1829

AL AARAAF *001

by Edgar Allan Poe

PART I -

O! nothing earthly save the ray

(Thrown back from flowers) of Beauty's eye,

As in those gardens where the day

Springs from the gems of Circassy-

O! nothing earthly save the thrill

Of melody in woodland rill-

Or (music of the passion-hearted)

Joy's voice so peacefully departed

That like the murmur in the shell,

Its echo dwelleth and will dwell-

Oh, nothing of the dross of ours-

Yet all the beauty- all the flowers

That list our Love, and deck our bowers-

Adorn yon world afar, afar-

The wandering star. -

'Twas a sweet time for Nesace- for there

Her world lay lolling on the golden air,

Near four bright suns- a temporary rest-

An oasis in desert of the blest.

Away- away- 'mid seas of rays that roll

Empyrean splendor o'er th' unchained soul-

The soul that scarce (the billows are so dense)

Can struggle to its destin'd eminence,-

To distant spheres, from time to time, she rode

And late to ours, the favor'd one of God-

But, now, the ruler of an anchor'd realm,

She throws aside the sceptre- leaves the helm,

And, amid incense and high spiritual hymns,

Laves in quadruple light her angel limbs. -

Now happiest, loveliest in yon lovely Earth,

Whence sprang the "Idea of Beauty" into birth,

(Falling in wreaths thro' many a startled star,

Like woman's hair 'mid pearls, until, afar,

It lit on hills Achaian, and there dwelt)

She looked into Infinity- and knelt.

Rich clouds, for canopies, about her curled-

Fit emblems of the model of her world-

Seen but in beauty- not impeding sight

Of other beauty glittering thro' the light-

A wreath that twined each starry form around,

And all the opal'd air in color bound. -

All hurriedly she knelt upon a bed

Of flowers: of lilies such as rear'd the head

On the fair Capo Deucato, *002 and sprang

So eagerly around about to hang

Upon the flying footsteps of- deep pride-

Of her who lov'd a mortal- and so died. *003

The Sephalica, budding with young bees,

Upreared its purple stem around her knees:-

And gemmy flower, of Trebizond misnam'd- *004

Inmate of highest stars, where erst it sham'd

All other loveliness:- its honied dew

(The fabled nectar that the heathen knew)

Deliriously sweet, was dropp'd from Heaven,

And fell on gardens of the unforgiven

In Trebizond- and on a sunny flower

So like its own above that, to this hour,

It still remaineth, torturing the bee

With madness, and unwonted reverie:

In Heaven, and all its environs, the leaf

And blossom of the fairy plant in grief

Disconsolate linger- grief that hangs her head,

Repenting follies that full long have fled,

Heaving her white breast to the balmy air,

Like guilty beauty, chasten'd and more fair:

Nyctanthes too, as sacred as the light

She fears to perfume, perfuming the night:

And Clytia, pondering between many a sun, *005

While pettish tears adown her petals run:

And that aspiring flower that sprang on Earth, *006

And died, ere scarce exalted into birth,

Bursting its odorous heart in spirit to wing

Its way to Heaven, from garden of a king:

And Valisnerian lotus, thither flown *007

From struggling with the waters of the Rhone:

And thy most lovely purple perfume, Zante! *008

Isola d'oro!- Fior di Levante!

And the Nelumbo bud that floats for ever

With Indian Cupid down the holy river- *009

Fair flowers, and fairy! to whose care is given

To bear the Goddess' song, in odors, up to Heaven: *010 -

"Spirit! that dwellest where,

In the deep sky,

The terrible and fair,

In beauty vie!

Beyond the line of blue-

The boundary of the star

Which turneth at the view

Of thy barrier and thy bar-

Of the barrier overgone

By the comets who were cast

From their pride and from their throne

To be drudges till the last-

To be carriers of fire

(The red fire of their heart)