17

SOLI MA,

AN ARABIAN ECLOGU E,

Written in the Year 1768.

E maids of Aden, hear a loftier tale

YE

Than e'er was fung in meadow, bower, or dale.

The fmiles of Abelah, and Maia's eyes,

Where beauty plays, and love in flumber lies;
The fragrant hyacinths of Azza's hair,

That wanton with the laughing summer-air;
Love-tinctur'd cheeks, whence roses feek their bloom,

And lips, from which the Zephyr fteals perfume;

Invite no more the wild, unpolifh'd lay,

But Ay like dreams before the morning ray.

Then farewel, love! and farewel, youthful fires!

A nobler warmth my kindled breast inspires.

Far bolder notes the liftening wood shall fill:
Flow fmooth, ye rivulets; and, ye gales, be ftill.

See yon
fair groves that o'er Amana rife,
And with their fpicy breath embalı the skies;
Where every breeze fheds incenfe o'er the vales,
And every fhrub the fcent of mufk exhales!

See through yon opening glade a glittering scene,
Lawns ever gay, and meadows ever green!
Then afk the groves, and afk the vocal bowers,
Who deck'd their fpiry tops with blooming flowers,
Taught the blue ftream o'er fandy vales to flow,
And the brown wild with livelieft hues to glow?
* Fair Solima! the hills and dales will fing;
Fair Solima! the diftant echoes ring.

But not with idle fhows of vain delight,

To charm the foul, or to beguile the fight;

At noon on banks of pleasure to repose,

Where bloom intwin'd the lily, pink, and rofe;

It was not eafy in this part of the tranflation to avoid a turn fimilar to that of Pope in the known description of the Man of

Rofs.

Not

Not in proud piles to heap the nightly feast,

Till morn with pearls has deck'd the glowing eaft;-
Ah! not for this she taught those bowers to rise,

And bade all Eden fpring before our eyes:

Far other thoughts her heavenly mind employ,
(Hence, empty pride! and hence, delufive joy !)
To cheer with sweet repaft the fainting gueft;
To lull the weary on the couch of reft;

To warm the traveller numb'd with winter's cold;
The young to cherish, to fupport the old;
The fad to comfort, and the weak protect;

The poor to shelter, and the loft direct:

These are her cares, and this her glorious task;
Can heaven a nobler give, or mortals ask?

Come to these groves, and these life-breathing glades, Ye friendless orphans, and ye dowerless maids! With eager hafte your mournful mansions leave, Ye weak, that tremble; and, ye fick, that grieve; Here shall soft tents, o'er flowery lawns difplay'd, At night defend you, and at noon o'ershade; Here rofy health the fweets of life will shower, And new delights beguile each varied hour.

Mourns there a widow, bath'd in ftreaming tears?

Stoops there a fire beneath the weight of years?
Weeps there a maid, in pining sadness left,
Of tender parents, and of hope, bereft ?
To Solima their forrows they bewaik;
To Solima they pour their plaintive tale.
She hears; and, radiant as the ftar of day,
Through the thick foreft gains her easy way:
She afks what cares the joylefs train opprefs,
What fick nefs waftes them, or what wants diftrefs;
And, as they mourn, she steals a tender figh,
Whilft all her foul fits melting in her eye:

Then with a finile the healing balm bestows,
And sheds a tear of pity o'er their woes,
Which, as it drops, fome foft-eyed angel bears
Transform'd to pearl, and in his bofom wears.

When, chill'd with fear, the trembling pilgrim roves Through pathlefs deferts, and through tangled groves, " Where mantling darknefs fpreads her dragon wing, And birds of death their fatal dirges fing, While vapours pale a dreadful glimmering caft, And thrilling horrour howls in every blast;

She