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If cause should be… a lioness; though tame。
Her father's blood before her father's face
Boil'd up; and proved her truly of his race。
I said they were alike; their features and
Their stature; differing but in sex and years;
Even to the delicacy of their hand
There was resemblance; such as true blood wears;
And now to see them; thus divided; stand
In fix'd ferocity; when joyous tears
And sweet sensations should have weled both;
Show what the passions are in their full growth。
The father paused a moment; then withdrew
His weapon; and replaced it; but stood still;
And looking on her; as to look her through;
'Not I;' he said; 'have sought this stranger's ill;
Not I have made this desolation: few
Would bear such outrage; and forbear to kill;
But I must do my duty… how thou hast
Done thine; the present vouches for the past。
'Let him disarm; or; by my father's head;
His own shall roll before you like a ball!'
He raised his whistle; as the word he said;
And blew; another answer'd to the call;
And rushing in disorderly; though led;
And arm'd from boot to turban; one and all;
Some twenty of his train came; rank on rank;
He gave the word;… 'Arrest or slay the Frank。'
Then; with a sudden movement; he withdrew
His daughter; while press'd within his clasp;
'Twixt her and Juan interposed the crew;
In vain she struggled in her father's grasp…
His arms were like a serpent's coil: then flew
Upon their prey; as darts an angry asp;
The file of pirates; save the foremost; who
Had fallen; with his right shoulder half cut through。
The second had his cheek laid open; but
The third; a wary; cool old sworder; took
The blows upon his cutlass; and then put
His own well in; so well; ere you could look;
His man was floor'd; and helpless at his foot;
With the blood running like a little brook
From two smart sabre gashes; deep and red…
One on the arm; the other on the head。
And then they bound him where he fell; and bore
Juan from the apartment: with a sign
Old Lambro bade them take him to the shore;
Where lay some ships which were to sail at nine。
They laid him in a boat; and plied the oar
Until they reach'd some galliots; placed in line;
On board of one of these; and under hatches;
They stow'd him; with strict orders to the watches。
The world is full of strange vicissitudes;
And here was one exceedingly unpleasant:
A gentleman so rich in the world's goods;
Handsome and young; enjoying all the present;
Just at the very time when he least broods
On such a thing is suddenly to sea sent;
Wounded and chain'd; so that he cannot move;
And all because a lady fell in love。
Here I must leave him; for I grow pathetic;
Moved by the Chinese nymph of tears; green tea!
Than whom Cassandra was not more prophetic;
For if my pure libations exceed three;
I feel my heart bee so sympathetic;
That I must have recourse to black Bohea:
'T is pity wine should be so deleterious;
For tea and coffee leave us much more serious;
Unless when qualified with thee; Cogniac!
Sweet Naiad of the Phlegethontic rill!
Ah! why the liver wilt thou thus attack;
And make; like other nymphs; thy lovers ill?
I would take refuge in weak punch; but rack
(In each sense of the word); whene'er I fill
My mild and midnight beakers to the brim;
Wakes me next morning with its synonym。
I leave Don Juan for the present; safe…
Not sound; poor fellow; but severely wounded;
Yet could his corporal pangs amount to half
Of those with which his Haidee's bosom bounded?
She was not one to weep; and rave; and chafe;
And then give way; subdued because surrounded;
Her mother was a Moorish maid; from Fez;
Where all is Eden; or a wilderness。
There the large olive rains its amber store
In marble fonts; there grain; and flower; and fruit;
Gush from the earth until the land runs o'er;
But there; too; many a poison…tree has root;
And midnight listens to the lion's roar;
And long; long deserts scorch the camel's foot;
Or heaving whelm the helpless caravan;
And as the soil is; so the heart of man。
Afric is all the sun's; and as her earth
Her human day is kindled; full of power
For good or evil; burning from its birth;
The Moorish blood partakes the planet's hour;
And like the soil beneath it will bring forth:
Beauty and love were Haidee's mother's dower;
But her large dark eye show'd deep Passion's force;
Though sleeping like a lion near a source。
Her daughter; temper'd with a milder ray;
Like summer clouds all silvery; smooth; and fair;
Till slowly charged with thunder they display
Terror to earth; and tempest to the air;
Had held till now her soft and milky way;
But overwrought with passion and despair;
The fire burst forth from her Numidian veins;
Even as the Simoom sweeps the blasted plains。
The last sight which she saw was Juan's gore;
And he himself o'ermaster'd and cut down;
His blood was running on the very floor
Where late he trod; her beautiful; her own;
Thus much she view'd an instant and no more;…
Her struggles ceased with one convulsive groan;
On her sire's arm; which until now scarce held
Her writhing; fell she like a cedar fell'd。
A vein had burst; and her sweet lips' pure dyes
Were dabbled with the deep blood which ran o'er;
And her head droop'd as when the lily lies
O'ercharged with rain: her summon'd handmaids bore
Their lady to her couch with gushing eyes;
Of herbs and cordials they produced their store;
But she defied all means they could employ;
Like one life could not hold; nor death destroy。
Days lay she in that state unchanged; though chill…
With nothing livid; still her lips were red;
She had no pulse; but death seem'd absent still;
No hideous sign proclaim'd her surely dead;
Corruption came not in each mind to kill
All hope; to look upon her sweet face bred
New thoughts of life; for it seem'd full of soul…
She had so much; earth could not claim the whole。
The ruling passion; such as marble shows
When exquisitely chisell'd; still lay there;
But fix'd as marble's unchanged aspect throws
O'er the fair Venus; but for ever fair;
O'er the Laocoon's all eternal throes;
And ever…dying Gladiator's air;
Their energy like life forms all their fame;
Yet looks not life; for they are still the same。
She woke at length; but not as sleepers wake;
Rather the dead; for life seem'd something new;
A strange sensation which she must partake
Perforce; since whatsoever met her view
Struck not on memory; though a heavy ache
Lay at her heart; whose earliest beat still true
Brought back the sense of pain without the cause;
For; for a while; the furies made a pause。
She look'd on many a face with vacant eye;
On many a token without knowing what;
She saw them watch her without asking why;
And reck'd not who around her pillow sat;
Not speechless; though she spoke not; not a sigh
Relieved her thoughts; dull silence and quick chat
Were tried in vain by those who served; she gave
No sign; save breath; of having left the grave。
Her handmaids tended; but she heeded not;
Her father watch'd; she turn'd her eyes away;
She recognized no being; and no spot;
However dear or cherish'd in their day;
They changed from room to room… but all forgot…
Gentle; b