IV. I am Allah's Falcon's Kalender. I am Heaven's fore-chosen Kalender. Abandoning court, and seeking a port From the storms of Life in the true Religion, V. I am Allah's Falcon's Kalender. I am Heaven's fore-chosen Kalender. But we both have to cross the Hair-Bridge.f We both have to pass the Hair-Bridge! Mother and Son. (FROM THE FRISIAN OF HANDRIC TZVELK.) I. "Hie to the wood, and seek thy sister, Hie to the wood, and tell thy sister -"Wandering in the wood, I missed her, In the wood I lost and missed her, II. "Fare to the mill, and seek thy brother, Fetch him home to his mourning mother! Son for ever gay!"— * The Bhairb Mountains in Guzzerat, from whence the Kalender is supposed to speak. † Another name for the Soonites, who opposed the doctrines of Ali, and advocated those of Omar. My readers are, of course, aware that the Mohammedans were formerly divided into two sects, the Soon-ites and the Shyites; but the Soonites, alas! disappeared too soon, and the Shy-ites are now so shy, that they decline to hold controversy with any but their wives; who, in Persia at least, can bandy syllables with their lords and masters after a manner that might astonish some European ladies. Elleen a-Ruin. (FROM THE IRISH OF CARROL O'DALY.) 1. For ever, for ever, you have my heart, 'Tis rueful, 'tis woeful, when lovers part, Mayo would I travel from morn to night, II. O! how shall I woo you-how make you mine- Can warm words win you?-can gold?-can wine? I would walk the wide world from east to west, One heavenly hour on your beauteous breast, III. Come with me, come with me, then, darling one! The moments are precious-O, let us be gone, To the uttermost bounds of the world I'll go IV. And all my glad kindred shall welcome you, With a hundred thousand welcomes true, Sweet Elleen a-Ruin! And Love and rich Plenty shall bless our home, Elegy on the Death of Sultan Suleimaun the Magnificent. (FROM THE TURKISH OF LAMEEYAH.*) I. Like to a stately tree, down-smitten in its pride and prime, Wulla-hu !† Like to a tower o'erthrown, a tower that stood from elder time, Wulla-hu! One of the most distinguished and voluminous of the Ottoman poets. He flourished in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. "Can he not hear The loud Wull-wulla' warn his distant ear."-BYRON. Lies he, the Light of Ages, The world-illuming Star, The King of Earth, the Sage of Sages, II. So fares the queenly ship over the ocean-wave at noon Her poop of gold, her sails of silver, like to sun and moon, Bright shine the skies:-from them Pest So, in his pomp and power, the Pasha leaves his palace-hall, Wulla-hu! Follows his cavalcade; ride forth his troops and Djanzrees* all Wulla-hu! His glory, to o'er-dusk it All human power were vain! So dream we again,-but, hark! that musquet! The god lies lifeless on the plain. Wull-wullahu! Wull-wullahu! IV. The nightingale is mute; the tulip wastes away for grief The violet and rose, they both are yellow in the leaf Wulla-hu! The summer droops in sorrow; Her very self is fain to borrow From Autumn a faint hue For sky and earth of blue and red- V. We who remain behind, we wither all from day to day, Wulla-hu! The sight hath left our eyes; our very beards show crisped and grey : Wulla-hu! For Plague, and Thirst, and Famine Have come down on the land: Each of us, black-skinned as a Brahmin, Take even the Koran now in hand Wull-wullahu! Wull-wullahu! * Janissaries. The assassination of a Pasha, by a private and ambushed enemy, was, until lately, so common an occurrence in the East, that the poet, as we may suppose, did not think any explanation of the circumstance to which he alludes necessary for his readers. 1848.] Elegy on the Death of Sultan Suleimaun the Magnificent. VI. To GOD we all belong; to His decree we all must bow Wulla-hu! Nushrévan and Djemsheed, the Kings of Earth, where are they now? Prayer Allah ever heareth, While Prayer may yet be heard, But when the dreary death-hour neareth, Forth goes the irrevocable Word— Wull-wullahu! Wull-wullahu! VII. Woe to us for the Lost! the Thunderer of a thousand years Wulla-hu! 545 The Great Soul of the Time,—whose voice in Death all Earth still hears Wulla-hu! Heaven's lightning was less mortal Wull-wullahu! Wull-wullahu! VIII. He, in his manhood's day, whom now we mourn in darkling weeds, Wulla-hu! Fought against Gog and Magog, and against their hell-born creeds; O, GOD! GOD! in thy love, give thou to us the Judgment Morn! Wulla-hu! That we once more may see the Monarch who hath left us lorn Wulla-hu! GOD! let the Archangel's clarion Yet, not to arraign Earth's carcase-carrion, May see him, even on that dread Dawn Wull-wullahu! Wull-wullahu! J. C. M. Viz., against the powers of the idolatrous nations (Persia and Mesopotamia). † Some of my readers may require to be informed that the Eagle and the Arrow ranked, until within a very recent period, among the chief emblematic devices of the Persians. As, however, I do not wish to over-encumber these translations with notes, I refrain from giving the explanation of this mythos (which originated with the Egyptians, or rather the Chaldeans)—the more especially, as I believe few would take any interest in it. Doubhaun, viz., the world, the material globe. |