Where the sea forever
Over lonely cliff and dune,
Where sweet twilight's vapor
In a warmer-glowing moon,
Where with the seraglio's
Daylong toys the Mussulman,
An enchantress 'mid
Handed me a talisman.'Mid embraces I was bidden:"Guard this talisman of mine:
In it secret power is hidden!
Love himself has made it thine.
Neither death nor ills nor aging,
My beloved, does it ban,
Nor in gales and tempest
Can avail my talisman.
Never will it help thee
Treasures of the Orient coast,
Neither to thy harness
Captives of the Prophet's host;
Nor in sadness will it lead
To a friendly bosom,
From this alien southland speed
To the native northern shore."But whenever eyes
Cast on thee a sudden spell,
In the darkness lips
Love thee not, but kiss too well:
Shield thee, love, from evil preying,
From new heart-wounds—-that it can,
From forgetting, from
Guards thee this my talisman."
