She softly sighed;
And ancient strife recalling, thus replied:
"When dwelt a prince discrowned, well satisfied?
And fallen, loving, still art thou a prince,
And otherwhiles might sorrow bring me, since
It might hap thou wouldst much desire her realm,
Were Lilith thine; for princes seize the helm
When Love lies moored, and bid the shallop seek
Across the waves new lands. But Love is weak,
And so, alas, the craft upon the sands
Is dashed, while one, on-looking, wrings her hands.
Such days I have outlived. Like Adam, thou
Perchance will seek to bind the loosed. Then how
(If one hath drunken wine of liberty)
Shall she, athirst, rejoice; no longer free,
Be glad?"
"My love," he said, "large-hearted lives,
Full dowers thee, and royal bounty gives,
Nor knoweth law, save Lilith's wish alone."
"Why, then," she answered, "on the polished stone
That fronts yon hill, write, Eblis, in full day,
That other time we read it clear, and say,
'Hereon are graven all those early vows
We whispered low aneath the summer boughs,'
Write every word. That so the stone shall be
Ever a witness mute twixt thee and me.
Then shall I know thou seekest in me no thrall
For after-days, if thou make compact. All
Thou hast said, write now."
Then on the stone,
As she had said, graved Eblis, and thereon
Did set his seal. So wedded they: and hand
In hand the wide world roamed. Or in her land
Abode. And oft, of hours, ere yet on earth
He walked, she questioned. Or he loosed with mirth
Her yellow hair, down-streaming o'er his arm;
And 'gainst his cheek her breath came sweet and warm;
As through his dusky locks caressing played
Her fingers slim; and shadows, half afraid,
She saw in his wild eyes.
Or paths remote
They trod, watching the white clouds rise and float
Athwart the sky. Or by the listless main,
Or 'neath the lotus bough, slow paced the twain.
Or dragon-trees spread their cool leafy screen.
And faint crept odors through the mangroves green,
Where paused the pair upon the sandy shore.
Love-tranced, unheeded, swiftly passed them o'er
Glad summer days: till one hour softly laid
At Lilith's feet a fair, lone babe, that strayed
From distant Dreamland far. So might one deem
That looked