The flush on her bright cheek to me Too well that I should let it be Light in the wilderness alone. TAMERLANE. XVI. I wrapped myself in grandeur then, Had thrown her mantle over me But that, among the rabble-men, With their own breath to fan his fire. XVII. Look round thee now on Samarcand! Is she not queen of Earth? her pride Above all cities? in her hand Their destinies! in all beside Of glory which the world hath known Stands she not nobly and alone? Falling-her veriest stepping-stone Shall form the pedestal of a throneAnd who her sovereign? Timour-he Whom the astonished people saw Striding o'er empires haughtily A diademed outlaw! XVIII. O human love! thou spirit given, Which fall'st into the soul like rain XIX. When Hope, the eagle that towered, could see And homeward turned his softened eye. 'Twas sunset: when the sun will part There comes a sullenness of heart To him who still would look upon The glory of the summer sun. That soul will hate the ev'ning mist So often lovely, and will list To the sound of the coming darkness (known To those whose spirits hearken) as one Who, in a dream of night, would fly, But cannot, from a danger nigh. XX. What tho' the moon-the white moon TAMERLANE. (So like you gather in your breath) ΧΧΙ. I reached my home-my home no more- And, tho' my tread was soft and low, On beds of fire that burn below, An humbler heart-a deeper woe. XXII. Father, I firmly do believe I know--for Death who comes for me From regions of the blest afar, Where there is nothing to deceive, Hath left his iron gate ajar, And rays of truth you cannot see Are flashing thro' Eternity I do believe that Eblis hath A snare in every human path |