The Daughter of the Desert

An opulent lord of Ispahan, In luxury, lolled on a silk divan, Dreaming the idle hours away In a cloud of smoke from his nargile. Weary with nothing to do in life, He thought, as he watched the smoky whirls, "'Twill be diversion to choose a wife From my peerless bevy of dancing-girls. There are beauties fair from every land— Lustrous eyes from Samarcand, Dusky forms from the upper Nile, Teeth that glisten when red lips smile, Gypsy faces of olive hue, Stolen from some wild wandering clan, Fair complexions and eyes of blue, From the sunny isles of Cardachan, Regal beauties of queenly grace And sinuous sirens of unknown race; Some one among them will surely bless Hours that grow heavy with idleness." Then the slave that waited his lightest need, Fell on his knee, by the silk divan, And the swarthy, listening ear gave heed To the will of the lord of Ispahan.

"Send hither my dancing-girls," he said, "And set me a feast to please the eye And tempt the palate, for this shall be A wedding breakfast before us spread, If the charm of beauty can satisfy And one of their number pleaseth me. I will wed no maiden of high degree With the tips of her fingers henna-stained And the dew of youth from her life-blood drained, But a child of nature wild and free."

Then the slave bent low and said: "O Sire, A woman lingers beside the gate; Her eyes are aglow like coals of fire And she mourns as one disconsolate; And when we bid her to cease and go, Each eye grows bright, like an evening star, And she sayeth: 'The master will hear my woe, For I come from the deserts of Khandakar.'" "Bid her to enter," the master said, And the frown from his forehead swiftly fled. The hasty word on his lip way stayed As he thought of his youth, in the land afar, And the peerless eyes of a Bedouin maid, In the desert places of Khandakar. The woman entered and swift unwound The veil that mantled her face around, And in matchless beauty, she stood arrayed, In the scant attire of a Bedouin maid. The indolent lord of Ispahan Started back on the silk divan, For in form and feature, in very truth, It seemed the love of his early youth. The almond eyes and the midnight hair, The rosebud mouth and the rounded chin— Time had not touched them; they still were fair, And the passion of yore grew strong within. Then she made him the secret Bedouin sign, Which only dishonor can fail to heed; The solemn pact of the races nine, To help each other in time of need. But her eyes beheld no answering sign, Though a crimson tide to his forehead ran, And the trembling maiden could not divine The will of the lord of Ispahan. With the sound of a rippling mountain brook, The voice of the woman her lips forsook; And thus her tale of despair began In the lordly palace of Ispahan:

"On a stallion black as the midnight skies, From a desert I come, where my lover lies At death's dark verge; and the hostile clan That struck him down, are in Ispahan With slaves to sell, in the open street; And only because my steed was fleet Am I now free; but here I bide, For this morning the hard-rid stallion died. Out of your opulence, one swift steed Only a drop from the sea will be; A grain of sand on the shore, to my need; But the wealth of the whole, wide world to me. My soul to the soul of my loved one cries, At dawn or in darkness, whate'er betide, And the pain of longing all peace denies, To the heart that strains to my lover's side." "You shall mourn no more, but sit with me And rejoice in a scene of revelry; For the pleasures of life are the rights of man," Said the indolent lord of Ispahan.

The curtains parted and noiseless feet Of dusky slaves stole over the floor. Their strong arms laden with burden sweet Of fruits and flowers a goodly store. Luscious peaches and apricots, Plucked from the sunniest garden spots; Syrian apples and cordials rare; Succulent grapes that filled the air With heavy sweetness, while rivers ran, From beakers of wine from Astrakhan; Cooling salvers of colored ice; Almonds powdered with fragrant spice; Smoking viands, on plates of gold, And carven vessels of price untold, Kindling the appetite afresh For dainty morsels of fowl and flesh. The musical notes of the mellow flute, From a source remote, rose higher and higher, With the quivering sounds from a hidden lute, The plaintive sweep of the tender lyre.

Then a whirlwind of color filled the air— A misty vapor of filmy lace, With gleams of silk and of round arms bare, In a mazy whirl of infinite grace; And the lustrous glow of tresses blent With the shimmer of pearls, from the Orient. The half-sobbed, breathless, sweet refrain, A swelling burst of sensuous sound, Sank lower to swell and sink again, Then died in silence most profound. The panting beauties with cheeks aglow, Scattered about on the rug-strewn floor, Like bright-hued leaves when the chill winds blow, Or tinted sea-shells along the shore. But the lord of the palace turned and cried; "Heavy and languid these maidens are." And he said, to the Bedouin at his side: "Teach them the dances of Khandakar." Her dark eyes lit with the flash of fire, And she said: "You will pity my need most dire? You will give me steed to fly afar, To my love in the deserts of Khandakar?" "Half that I own shall be yours," he said, "If the love of my youth that was under ban Comes back to me like a soul from the dead Bringing joy to the palace of Ispahan."

She sprang to the floor with an agile bound. The music broke in a swirl of sound, Her hair from its fillet became unbound. And the dancing-girls that stood apart, Gazed rapt and speechless, with hand to heart, At the wild, untrammelled curves of grace Of the dancing-girl from the desert race. Not one of them half so fair to see; Not one as lithe in the sinuous twist Of twirling body and bending knee, Of supple ankle and curving wrist. The wilder the music, the wilder she; It seemed like the song of a bird set free To thrill in the heart of a cloud of mist And live on its own mad ecstasy. Spellbound and mute, on the silk divan, Sat the lord of the palace of Ispahan.

But the thoughts of the master were drifting far To his youth in the deserts of Khandakar; To the time when another had danced as well, And listened with tenderness in her eyes, To the burning words his lips might tell, With kisses freighting her soft replies. And he had thought that her smile would bless His roving life, in the land afar, And cheer him in hours of loneliness, In the tents of the deserts of Khandakar. But the tribe had chosen the maid to wed With the powerful chief of a hostile clan, And the flattered woman had turned and fled From the pleading voice of a stricken man; Then out of the desert the lover sped, To become a great lord of Ispahan.

And now this child, with the subtle grace Of the mother that bore her, had come to him With the desert's breath upon her face, Rousing within him a purpose grim. "By the beard of the Prophet! but you shall be The light and the joy of my life to me! As your mother was, you are to-day. Your lover, perchance, hath lived his span; You shall dry your maidenly tears and stay As the wife of the lord of Ispahan." That night, when the dusky shadows crept Across the tiles of the banquet-room, They found the form of a man who slept On a silk divan, in the gathering gloom. The window screens were wide to the air, And the hedge, where the fragrant roses grew, Was cleft and trodden to earth, just where A frightened fugitive might pass through.

And the groom of the stables, heavy with wine, Wakened not at the prancing tread Of the milk-white steed and made no sign, As the Bedouin maid from the palace fled. And the indolent lord of Ispahan Seemed resting still, on the silk divan; But his heart was beating with love no more, In his eyes no light of passion gleamed; His listless fingers touched the floor, Where the crimson tide of his life-blood streamed, And he slept the last, long, dreamless sleep; For the end had come to life's brief span; And his jewelled dagger was handle deep, In the heart of the lord of Ispahan.