Page:Lalla Rookh - Moore - 1817.djvu/34

 And such quick welcome as a spark receives Dropt on a bed of Autumn's withered leaves, Did every tale of these enthusiasts find In the wild maiden's sorrow-blighted mind. All fire at once the maddening zeal she caught:-- Elect of Paradise! blest, rapturous thought! Predestined bride, in heaven's eternal dome, Of some brave youth--ha! durst they say "of some?" No--of the one, one only object traced In her heart's core too deep to be effaced; The one whose memory, fresh as life, is twined With every broken link of her lost mind; Whose image lives tho' Reason's self be wreckt Safe mid the ruins of her intellect!

Alas, poor ZELICA! it needed all The fantasy which held thy mind in thrall To see in that gay Haram's glowing maids A sainted colony for Eden's shades; Or dream that he,--of whose unholy flame Thou wert too soon the victim,--shining came From Paradise to people its pure sphere With souls like thine which he hath ruined here!