dowered his bride with rich domains.
But on his wedding night
There came the Angel of Death.
Since that hour a man distracted
Among the sepulchres he wanders.
The Sultan when he heard the tale
Said that for some untold crime
Judgement thus had stricken him,
And asking Heaven forgiveness
That he had shewn him favour,
Abandoned him to want.
OLD MAN.
A Stranger did you say?
WOMAN.
An Arab born, like you.
But go not among the Tombs,
For the sight of his wretchedness
Might make a hard heart ache!
OLD MAN.
Nay, nay, I never yet have shunned
A countryman in distress:
And the sound of his dear native tongue
May be like the voice of a friend.
Then to the Sepulchre
The Woman pointed out,
Old Moath bent his way.
By the tomb lay Thalaba,
In the light of the setting eve.
The sun, and the wind, and the rain
Had rusted his raven locks,
His checks were fallen in,
His face bones prominent,
By the tomb he lay along
And his lean fingers played,
Unwitting, with the grass that grew beside.
The Old man knew him not,
And drawing near him cried
“Countryman, peace be with thee!”
The sound of his dear native tongue
Awakened Thalaba.
He raised his countenance
And saw the good Old Man,
And he arose, and fell upon his neck,
And groaned in bitterness.
Then Moath knew the youth,
And feared that he was childless, and he turned
His eyes, and pointed to the tomb.
“Old Man!” cried Thalaba,
“Thy search is ended there!”
The father’s cheek grew white
And his lip quivered with the misery;
Howbeit, collecting with a painful voice
He answered, “God is good! his will be done!”
The woe in which he spake,
The resignation that inspired his speech,
They softened Thalaba.
“Thou hast a solace in thy grief,” he cried,
“A comforter within!
“Moath! thou seest me here,
“Delivered to the Evil Powers,
“A God-abandoned wretch.”
The Old Man looked at him incredulous.
“Nightly,” the youth pursued,
“Thy daughter comes to drive me to despair.
“Moath thou thinkest me mad,...
“But when the Cryer from the Minaret
“Proclaims the midnight hour,
“Hast thou a heart to see her?”
In th
e Meidan now
The clang of clarions and of drums
Accompanied the Sun’s descent.
“Dost thou not pray? my son!”
Said Moath, as he saw
The white flag waving on the neighbouring Mosque;
Then Thalaba’s eye grew wild,
“Pray!” echoed he, “I must not pray!”
And the hollow groan he gave
Went to the Old Man’s heart,
And bowing down his face to earth,
In fervent agony he called on God.
A night of darkness and of storms!
Into the Chamber of the Tomb
Thalaba led the Old Man,
To roof him from the rain.
A night of storms! the wind
Swept thro’ the moonless sky
And moaned among the pillared sepulchres.
And in the pauses of its sweep
They heard the heavy rain
Beat on the monument above.
In silence on Oneiza’s grave
The Father and the Husband sate.
The Cryer from the Minaret
Proclaimed the midnight hour;
“Now! now!” cried Thalaba,
And o’er the chamber of the tomb
There spread a lurid gleam
Like the reflection of a sulphur fire,
And in that hideous light
Oneiza stood before them, it was She,
Her very lineaments, and such as death
Had changed them, livid cheeks, and lips of blue.
But in her eyes there dwelt
Brightness more terrible
Than all the loathsomeness of death.
“Still art thou living, wretch?”
In hollow tones she cried to Thalaba,
“And must I nightly leave my grave
“To tell thee, still in vain,
“God has abandoned thee?”
“This is not she!” the Old Man exclaimed,
“A Fiend! a manifest Fiend!”
And to the youth he held his lance,
“Strike and deliver thyself!”
“Strike HER!” cried Thalaba,
And palsied of all powers
Gazed fixedly upon the dreadful form.
“Yea! strike her!” cried a voice whose tones
Flowed with such sudden healing thro’ his soul,
As when the desert shower
From death delivered him.
But unobedient to that well-known voice
His eye was seeking it,
When Moath firm of heart,
Performed the bidding; thro’ the vampire corpse
He thrust his lance; it fell,
And howling with the wound
Its demon tenant fled.
A sapphire light fell on them,
And garmented with glory, in their sight
Oneiza’s Spirit stood.
“O Thalaba!” she cried,
“Abandon not thyself!
“Wouldst thou for ever lose me?... go, fulfill
“Thy quest, that in the Bowers of Paradise
“In vain I may not wait thee, O my Husband!”
To Moath then the Spirit
Turned the dark lustre of her Angel eyes,
“Short is thy destined path,
“O my dear father! to the abode of bliss.
“Return to Araby,
“There with the thought of death.
“Comfort thy lonely age,
“And Azrael the Deliverer, soon
“Shall visit thee in peace.”
They stood with earnest eyes
And arms out-reaching, when again
The darkness closed around them.
The soul of Thalaba revived;
He from the floor the quiver took
And as he bent the bow, exclaimed,
“Was it the over-ruling Providence
“That in the hour of frenzy led my hands
“Instinctively to this?
“To-morrow, and the sun shall brace anew
“The slackened cord that now sounds loose and damp,
“To-morrow, and its livelier tone will sing
“In tort vibration to the arrow’s flight.
“I... but I also, with recovered health
“Of heart, shall do my duty.
“My Father! here I leave thee then!” he cried,
“And not to meet again
“Till at the gate of Paradise
“The eternal union of our joys commence.
“We parted last in darkness!”... and the youth
Thought with what other hopes,
But now his heart was calm,
For on his soul a heavenly hope had dawned.
The Old Man answered nothing, but he held
His garment and to the door
Of the Tomb Chamber followed him.
The rain had ceased, the sky was wild
Its black clouds broken by the storm.
And lo! it chanced that in the chasm
Of Heaven between, a star,
Leaving along its path continuous light,
Shot eastward. “See my guide!” quoth Thalaba,
And turning, he received
Old Moath’s last embrace,
And his last blessing.
It was eve,
When an old Dervise, sitting in the sun
At his cell door, invited for the night
The traveller; in the sun
He spread the plain repast
Rice and fresh grapes, and at their feet there flowed
The brook of which they drank.
So as they sate at meal,
With song, with music, and with dance,
A wedding train went by;
The veiled bride, the female slaves,
The torches of festivity,
And trump and timbrel merriment
Accompanied their way.
The good old Dervise gave
A blessing as they past.
But Thalaba looked on,
And breathed a low, deep groan, and hid his face.
The Dervise had known sorrow; and he felt
Compassion; and his words
Of pity and of piety
Opened the young man’s heart
And he told all his tale.
“Repine not, O my Son!” the Old Man replied,
“That Heaven has chastened thee.
“Behold this vine, I found it a wild tree
“Whose wanton strength had swoln into
“Irregular twigs, and bold excrescencies,
“And spent itself in leaves and little rings,
“In the vain flourish of its outwardness
“Wasting the sap and strength
“That should have given forth fruit.
“But when I pruned the Tree,
“Then it grew temperate in its vain expence
“Of useless leaves, and knotted, as thou seest,
“Into these full, clear, clusters, to repay
“The hand whose foresight wounded it.
“Repine not, O my Son!
“In wisdom and in mercy Heaven inflicts,
“Like a wise Leech, its painful remedies.”
Then pausing, “whither goest thou now?” he asked.
“I know not,” answered Thalaba,
“Straight on, with Destiny my guide.”
Quoth the Old Man, “I will not blame thy trust,
“And yet methinks thy feet
“Should tread with certainty.
“In Kaf the Simorg hath his dwelling place,
“The all-knowing Bird of Ages, who hath seen
“The World, with all her children, thrice destroyed.
“Long is the thither path,
“And difficult the way, of danger full;
“But his unerring voice
“Could point to certain end thy weary search.”
Easy assent the youth
Gave to the words of wisdom; a
nd behold
At dawn, the adventurer on his way to Kaf.
And he has travelled many a day
And many a river swum over,
And many a mountain ridge has crost
And many a measureless plain,
And now amid the wilds advanced,
Long is it since his eyes
Have seen the trace of man.
Cold! cold! ’tis a chilly clime
That the toil of the youth has reached,
And he is aweary now,
And faint for the lack of food.
Cold! cold! there is no Sun in heaven
But a heavy and uniform cloud
And the snows begin to fall.
Dost thou wish for thy deserts, O Son of Hodeirah?
Dost thou long for the gales of Arabia?
Cold! cold! his blood flows languid,
His hands are red, his lips are blue,
His feet are sore with the frost.
Cheer thee! cheer thee! Thalaba!
A little yet bear up!
All waste! no sign of life
But the track of the wolf and the bear!
No sound but the wild, wild wind
And the snow crunching under his feet!
Night is come; no moon, no stars,
Only the light of the snow!
But behold a fire in the cave of the hill
A heart-reviving fire;
And thither with strength renewed
Thalaba presses on.
He found a Woman in the cave,
A solitary Woman,
Who by the fire was spinning
And singing as she spun.
The pine boughs they blazed chearfully
And her face was bright with the flame.
Her face was as a Damsel’s face
And yet her hair was grey.
She bade him welcome with a smile
And still continued spinning
And singing as she spun.
The thread the Woman drew
Was finer than the silkworm’s,
Was finer than the gossamer.
The song she sung was low and sweet
And Thalaba knew not the words.
He laid his bow before the hearth,
Complete Poetical Works of Robert Southey Page 106