"Let the chamber be cleared."—The train disappeared—

"Now call me the chief of the Haram guard"—

With Giaffir is none but his only son,

And the Nubian awaiting the sire's award.

"Haroun—when all the crowd that wait

Are passed beyond the outer gate,

(Woe to the head whose eye beheld

My child Zuleika's face unveiled!)

Hence, lead my daughter from her tower—[fc]40

Her fate is fixed this very hour;

Yet not to her repeat my thought—

By me alone be duty taught!"

"Pacha! to hear is to obey."—

No more must slave to despot say—

Then to the tower had ta'en his way:

But here young Selim silence brake,

First lowly rendering reverence meet;

And downcast looked, and gently spake,

Still standing at the Pacha's feet:50

For son of Moslem must expire,

Ere dare to sit before his sire!

"Father! for fear that thou shouldst chide

My sister, or her sable guide—

Know—for the fault, if fault there be,

Was mine—then fall thy frowns on me!

So lovelily the morning shone,

That—let the old and weary sleep—

I could not; and to view alone

The fairest scenes of land and deep,60

With none to listen and reply

To thoughts with which my heart beat high

Were irksome—for whate'er my mood,

In sooth I love not solitude;

I on Zuleika's slumber broke,

And, as thou knowest that for me

Soon turns the Haram's grating key,

Before the guardian slaves awoke

We to the cypress groves had flown,

And made earth, main, and heaven our own!70

There lingered we, beguiled too long

With Mejnoun's tale, or Sadi's song;[fd] [129]

Till I, who heard the deep tambour[130]

Beat thy Divan's approaching hour,

To thee, and to my duty true,

Warned by the sound, to greet thee flew:

But there Zuleika wanders yet—

Nay, Father, rage not—nor forget

That none can pierce that secret bower

But those who watch the women's tower."80