But ere the middle watch was hardly over, Just when the fading lamps waned dim and blue, And phantoms hover'd, or might seem to hover, To those who like their company, about The apartment, on a sudden she scream'd out:
And that so loudly, that upstarted all The Oda, in a general commotion:
Matron and maids, and those whom you may call Neither, came crowding like the waves of ocean, One on the other, throughout the whole hall, All trembling, wondering, without the least notion More than I have myself of what could make The calm Dudu so turbulently wake.
But wide awake she was, and round her bed, With floating draperies and with flying hair, With eager eyes, and light but hurried tread, And bosoms, arms, and ankles glancing bare, And bright as any meteor ever bred By the North Pole,- they sought her cause of care, For she seem'd agitated, flush'd, and frighten'd, Her eye dilated and her colour heighten'd.
But what was strange- and a strong proof how great A blessing is sound sleep- Juanna lay As fast as ever husband by his mate In holy matrimony snores away.
Not all the clamour broke her happy state Of slumber, ere they shook her,- so they say At least,- and then she, too, unclosed her eyes, And yawn'd a good deal with discreet surprise.
And now commenced a strict investigation, Which, as all spoke at once and more than once, Conjecturing, wondering, asking a narration, Alike might puzzle either wit or dunce To answer in a very clear oration.
Dudu had never pass'd for wanting sense, But, being 'no orator as Brutus is,'
Could not at first expound what was amiss.
At length she said, that in a slumber sound She dream'd a dream, of walking in a wood-A 'wood obscure,' like that where Dante found Himself in at the age when all grow good;
Life's half-way house, where dames with virtue crown'd Run much less risk of lovers turning rude;
And that this wood was full of pleasant fruits, And trees of goodly growth and spreading roots;
And in the midst a golden apple grew,-A most prodigious pippin,- but it hung Rather too high and distant; that she threw Her glances on it, and then, longing, flung Stones and whatever she could pick up, to Bring down the fruit, which still perversely clung To its own bough, and dangled yet in sight, But always at a most provoking height;-That on a sudden, when she least had hope, It fell down of its own accord before Her feet; that her first movement was to stoop And pick it up, and bite it to the core;
That just as her young lip began to ope Upon the golden fruit the vision bore, A bee flew out and stung her to the heart, And so- she awoke with a great scream and start.
All this she told with some confusion and Dismay, the usual consequence of dreams Of the unpleasant kind, with none at hand To expound their vain and visionary gleams.
I 've known some odd ones which seem'd really plann'd Prophetically, or that which one deems A 'strange coincidence,' to use a phrase By which such things are settled now-a-days.
The damsels, who had thoughts of some great harm, Began, as is the consequence of fear, To scold a little at the false alarm That broke for nothing on their sleeping car.
The matron, too, was wroth to leave her warm Bed for the dream she had been obliged to hear, And chafed at poor Dudu, who only sigh'd, And said that she was sorry she had cried.
'I 've heard of stories of a cock and bull;
But visions of an apple and a bee, To take us from our natural rest, and pull The whole Oda from their beds at half-past three, Would make us think the moon is at its full.
You surely are unwell, child! we must see, To-morrow, what his Highness's physician Will say to this hysteric of a vision.
'And poor Juanna, too- the child's first night Within these walls to be broke in upon With such a clamour! I had thought it right That the young stranger should not lie alone, And, as the quietest of all, she might With you, Dudu, a good night's rest have known;
But now I must transfer her to the charge Of Lolah- though her couch is not so large.'
Lolah's eyes sparkled at the proposition;
But poor Dudu, with large drops in her own, Resulting from the scolding or the vision, Implored that present pardon might be shown For this first fault, and that on no condition (She added in a soft and piteous tone)
Juanna should be taken from her, and Her future dreams should all be kept in hand.
She promised never more to have a dream, At least to dream so loudly as just now;
She wonder'd at herself how she could scream-'T was foolish, nervous, as she must allow, A fond hallucination, and a theme For laughter- but she felt her spirits low, And begg'd they would excuse her; she 'd get over This weakness in a few hours, and recover.
And here Juanna kindly interposed, And said she felt herself extremely well Where she then was, as her sound sleep disclosed When all around rang like a tocsin bell:
She did not find herself the least disposed To quit her gentle partner, and to dwell Apart from one who had no sin to show, Save that of dreaming once 'mal-a-propos.'
As thus Juanna spoke, Dudu turn'd round And hid her face within Juanna's breast:
Her neck alone was seen, but that was found The colour of a budding rose's crest.
I can't tell why she blush'd, nor can expound The mystery of this rupture of their rest;
All that I know is, that the facts I state Are true as truth has ever been of late.
And so good night to them,- or, if you will, Good morrow- for the cock had crown, and light Began to clothe each Asiatic hill, And the mosque crescent struggled into sight Of the long caravan, which in the chill Of dewy dawn wound slowly round each height That stretches to the stony belt, which girds Asia, where Kaff looks down upon the Kurds.
With the first ray, or rather grey of morn, Gulbeyaz rose from restlessness; and pale As passion rises, with its bosom worn, Array'd herself with mantle, gem, and veil.
The nightingale that sings with the deep thorn, Which fable places in her breast of wail, Is lighter far of heart and voice than those Whose headlong passions form their proper woes.
