by Lord Byron
As doth a rainbow the just clearing air.
XXIV
Gulbeyaz and her lord were sleeping, or
At least one of them! — Oh, the heavy night,
When wicked wives, who love some bachelor,
Lie down in dudgeon to sigh for the light
Of the gray morning, and look vainly for
Its twinkle through the lattice dusky quite —
To toss, to tumble, doze, revive, and quake
Lest their too lawful bed-fellow should wake!
XXV
These are beneath the canopy of heaven,
Also beneath the canopy of beds
Four-posted and silk curtain’d, which are given
For rich men and their brides to lay their heads
Upon, in sheets white as what bards call “driven
Snow.” Well! ‘t is all hap-hazard when one weds.
Gulbeyaz was an empress, but had been
Perhaps as wretched if a peasant’s quean.
XXVI
Don Juan in his feminine disguise,
With all the damsels in their long array,
Had bow’d themselves before th’ imperial eyes,
And at the usual signal ta’en their way
Back to their chambers, those long galleries
In the seraglio, where the ladies lay
Their delicate limbs; a thousand bosoms there
Beating for love, as the caged bird’s for air.
XXVII
I love the sex, and sometimes would reverse
The tyrant’s wish, “that mankind only had
One neck, which he with one fell stroke might pierce:”
My wish is quite as wide, but not so bad,
And much more tender on the whole than fierce;
It being (not now, but only while a lad)
That womankind had but one rosy mouth,
To kiss them all at once from North to South.
XXVIII
Oh, enviable Briareus! with thy hands
And heads, if thou hadst all things multiplied
In such proportion! — But my Muse withstands
The giant thought of being a Titan’s bride,
Or travelling in Patagonian lands;
So let us back to Lilliput, and guide
Our hero through the labyrinth of love
In which we left him several lines above.
XXIX
He went forth with the lovely Odalisques,
At the given signal join’d to their array;
And though he certainly ran many risks,
Yet he could not at times keep, by the way
(Although the consequences of such frisks
Are worse than the worst damages men pay
In moral England, where the thing’s a tax),
From ogling all their charms from breasts to backs.
XXX
Still he forgot not his disguise: — along
The galleries from room to room they walk’d,
A virgin-like and edifying throng,
By eunuchs flank’d; while at their head there stalk’d
A dame who kept up discipline among
The female ranks, so that none stirr’d or talk’d
Without her sanction on their she-parades:
Her title was “the Mother of the Maids.”
XXXI
Whether she was a “mother,” I know not,
Or whether they were “maids” who call’d her mother;
But this is her seraglio title, got
I know not how, but good as any other;
So Cantemir can tell you, or De Tott:
Her office was to keep aloof or smother
All bad propensities in fifteen hundred
Young women, and correct them when they blunder’d.
XXXII
A goodly sinecure, no doubt! but made
More easy by the absence of all men —
Except his majesty, who, with her aid,
And guards, and bolts, and walls, and now and then
A slight example, just to cast a shade
Along the rest, contrived to keep this den
Of beauties cool as an Italian convent,
Where all the passions have, alas! but one vent.
XXXIII
And what is that? Devotion, doubtless — how
Could you ask such a question? — but we will
Continue. As I said, this goodly row
Of ladies of all countries at the will
Of one good man, with stately march and slow,
Like water-lilies floating down a rill —
Or rather lake, for rills do not run slowly, —
Paced on most maiden-like and melancholy.
XXXIV
But when they reach’d their own apartments, there,
Like birds, or boys, or bedlamites broke loose,
Waves at spring-tide, or women anywhere
When freed from bonds (which are of no great use
After all), or like Irish at a fair,
Their guards being gone, and as it were a truce
Establish’d between them and bondage, they
Began to sing, dance, chatter, smile, and play.
XXXV
Their talk, of course, ran most on the new comer;
Her shape, her hair, her air, her everything:
Some thought her dress did not so much become her,
Or wonder’d at her ears without a ring;
Some said her years were getting nigh their summer,
Others contended they were but in spring;
Some thought her rather masculine in height,
While others wish’d that she had been so quite.
XXXVI
But no one doubted on the whole, that she
Was what her dress bespoke, a damsel fair,
And fresh, and “beautiful exceedingly,”
Who with the brightest Georgians might compare:
They wonder’d how Gulbeyaz, too, could be
So silly as to buy slaves who might share
(If that his Highness wearied of his bride)
Her throne and power, and every thing beside.
XXXVII
But what was strangest in this virgin crew,
Although her beauty was enough to vex,
After the first investigating view,
They all found out as few, or fewer, specks
In the fair form of their companion new,
Than is the custom of the gentle sex,
When they survey, with Christian eyes or Heathen,
In a new face “the ugliest creature breathing.”
XXXVIII
And yet they had their little jealousies,
Like all the rest; but upon this occasion,
Whether there are such things as sympathies
Without our knowledge or our approbation,
Although they could not see through his disguise,
All felt a soft kind of concatenation,
Like magnetism, or devilism, or what
You please — we will not quarrel about that:
XXXIX
But certain ‘tis they all felt for their new
Companion something newer still, as ‘t were
A sentimental friendship through and through,
Extremely pure, which made them all concur
In wishing her their sister, save a few
Who wish’d they had a brother just like her,
Whom, if they were at home in sweet Circassia,
They would prefer to Padisha or Pacha.
XL
Of those who had most genius for this sort
Of sentimental friendship, there were three,
Lolah, Katinka, and Dudù; in short
(To save description), fair as fair can be
Were they, according to the best rep
ort,
Though differing in stature and degree,
And clime and time, and country and complexion;
They all alike admired their new connection.
XLI
Lolah was dusk as India and as warm;
Katinka was a Georgian, white and red,
With great blue eyes, a lovely hand and arm,
And feet so small they scarce seem’d made to tread,
But rather skim the earth; while Dudù’s form
Look’d more adapted to be put to bed,
Being somewhat large, and languishing, and lazy,
Yet of a beauty that would drive you crazy.
XLII
A kind of sleepy Venus seem’d Dudù,
Yet very fit to “murder sleep” in those
Who gazed upon her cheek’s transcendent hue,
Her Attic forehead, and her Phidian nose:
Few angles were there in her form, ‘t is true,
Thinner she might have been, and yet scarce lose;
Yet, after all, ‘t would puzzle to say where
It would not spoil some separate charm to pare.
XLIII
She was not violently lively, but
Stole on your spirit like a May-day breaking;
Her eyes were not too sparkling, yet, half-shut,
They put beholders in a tender taking;
She look’d (this simile’s quite new) just cut
From marble, like Pygmalion’s statue waking,
The mortal and the marble still at strife,
And timidly expanding into life.
XLIV
Lolah demanded the new damsel’s name —
”Juanna.” — Well, a pretty name enough.
Katinka ask’d her also whence she came —
”From Spain.” — “But where is Spain?” — “Don’t ask such stuff,
Nor show your Georgian ignorance — for shame!”
Said Lolah, with an accent rather rough,
To poor Katinka: “Spain’s an island near
Morocco, betwixt Egypt and Tangier.”
XLV
Dudù said nothing, but sat down beside
Juanna, playing with her veil or hair;
And looking at her steadfastly, she sigh’d,
As if she pitied her for being there,
A pretty stranger without friend or guide,
And all abash’d, too, at the general stare
Which welcomes hapless strangers in all places,
With kind remarks upon their mien and faces.
XLVI
But here the Mother of the Maids drew near,
With, “Ladies, it is time to go to rest.
I’m puzzled what to do with you, my dear,”
She added to Juanna, their new guest:
“Your coming has been unexpected here,
And every couch is occupied; you had best
Partake of mine; but by to-morrow early
We will have all things settled for you fairly.”
XLVII
Here Lolah interposed — “Mamma, you know
You don’t sleep soundly, and I cannot bear
That anybody should disturb you so;
I’ll take Juanna; we’re a slenderer pair
Than you would make the half of; — don’t say no;
And I of your young charge will take due care.”
But here Katinka interfered, and said,
“She also had compassion and a bed.
XLVIII
“Besides, I hate to sleep alone,” quoth she.
The matron frown’d: “Why so?” — “For fear of ghosts,”
Replied Katinka; “I am sure I see
A phantom upon each of the four posts;
And then I have the worst dreams that can be,
Of Guebres, Giaours, and Ginns, and Gouls in hosts.”
The dame replied, “Between your dreams and you,
I fear Juanna’s dreams would be but few.
XLIX
“You, Lolah, must continue still to lie
Alone, for reasons which don’t matter; you
The same, Katinka, until by and by;
And I shall place Juanna with Dudù,
Who’s quiet, inoffensive, silent, shy,
And will not toss and chatter the night through.
What say you, child?” — Dudù said nothing, as
Her talents were of the more silent class;
L
But she rose up, and kiss’d the matron’s brow
Between the eyes, and Lolah on both cheeks,
Katinka, too; and with a gentle bow
(Curt’sies are neither used by Turks nor Greeks)
She took Juanna by the hand to show
Their place of rest, and left to both their piques,
The others pouting at the matron’s preference
Of Dudù, though they held their tongues from deference.
LI
It was a spacious chamber (Oda is
The Turkish title), and ranged round the wall
Were couches, toilets — and much more than this
I might describe, as I have seen it all,
But it suffices — little was amiss;
’T was on the whole a nobly furnish’d hall,
With all things ladies want, save one or two,
And even those were nearer than they knew.
LII
Dudù, as has been said, was a sweet creature,
Not very dashing, but extremely winning,
With the most regulated charms of feature,
Which painters cannot catch like faces sinning
Against proportion — the wild strokes of nature
Which they hit off at once in the beginning,
Full of expression, right or wrong, that strike,
And pleasing or unpleasing, still are like.
LIII
But she was a soft landscape of mild earth,
Where all was harmony, and calm, and quiet,
Luxuriant, budding; cheerful without mirth,
Which, if not happiness, is much more nigh it
Than are your mighty passions and so forth,
Which some call “the sublime:” I wish they’d try it:
I’ve seen your stormy seas and stormy women,
And pity lovers rather more than seamen.
LIV
But she was pensive more than melancholy,
And serious more than pensive, and serene,
It may be, more than either — not unholy
Her thoughts, at least till now, appear to have been.
The strangest thing was, beauteous, she was wholly
Unconscious, albeit turn’d of quick seventeen,
That she was fair, or dark, or short, or tall;
She never thought about herself at all.
LV
And therefore was she kind and gentle as
The Age of Gold (when gold was yet unknown,
By which its nomenclature came to pass;
Thus most appropriately has been shown
“Lucus à non lucendo,” not what was,
But what was not; a sort of style that’s grown
Extremely common in this age, whose metal
The devil may decompose, but never settle:
LVI
I think it may be of “Corinthian Brass,”
Which was a mixture of all metals, but
The brazen uppermost). Kind reader! pass
This long parenthesis: I could not shut
It sooner for the soul of me, and class
My faults even with your own! which meaneth, Put
A kind construction upon them and me:
But that you won’t — then don’t — I am not less free.
LVII
‘T is time we should return to plain narration,
&nbs
p; And thus my narrative proceeds: — Dudù,
With every kindness short of ostentation,
Show’d Juan, or Juanna, through and through
This labyrinth of females, and each station
Described — what’s strange — in words extremely few:
I have but one simile, and that’s a blunder,
For wordless woman, which is silent thunder.
LVIII
And next she gave her (I say her, because
The gender still was epicene, at least
In outward show, which is a saving clause)
An outline of the customs of the East,
With all their chaste integrity of laws,
By which the more a haram is increased,
The stricter doubtless grow the vestal duties
Of any supernumerary beauties.
LIX
And then she gave Juanna a chaste kiss:
Dudù was fond of kissing — which I’m sure
That nobody can ever take amiss,
Because ‘t is pleasant, so that it be pure,
And between females means no more than this —
That they have nothing better near, or newer.
“Kiss” rhymes to “bliss” in fact as well as verse —
I wish it never led to something worse.
LX
In perfect innocence she then unmade
Her toilet, which cost little, for she was
A child of Nature, carelessly array’d:
If fond of a chance ogle at her glass,
‘T was like the fawn, which, in the lake display’d,
Beholds her own shy, shadowy image pass,
When first she starts, and then returns to peep,
Admiring this new native of the deep.
LXI
And one by one her articles of dress
Were laid aside; but not before she offer’d
Her aid to fair Juanna, whose excess
Of modesty declined the assistance proffer’d:
Which pass’d well off — as she could do no less;
Though by this politesse she rather suffer’d,
Pricking her fingers with those cursed pins,
Which surely were invented for our sins, —
LXII
Making a woman like a porcupine,
Not to be rashly touch’d. But still more dread,
Oh ye! whose fate it is, as once ‘t was mine,
In early youth, to turn a lady’s maid; —
I did my very boyish best to shine
In tricking her out for a masquerade;
The pins were placed sufficiently, but not
Stuck all exactly in the proper spot.
LXIII
But these are foolish things to all the wise,
And I love wisdom more than she loves me;
My tendency is to philosophise
On most things, from a tyrant to a tree;
But still the spouseless virgin Knowledge flies.