Giaour 3

# The Giaour Part 3

a fragment of a Turkish tale

Part 3 Lines 501 - 1000

Text from the 11th Print Edition, 1814

Printed by T. Davison for J. Murray

***This file is in the public domain***

1. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1923.

2. The author died in or before 1940, so this work is also in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 75 years or less. This work may also be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

### Lines 1001-1100

1. "Than bear a life of lingering woes
2. "My spirit shrunk not to sustain
3. "The searching throes of ceaseless pain;
4. "Nor sought the self-accorded grave
5. "Of ancient fool, and modern knave:
6. "Yet death I have not fear'd to meet,
7. "And in the field it had been sweet
8. "Had danger wooed me on to move
9. "The slave of glory, not of love.
10. "I've brav'd it not for honour's boast;
11. "I smile at laurels won or lost.
12. "To such let others carve their way,
13. "For high renown, or hireling pay;
14. "But place again before my eyes
15. "Aught that I deem a worthy prize;
16. "The maid I love the man I hate
17. "And I will hunt the steps of fate,
18. "(To save or slay as these require)
19. "Through rending steel, and rolling fire;
20. "Nor need'st thou doubt this speech from one
21. "Who would but do what he hath done.
22. "Death is but what the haughty brave
23. "The weak must bear the wretch must crave
24. "Then let Life go to him who gave;
25. "I have not quailed to danger's brow
26. "When high and happy need I now?
27. "I lov'd her, friar! nay, adored
28. "But these are words that all can use
29. "I prov'd it more in deed than word
30. "If There's blood upon that dinted sword
31. "A stain it's steel can never lose:
32. " 'Twas shed for her, who died for me,
33. "It warmed the heart of one abhorred:
34. "Nay, start not no nor bend thy knee,
35. "Nor midst my sins such act record,
36. "Thou wilt absolve me from the deed,
37. "For he was hostile to thy creed !
38. "The very name of Nazarene
39. "Was wormwood to his Paynim spleen,
40. "Ungrateful fool! since but for brands,
41. "Well wielded in some hardy hands;
42. "And wounds by Galileans given,
43. "The surest pass to Turkish heav'n;
44. "For him his Houris still might wait
45. "Impatient at the prophet's gate.
46. "I lov'd her love will find its way
47. 'Through paths where wolves would fear to prey,
48. "And if it dares enough, 'twere hard
49. "If passion met not some reward
50. "No matter how or where or why,
51. "I did not vainly seek nor sigh:
52. "Yet sometimes with remorse in vain
53. "I wish she had not love again.
54. "She died I dare not tell thee how,
55. "But look 'tis written on my brow!
56. "There read of Cain the curse and crime,
57. "In characters unworn by time:
58. "Still, ere thou dost condemn me pause
59. "Not mine the act, though I the cause;
60. "Yet did he but what I had done
61. "Had she been false to more than one;
62. "Faithless to him he gave the blow,
63. "But true to me I laid him low;
64. "Howe'er deserv'd her doom might be,
65. "Her treachery was truth to me;
66. "To me she gave her heart, that all
67. "Which tyranny can ne'er enthrall;
68. "And I, alas! too late to save,
69. " Yet all I then could give I gave
70. " 'Twas some relief our foe a grave.
71. "His death sits lightly ; but her fate
72. "Has made me what thou well may'st hate.
73. "His doom was seaPd he knew it well,
74. "Warn'd by the voice of stern Taheer,
75. "Deep in whose darkly boding ear
76. "The deathshot peal'd of murder near
77. "As filed the troop to where they fell!
78. "He died too in the battle broil
79. "A time that heeds nor pain nor toil
80. "One cry to Mahomet for aid,
81. "One prayer to Alil all he made:
82. "He knew and crossed me in the fray
83. "I gazed upon him where he lay,
84. "And watched his spirit ebb away;
85. "Though pierced like Pard by hunters' steel,
86. "He felt not half that now I feel.
87. "I search'd, but vainly search'd to find,
88. "The workings of a wounded mind;
89. "Each feature of that sullen corse
90. "Betrayed his rage, but no remorse.
91. "Oh, what had Vengeance given to trace
92. "Despair upon his dying face !
93. "The late repentance of that hour,
94. "When Penitence hath lost her power
95. "To tear one terror from the grave
96. "And will not soothe, and can not save
97. "The cold in clime are cold in blood,
98. "Their love can scarce deserve the name;
99. "But mine was like the lava flood
100. "That boils in ^Etna's breast of flame,

### Lines 1101-1200

1. "I cannot prate in puling strain
2. "Of ladye-love, and beauty's chain;
3. "If changing cheek, and scorching vein-
4. "Lips taught to writhe, but not complain
5. "If bursting heart, and mad'ning brain
6. "And daring deed, and vengeful steel
7. "And all that I have felt and feel
8. "Betoken love that love was mine,
9. "And shewn by many a bitter sign.
10. " 'Tis true, I could not whine nor sigh,
11. "I knew but to obtain or die.
12. "I die but first I have possest,
13. "And come what may, I have been blest;
14. "Shall I the doom I sought upbraid?
15. "No reft of all yet undismayed
16. "But for the thought of Leila slain,
17. "Give me the pleasure with the pain,
18. "So would I live and love again.
19. "I grieve, but not, my holy guide!
20. "For him who dies, but her who died;
21. "She sleeps beneath the wandering wave,
22. "Ah! had she but an earthly grave,
23. "This breaking heart and throbbing head
24. "Should seek and share her narrow bed.
25. "She was a form of life and light
26. "That seen became a part of sight,
27. "And rose where'er I turned mine eye
28. "The Morning-star of Memory!
29. "Yes, Love indeed is light from heaven
30. "A spark of that immortal fire
31. "With angels shar'd by Alia given,
32. "To lift from earth our low desire.
33. "Devotion wafts the mind above,
34. "But Heaven itself descends in love
35. "A feeling from the Godhead caught,
36. "To wean from self each sordid thought
37. "A Ray of him who form'd the whole
38. "A Glory circling round the soul!
39. "I grant my love imperfect all
40. "That mortals by the name miscall
41. "Then deem it evil what thou wilt
42. "But say, oh say, hers was not guilt!
43. "She was my life's unerring light
44. "That quench'd what beam shall break my night?
45. "Oh ! would it shone to lead me still,
46. "Although to death or deadliest ill!
47. "Why marvel ye? if they who lose
48. " 'This present joy, this future hope,
49. "No more with sorrow meekly cope
50. "In phrenzy then their fate accuse
51. "In madness do those fearful deeds
52. "That seem to add but guilt to woe,
53. "Alas! the breast that inly bleeds
54. "Hath nought to dread from outward blow
55. "Who falls from all he knows of bliss,
56. "Cares little into what abyss.
57. "Fierce as the gloomy vulture's now
58. "To thee, old man, my deeds appear
59. "I read abhorrence on thy brow,
60. "And this too was I bom to bear!
61. " "Vis true, that, like that bird of prey,
62. "With havock have I mark'd my way
63. "But this was taught rue by the dove
64. "To die and know no second love.
65. "This lesson yet hath man to learn,
66. "Taught by the thing he dares to spurn
67. "The bird that sings within the brake,
68. "The swan that swims upon the lake,
69. "One mate, and one alone, will take.
70. "And let the fool still prone to range,
71. "And sneer on all who cannot change
72. "Partake his jest with boasting boys,
73. "I envy not his varied joys
74. "But deem such feeble, heartless man,
75. "Less than yon solitary swan
76. "Far far beneath the shallow maid
77. "He left believing and betray'd.
78. "Such shame at least was never mine
79. "Leila each thought was only thine!
80. "My good, my guilt, my weal, my woe,
81. "My hope on high my all below.
82. "Earth holds no other like to thee,
83. "Or if it doth, in vain for me
84. "For worlds I dare not view the dame
85. "Resembling thee, yet not the same.
86. "The very crimes that mar my youth
87. "This bed of death attest my truth
88. " 'Tis all too late thou wert thou art
89. "The cherished madness of my heart!
90. "And she was lost and yet I breathed,
91. "But not the breath of human life
92. "A serpent round my heart was wreathed,
93. "And stung my every thought to strife.
94. "Alike all time abhorred all place,
95. "Shuddering I shrunk from Nature's face,
96. "Where every hue that charmed before
97. "The blackness of my bosom wore:
98. "The rest thou do'st already know,
99. "And all my sins and half my woe
100. "But talk no more of penitence,

### Lines 1201-1300

1. "Thou see'st I soon shall part from hence
2. "And if thy holy tale were true
3. "The deed that's done can'st thou undo?
4. Think me not thankless but this grief
5. Looks not to priesthood for relief.
6. My soul's estate in secret guess
7. But vvoulcTst thou pity more say less
8. When thou can'st bid my Leila live,
9. Then'will I sue thee to forgive;
10. Then plead my cause in that high place
11. Where purchased masses proffer grace
12. Go when the hunter's hand hath wrung
13. From forest-cave her shrieking young,
14. And calm the lonely lioness
15. But soothe not mock not my distress!
16. "In earlier days, and calmer hours,
17. "When heart with heart delights to blend,
18. "Where bloom my native valley's bowers
19. "I had Ah! have I now? a friend!
20. "To him this pledge I charge thee send
21. "Memorial of a youthful vow;
22. "I would remind him of my end,
23. "Though souls absorbed like mine allow
24. "Brief thought to distant friendship's claim,
25. "Yet dear to him my blighted name.
26. " 'Tis strange he prophesied my doom,
27. "And I have smil'd (I then could smile )
28. "When Prudence would his voice assume,
29. "And warn I reck'd not what the while
30. "But now remembrance whispers o'er
31. "Those accents scarcely mark'd before.
32. "ay that his bodings came to pass,
33. "And he will start to hear their truth,
34. "And wish his words had not been sooth,
35. "Tell him unheeding as I was
36. "Through many a busy bitter scene
37. "Of all our golden youth had been
38. "In pain, rny faultering tongue had tried
39. "To bless his memory ere I died ;
40. "But heaven in wrath would turn away,
41. "If Guilt should for the guiltless pray.
42. "I do not ask him not to blame
43. "Too gentle he to wound my name;
44. "And what have I to do with fame?
45. "I do not ask him not to mourn,
46. "Such cold request might sound like scorn;
47. "And what than friendship's manly tear
48. "May better grace a brother's bier?
49. "But bear this ring his own of old
50. "And tell him what thou dost behold !
51. "The wither'd frame, the ruined mind,
52. "The wrack by passion left behind
53. "A shrivelled scroll, a scattered leaf,
54. "Sear'd by the autumn blast of grief!
55. "Tell me no more of fancy's gleam,
56. "No, father, no, 'twas not a dream;
57. "Alas ! the dreamer first must sleep,
58. "I only watch'd, and wish'd to weep;
59. "But could not, for my burning brow
60. "Throbb'd to the very brain as now.
61. "I wish'd but for a single tear,
62. "As something welcome, new, and dear;
63. "I wish'd it then I wish it still,
64. "Despair is stronger than my will.
65. "Waste not thine orison despair
66. "Is mightier than thy pious prayer;
67. "I would not, if I might, be blest,
68. "I want no paradise but rest.
69. " 'Twas then, I tell thee, father! then
70. "I saw her yes she liv'd again;
71. "And shining in her white symar, 4 \*
72. "As through yon pale grey cloud the star
73. "Which now I gaze on, as on her
74. "Who look'd and looks far lovelier;
75. "Dimly I view its trembling spark
76. "To-morrow's night shall be more dark
77. "And I before its rays appear,
78. "That lifeless thing the living fear.
79. "I wander, father! for my soul
80. "Is fleeting towards the final goal;
81. "I saw her, friar ! and I rose,
82. "Forgetful of our former woes;
83. "And rushing from my couch, I dart,
84. "And clasp her to my desperate heart;
85. "I clasp what is it that I clasp?
86. "No breathing form within my grasp,
87. "No heart that beats reply to mine,
88. "Yet, Leila ! vet the form is thine!
89. " ' And art thou, dearest, chang'd so much,
90. "As meet my eye, yet mock my touch?
91. "Ah! were thy beauties e'er so cold,
92. " I care not so my arms enfold
93. "The all they ever wish'd to hold.
94. "Alas! around a shadow prest,
95. "They shrink upon my lonely breast;
96. "Yet still 'tis there in silence stands,
97. "And beckons with beseeching hands!
98. "With braided hair, and bright-black eye
99. "I knew 'twas false she could not die!
100. "But he is dead within the deli

### Lines 1301-1332

1. "I saw him buried where he fell;
2. He comes not for he cannot break
3. "From earth why then art thou awake?
4. "They told me, wild waves rolld above
5. "The face I view, the form I love;
6. "They told me 'twas a hideous tale!
7. "I'd tell it but my tougue would fail
8. "If true and from thine ocean-cave
9. "Thou com'st to claim a calmer grave;
10. "Oh ! pass thy dewy fingers o'er
11. "This brow that then will burn no more;
12. "Or place them on my hopeless heart
13. "But, shape or shade! whute'er thou art,
14. "In mercy, ne'er again depart
15. "Or farther with thee bear my soul,
16. "Than winds can waft or waters roll!
17. "Such is my name, and such my tale,
18. "Confessor to thy secret ear,
19. "I breathe the sorrows I bewail,
20. "And thank thee for the generous tear
21. "This glazing eye could never shed,
22. "Then lay me with the humblest dead,
23. "And save the cross above my head,
24. "Be neither name nor emblem spread
25. "By prying stranger to be read,
26. "Or stay the passing pilgrim's tread."
27. He pass'd nor of his name and race
28. Hath left a token or a trace,
29. Save what the father must not say
30. Who shrived him on his dying day;
31. This broken tale was all we knew
32. Of her he lov'd, or him he slew.