Then said the youth, whom passion fired,
"Since 'tis not as I first desired,
I'll take, though weal or woe betide,
Thee, fairest maiden, for my bride."
With that he seized her by the wings,
When lo! they came off in his hand,
And, as he back in rapture springs,
He sees a mortal near him stand:
The Peri, beauteous as before,
But not with the same smile she wore.
The radiant glow had left no trace,
The strain of earth was on her face.
"Oh! give me, give me back my wings,
Or I shall pine and I shall die,
For even yet my spirit clings
To my dear sisters of the sky; I long to join them in the halls
Where they will meet when twilight falls,
But of my Peri wings bereft
On earth I am for ever left."
Then said the youth,
You to my father's house shall go,
And I will say how did betide
The chance that gave to me a bride
A bride more beauteous, bright, and fair
Than mortal ever home did bear;
And I'll to thee be kind and true,
And never thou this day shalt rue.
I'll keep thy wings, and should'st thou say
In time, you wish to fly away,
Then freely will I them restore."
The trembling Peri said no more;
But loudly wailed her sisters two,
When they her fate and future knew ;
In vain the stranger they implored
Her wings might be to her restored.
He answered but "Adieu-adieu,"
As from him, weeping, then they flew.
The merchant's son took home his bride,
And grace was not to him denied;
His father thought her wondrous fair
And gave them of his wealth a share.
And soon her past life she forgot,
And seemed contented with her lot;
Her husband bought her raiment, rare,
Such as a Sultan's bride might wear,
And she had slaves at her command,
And serving maidens, too, at hand;
And every day she might be seen
Within her stately palanquin.
He built her, too, a palace rare,
And amber-scented baths were there-
And every luxury that wealth
Could buy for ease, or state, or health;
And love beside at last she felt,
Love that from pity first did melt;
For could she see him true and fond
And never feel her heart respond?
She loved him. Yes! and oft would say
She never did, could, rue the day
He found her by those cooling springs,
And, she forgave him-stole her wings.
Thus time passed on, the merchant's son, The merchant's earthly race now run, Succeeded to his rich bazaar,
And sent out caravans afar,
And traded with the Franks, and those Whose banners proudly were unfurled Where'er the red sun set or rose:
The merchant princes of the world. But scarce ten years had passed away A cloud came o'er the merchant's brow,
Some creditors had failed to pay,
And he must be long absent now;
Affairs of import bade him go
And trust the wild wave's treacherous flow.
So to a nurse of threescore years
Must he entrust his beauteous wife.
He told her of his hopes and fears,
And bade her guard her as her life;
And they were parted-sad indeed
The parting—but in direst need.
The Peri-bride secluded lived,
And long her absent lord she mourned,
And well to keep her heart up strived;
And still to make complaint she scorned,
Though many a weary, weary day
Passed o'er, her husband still away.
The nurse, as oft will nurses old,
Full many a tale and legend told
To keep her mistress dear amused,
Though never she her trust abused,
'Till one day—'twas to soothe her care—
She told her "She was passing fair,
And that she'd often wonder'd how
She kept the wrinkles from her brow,
And held her seeming youth so long,
And still appeared so fair and strong,
More like a girl of tender years
Than one beset with doubt and fears."
The Peri-wife she blushed deep red;
Then, whispering to the nurse, she said,
"Fetch me that pair of fragile wings,
Locked up with Selim's choicest things;
I know he left with you the key-
Just for a minute, you shall see
How I those fairy things could wear,
For oft I've longed for such a pair,
And then you'll see how I shall look."
The curious nurse her way she took
And found, suspecting nothing wrong,
The pair of wings, as she'd been told.
The wings that had been hidden long,
Forgotten since the days of old. Then sighed the Peri-wife, as though
She wished those wings had been destroyed; And then came back the long ago,
And with them still she played and toyed;`
And then she flung her hands behind
And tried if she again could bind
The wings upon their former place.
Then came a shudder o'er her face,
For she had fixed them firmly there—
She could not from her shoulders tear
Those wings, though it was grief and pain
To feel a Peri once again,
To know she must rejoin her race
And leave behind no sign nor trace.
The nurse looked on in dread to trace
The strange, wild glow light up her face.
She shook, she trembled-then she flew,
When went her charge she never knew—
She sought at night her chamber-door,
But saw her master's bride no more.
The merchant but returned to find
A lonely home-his treasure fled;
And long, with overburdened mind,
He wished that he himself were dead.
But he had bowed to beauty's power,
Forgetting there's a higher dower
A gift of goodness-grace of mind,
And many a holier spell to bind
Two wedded hearts in wedded love,
Rare gifts, than beauty, far above;
Strong, perfect, true, domestic ties
That fix the heart, not charm the eyes,
That strengthen, ripen, ne'er grow cold,
That keep the heart from growing old,
That never from the bosom start,
Enduring till from life we part.
(Copyright.)
WILLIAM K. SAWYER.
THE locks of age are thin and frayed,
Even the eyes of age will fade,
Will pale in hue as they fail in sight,
But his were keen with an ominous light,—
That gaunt old man's, as he drew to his side
The blossom of beauty, his two months' bride.
Darling!" he called her, "heart's desire !"
But her eyes met his with a glimmering fire,
Wherein nor passion nor fervour wrought
But the fitful gleam of a growing thought
Which yet to her heart she scarce would own,
Which yet to his heart was all unknown.
"I will love him, this gaunt old man,
I will love him all that I can,
My soul will strengthen in trial," she mused,
But his jealous passion her thought abused.-
"It is a young and frivolous thing
Would love a bird for the hue of its wing.
"Youth is well, and beauty is well,
But beauty and youth may nought excel?
What! is it nothing, the love of age,
Is the heart of a man so poor a gage?
Can nothing the love of a maid bespeak
But á milky skin and a rose in the cheek?"
Time flowed on as time will flow,
Her cheek grew whiter than falling snow:
"I have loved him, this gaunt old man,
I have loved him all that I can,
But my heart is breaking." So she spake,
And the heart of the young is not hard to break.
"She is fast changing. Day by day
The bloom of her beauty is swept away,
|