"I said I was not what I seemed;

And now thou see'st my words were true:

I have a tale thou hast not dreamed,

If sooth—its truth must others rue.

My story now 'twere vain to hide,

I must not see thee Osman's bride:

But had not thine own lips declared

How much of that young heart I shared, 640

I could not, must not, yet have shown

The darker secret of my own.

In this I speak not now of love;

That—let Time—Truth—and Peril prove:

But first—Oh! never wed another—

Zuleika! I am not thy brother!"