Djinns is a name applied to genii, angels, or demons, supposed to have transparent bodies, with the power of assuming various
Waves gray Where play
Winds gay- All asleep.
Hark a sound, Far and slight, Breathes around On the night-
High and higher, Nigh and nigher, Like a fire Roaring bright. Now on it is sweeping With rattling beat
Like dwarf imp leaping
In gallop fleet;
He flies, he prances, In frolic fancies-
On wave crest dances With pattering feet.
Hark, the rising swell, With each nearer burst!
Like the toll of bell
Of a convent cursed;
Like the billowy roar
On a storm-lashed shore- Now hushed, now once more Maddening to its worst, Oh God! the deadly sound Of the djinns' fearful cry!
Quick, 'neath the spiral round Of the deep staircase, fly! See, our lamplight fade! And of the balustrade
Mounts, mounts the circling shade Up to the ceiling high!
Tis the djinns' wild streaming swarm Whistling in their tempest flight; Snap the tall yews 'neath the storm, Like a pine-flame crackling bright; Swift and heavy, low, their crowd Through the heavens rushing loud!- Like a lurid thunder cloud With its hold of fiery night! Ha! they are on us, close without! Shut tight the shelter where we lie! With hideous din the monster rout,
Dragon and vampire, fill the sky! The loosened rafter overhead
Trembles and bends like quivering reed;
Shakes the old door with shuddering dread,
As from its rusty hinge 'twould fly! Oh prophet! if thy hand but now Save from these foul and hellish things, A pilgrim at thy shrine I'll bow, Laden with pious offerings. Bid their hot breath its fiery rain Stream on my faithful door in vain, Vainly upon my blackened pane
Grate the fierce claws of their dark wings! They have passed!—and their wild legion Cease to thunder at my door;
Fleeting through night's rayless region, Hither they return no more. Clanking chains and sounds of woe Fill the forests as they go; And the tall oaks cower low, Bent their flaming flight before. On! on! the storm of wings Bears far the fiery fear, Till scarce the breeze now brings Dim murmurings to the ear; Like locusts humming hail,
Or thrash of tiny flail Plied by the pattering hail On some old roof-tree near. Fainter now are borne Fitful murmurings still As, when Arab horn Swells its magic peal, Shoreward o'er the deep Fairy voices sweep, And the infant's sleep Golden visions fill.
Each deadly djinn, Dark child of fright, Of death and sin, Speeds the wild flight. Hark, the dull moan! Like the deep tone Of ocean's groan, Afar by night!
More and more Fades it now, As on shore Ripples flow- As the plaint, Far and faint, Of a saint, Murmured low. Hark! hist! Around
I list!
The bounds Of space All trace
Efface
Of sound.
Assuredly, that fellow's throat is
Doomed to a final drop at Newgate;
He knows, too, (the unconscionable elf), That there's no soul at home except myself." "Indeed," replied the stranger, (looking grave,) Then he's a double knave:
He knows that rogues and thieves by scores Nightly beset unguarded doors;
And see, how easily might one
Of these domestic foes,
Even beneath your very nose, Perform his knavish tricks: Enter your room as I have done,
Blow out your candles-thus-and thus- Pocket your silver candlesticks:
And-walk off-thus"
So said, so done; he made no more remark, Nor waited for replies,
But marched off with his prize, Leaving the gouty merchant in the dark.
Cried: Ho! what have we here So very round and smooth and sharp? To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an elephant
Is very like a spear!”
The Third approached the animal, And, happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands, Thus boldly up and spake :
"I see," quoth he, "the elephant Is very like a snake!"
The Fourth reached out his eager hand, And felt about the knee, "What most this wondrous beast is like Is mighty plain," quoth he; "Tis clear enough the elephant
The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most; Deny the fact who can, This marvel of an elephant Is very like a fan!"
The Sixth no sooner had begun About the beast to grope, Than, seizing on the swinging tail That fell within his scope, "I see," quoth he, "the elephant Is very like a rope!"
And so these men of Indostan Disputed loud and long, Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong, Though each was partly in the righ And all were in the wrong!
So, oft in theologic wars The disputants, I ween, Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean, And prate about an elephant Not one of them has seen! JOHN GODFREY SAXE
THE HOUSEKEEPER'S SOLILOQUY.
'ERE'S a big washing to be done- One pair of hands to do it- Sheets, shirts and stockings, coats and pants, How will I e'er get through it? Dinner to get for six or more,
No loaf left o'er from Sunday; And baby cross as he can live- He's always so on Monday.
'Tis time the meat was in the pot,
The bread was worked for baking, The clothes were taken from the boil- Oh dear! the baby's waking!
Hush, baby dear! there, hush-sh-sh! I wish h'd sleep a little,
Till I could run and get some wood, To hurry up the kettle.
Oh dear! oh dear! if P― comes home, And finds things in this pother, He'll just begin and tell me all About his tidy mother!
How nice her kitchen used to be, Her dinner always ready Exactly when the noon-bell rang- Hush, hush, dear little Freddy! And then will come some hasty words, Right out before I'm thinking-
They say that hasty words from wives Set sober men to drinking.
Now is not that a great idea,
That men should take to sinning, Because a weary, half-sick wife, Can't always smile so winning? When I was young I used to earn
My living without trouble,
Had clothes and pocket money, too, And hours of leisure double.
I never dreamed of such a fate,
When I, a-lass! was courted—
Wife, mother, nurse, seamstress, cook, housekeeper, chambermaid, laundress, dairywoman, and scrub generally, doing the work of six,
For the sake of being supported!
Before the Alegaiter well could ope
His eye in other words perceive his danger) The Snaik had enveloped his body just 19 Times with 'foalds voluminous and vast' (from Milton) And had tore off several scails in the confusion, Besides squeazing him awfully into his stomoc. Just then, by a fortinate turn in his affairs, He ceazed into his mouth the careless tale Of the unreflecting water snaik! Grown desperate He, finding that his tale was fast squesed Terrible while they roaled all over the iland. It was a well-conduckted Affair; no noise Disturbed the harmony of the seen, ecsept Onct when a Willow was snaped into by the roaling. Eeach of the combatence hadn't a minit for holering. So the conflick was naterally tremenjous! But soon by grate force the tail was bit complete- Ly of; but the eggzeration was too much
COLLUSION BETWEEN A ALEGAITER AND For his delicate Constitootion; he felt a compres
'HERE is a niland on a river lying,
Which runs into Gautimaly, a warm country, Lying near the Tropicks, covered with sand; Hear and their a symptum of a Wilow, Hanging of its umberagious limbs & branches Over the clear streme meandering far below. This was the home of the now silent Alegaiter, When not in his other element confine'd: Here he wood set upon his eggs asleep With 1 ey observant of flis and other passing Objects: a while it kept a going on so : Fereles of danger was the happy Alegaiter! But a las! in a nevil our he was fourced to Wake! that dreme of Blis was two sweet for him. I morning the sun arose with unusool splender Whitch allso did our Alegaiter, coming from the water, His scails a flinging of the rais of the son back, To the fountain-head which tha originly sprung from, But having not had nothing to eat for some time, he Was slepy and gap'd, in a short time, widely. Unfoalding soon a welth of perl-white teth, The rais of the son soon shet his sinister ey Because of their mutool splendor and warmth. The evil Our (which I sed) was now come; Evidently a good chans for a water-snaik Of the large specie, which soon appeared Into the horison, near the bank where reposed Calmly in slepe the Alegaiter before spoken of. About 60 feet was his Length (not the 'gaiter) And he was aperiently a well-proportioned snaik. When he was all ashore he glared-upon The iland with approval, but was soon
'WO or three dears, and two or three sweets; Two or three balls, and two or three treats; Two or three serenades, given as a lure; Two or three oaths how much they endure; Two or three messages sent in one day; Two or three times led out from the play; Two or three soft speeches made by the way; Two or three tickets for two or three times; Two or three love-letters writ all in rhymes; Two or three months keeping strict to these rules Can never fail making a couple of fools.
'Astonished with the view and lost to wonder' (from He would be rowed back, for he was not yet dead.
(For jest then he began to see the Alegaiter)
Being a nateral enemy of his'n, he worked hisself Into a fury, also a ni position.
"Trim the boat, and sit quiet," stern Charon replied: "You may have forgot; you were drunk when you
ERE lies fast asleep-awake me who can- That medley of passions and follies, a Man, Who sometimes loved license, and some- times restraint,
Too much of the sinner, too little of the saint; From quarter to quarter I shifted my tack; 'Gainst the evils of life a most notable quack; But, alas! I soon found the defects of my skill, And my nostrums in practice proved treacherous still;
From life's certain ills 'twas in vain to seek ease, The remedy oft proved another disease; What in rapture began often ended in sorrow, And the pleasure to-day brought reflection to-mor- row;
When each action was o'er, and its errors were seen, Then I viewed with surprise the strange thing I had been;
My body and mind were so oddly contrived, That at each other's failing both parties connived; Imprudence of mind brought on sickness and pain, And body diseased paid the debt back again; Thus coupled together life's journey they passed, Till they wrangled and jangled, and parted at last; Thus tired and weary, I've finished my course, And glad it is bed-time, and things are no worse.
Pigs, pippins, poultry all the while, And Easter offerings too!" "You're skilled in languages, I guess,"
Th' amazed diocesan cried;
"I know no language, more nor less," The surly clown replied:
"But Greek, I've heard the learned say, Surpasses all the rest;
And since 'tis for the best we pay, We ought to have the best."
T blew a hard storm, and in utmost confusion, The sailors all hurried to get absolution; Which done, and the weight of the sins they con- fessed
Transferred, as they thought, from themselves to the priest,
To lighten the ship, and conclude their devotion, They tossed the poor parson souse into the ocean.
THE BALD-PATED WELSHMAN AND THE
SQUIRE of Wales, whose blood ran higher Than that of any other squire,
Hasty and hot; whose peevish honor Revenged each slight was put upon her; Upon a mountain's top one day, Exposed to Sol's meridian ray, He fumed, he raved, he cursed, he swore, Exhaled a sea at every pore;
At last, such insults to evade, Sought the next tree's protecting shade; Where as he lay dissolved in sweat, And wiped off many a rivulet,
Off in a pet the beaver flies,
And flaxen wig, time's best disguise, By which folks of maturer ages
Vie with smooth beaux, and ladies' pages; Though 't was a secret rarely known, Ill-natured age had cropped his crown, Grubbed all the covert up, and now A large, smooth plain extends his brow. Thus as he lay with numskull bare, And courted the refreshing air, New persecutions still appear; A noisy fly offends his ear. Alas! what man of parts and sense Could bear such vile impertinence? Yet, so discourteous is our fate, Fools always buzz about the great. This insect now, whose active spite Teased him with never-ceasing bite, With so much judgment played his part, He had him both in tierce and carte:
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