Page:Lalla Rookh - Moore - 1817.djvu/40

 And then her oath--there madness lay again, And shuddering, back she sunk into her chain Of mental darkness, as if blest to flee From light whose every glimpse was agony! Yet one relief this glance of former years Brought mingled with its pain,--tears, floods of tears, Long frozen at her heart, but now like rills Let loose in spring-time from the snowy hills, And gushing warm after a sleep of frost, Thro' valleys where their flow had long been lost.

Sad and subdued, for the first time her frame Trembled with horror when the summons came (A summons proud and rare, which all but she, And she, till now, had heard with ecstasy,) To meet MOKANNA at his place of prayer, A garden oratory cool and fair By the stream's side, where still at close of day The Prophet of the Veil retired to pray, Sometimes alone--but oftener far with one, One chosen nymph to share his orison.

Of late none found such favor in his sight As the young Priestess; and tho', since that night