Excerpt from Alixis: A Tale of the Harem

Alixis

I

Where languid pilgrims seek a magic spell,
To foster doctrine or to banish care,
Beneath the influence of Jacob's Well,
I first inhaled the tranquil desert air -
Life's first breath - would to heaven it ended there,
And learned to love the vales and margent hills,
The olive orchards and the cedars rare,
And friends of childhood whose endearment thrills
The soul with sweet acclaim, the heart with rapture fills.

II

My step in childhood traversed sacred scenes
Where God to man His glory first made known,
Among ancient ruins where Clio's peons
Gather fruitage from the wreckage strew
O'er vale and hill of idol, altar, throne.
Throughout the valley where the cattle grazed,
Of Jew and Gentile and the Bedouin drone,
I saw the steps of Time and lights that blazed,
And one by one the strokes which man's constructions razed.

III

And like the Hebrews of the olden school,
Who strove to compass what the fates decreed,
I learned the articles of faith by rule,
That none might tempt me to renounce my creed,
Or, feigning Islam, to deny my breed,

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