Then from the chalice pour’d she on the stones,
That lay all cold and black upon the path,
And at that mystic baptism, anew
Sprang up the chilly sleepers in amaze,
Their stony hearts back-melted into Life;
Soon follow’d her a train of noble youths,
Gather’d from East, and West, and North, and South,
The rarest and the goodliest of Earth. 
Bahman and Perviz, risen with the rest,
Walk’d at her side with wonder-stricken hearts,
Gazing upon her through kind tearful eyes. 
Each found his steed beside the mountain base,
And mounted, all that goodly company,
She with her crystal chalice at the head.

Then with her soft voice trembling through the crowd,
“Back let us to the world from whence we came;
And since that Life hath many Golden Springs,
Hath many joys to gain through toil and doubt,
Still let us scale the mountain for the prize,
And close our ears to Folly’s wagging tongue.”

They spurr’d along until the sun sank low,
And by the way arose the lonely tree,
Mere sat the Dervise, rheumy-eyed and old—­
Blood-red the western sky—­the clouds back waved,
And one faint star pale glimmering in the height—­
There found they still the Dervise ’neath his tree,
Where he had pointed them the Eastern way,
Now sleeping the last sleep with smiling lips. 
“The Golden Water found, his task is done,
And now the Watcher calmly takes his rest!”
Then on in silence through the quiet night.

YEARS AGO.

  This day it was—­Ah! years ago,
Long years ago, when first we met;
When first her voice thrill’d through my heart,
Aeolian-sweet, thrill’d through my heart;
  And glances from her soft brown eyes,
  Like gleamings out of Paradise,
Shone on my heart, and made it bright
With fulness of celestial light;
This day it seems—­this day—­and yet,
  Ah! years ago—­long years ago.

  This day it was—­Ah! years ago,
Long years ago, when first I knew
How all her beauty fill’d my soul,
With mystic glory fill’d my soul;
  And every word and smile she gave,
  Like motions of a sunlit wave,
Rock’d me with divine emotion,
Joyous, o’er Life’s smiling ocean;
This day it seems—­this day—­and yet,
  Ah! years ago—­long years ago.

  This day it was—­Ah! years ago,
Long years ago, when first I heard,
Amid the silence of my soul,
The fearful silence of my soul,
  That warning voice of doom declare—­
  O God! unmoved by my despair—­
How her soft eyes would lose their light,
Their holy, pure, and stainless light,
And all the beauty of her being
Fade sadly, swiftly from my seeing;
This day it seems—­Ah me! this day,
  Though years ago—­sad years ago.