Without a peer he rideth, and yon milk-white horse doth go
Beneath his stately master, with a stately step and slow;
Then rise, oh, rise, Xarifa, lay the golden cushion down;
Unseen here through the lattice, you may gaze with all
the town."
The Zegri lady rose not, nor laid her cushion down,
Nor came she to the window to gaze with all the town;
But though her eyes dwelt on her knee, in vain her fingers strove,
And though her needle pressed the silk, no flower Xarifa wove;
One bonny rose-bud she had traced, before the noise drew nigh--
That bonny bud a tear effaced, slow drooping from her eye.
"No--no," she sighs--"bid me not rise, nor lay my cushion down,
To gaze upon Andalla with all the gazing town."
"Why rise ye not, Xarifa, nor lay your cushion down?
Why gaze ye not, Xarifa, with all the gazing town?
Hear, hear the trumpet how it swells, and how the people cry!
He stops at Zara's palace gate--why sit ye still--oh, why?"
"At Zara's gate stops Zara's mate; in him shall I discover
The dark-eyed youth pledged me his truth with tears, and was my lover?
I will not rise, with dreary eyes, nor lay my cushion down,
To gaze on false Andalla with all the gazing town!"
ZARA'S EAR-RINGS
"My ear-rings! my ear-rings! they've dropped into the well,
And what to say to Muca, I cannot, cannot tell.
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