L'Esplendente [part 4]

He assured his Father that he should be well pleased in obeying him - & suffered him to quit the Vale without reluctances - No sooner was [20] Abdoulrahman away than the youth ran wildly about the Vale – [ILLEGIBLE] every stream - looked into every fissure - & left not Thicket unexplored. - Then tired with his ramble he sunk panting on the grass & slumbered carelessly till noon. - When he awoke - he recollected the Koran & hastening to the Mosque - began to turn over its pages. The Evening Sun which played full on the leaves - illuminated the burnished Letters & wraped them in a sphere of Light. - This circumstance was enough to fire the warm imagination of our young recluse who fancied the pages glowed with cælestial brightness & thought some portion of the prophets radiance was impaled to his Book. - He saw then with an Enthusiasm - no words can describe - he not only read but saw - his Ears were filled with aweful sounds So long & so eagerly did he continue that the day reclined & darkness surprised him before he was aware - absorbed in meditation he forgot to light the tapers which stood by the coffer on either side & folding his arms he remained motionless for Hours quite lost in a reverie Heaviness insensibly overspread his eyes - he crept under the carpets [21] & lulled by the ripling of the waters droped asleep. - The Dooms of Eblis & of Harut were in his dreams - he was disturbed & waited for the approach of Morning with impatience - At length it arrived & after taking some nourishment - & observing his daily ablutions - he prepared to cultivate the borders of the Vale - when the heat grew too intense he retired from the exposed situation of the Cliffs - to some shady cove - by the streams. - Transporting his beloved Koran thither he delivered himself up for a while to its devine relations - & then retired again to his other employments. - But when several Days had passed away in this manner & no father appeared Mehemed - began to deplore his lonesome situation - No part of the Vale remained undiscovered - the Thickets & the streams however beautiful had no longer novelty to recommend them - the song of the Birds was unheeded - the perfume of the vegetation afforded no longer the same agreeable sensations [22] as struck him at his first entrance into this sequestered spot - He had gathered the Fruits & familiarized himself with the blossoms of every Tree & was tired of the food which once had appeared so delicious - instead of employing his tools to cultivate the rugged base of the Cliffs - he kept running about & striking every fissure in hopes of discovering the passage which led to his Mother's abode. The Air which had seemed impregnated with the softest fragrance - now affected him with an idea of closeness & confinement He grew every instant more & more restless & discontented - he tried to climb the mounds of Rock that rose almost perpendicularly on all sides; but after many vain attempts he was obliged to desist - Depressed & Languid he sat down on the turf & wished to compose himself by the study of the Koran - but this too had lost its charms the strange stories of Balkis & Soleiman afforded but little amusement - because there was no one to share it with him. [23] - Had I but a Companion said he I should be contented - one Human Being to whom I might communicate my thoughts & to whom I might say - Is not this charming Would you not have given Worlds to have seen our first parent - majestically seated on the Hills of Serendip. - to have heard the voice of Alla - crying - depart - & to have witness'd the dreadful fall - But alas - a melancholy silence prevails in this dreary Vale - what are its beauties to me - unless I had someone mutually to enjoy them - To whom I can adress myself when a multitude of thoughts crowd my imagination - this Wilderness hears not my complaints - when I lift up my voice - none answer, but the echos of the desert Mountains. - O that my Father would but return - or that he had left me other company than the Birds & the reptiles. - 'Twas thus he mourned the solitude which now began to overcast his mind. - & stretching out his arms gasped after a wider Horizon - He felt himself [24] imprisoned & thru' that medium regarded the lovely & romantic scenery of the Vale - with displeasure & inquietude When Night drew on he found himself unable to sleep He lighted the Tapers in the Mosque - sat down one instant & the next walked disconsolately to the brink of the Torrents - The Moths that flutted round the flowers on its banks afforded some slight pleasure. - their continual buzzings inclined him to slumber & he yielded to the drowsiness which stole o'er his eyelids - The fortunate abodes which the prophet has so luxuriously described - haunted his imagination & were stretched out in his dreams - with a visionary splendor. - There he seemed to behold lofty castles & cælestial Bounds under which the Houris repose. - Their dark eyes melted with felicity - they were wandering amongst roses - & whilst a soft harmony all the while [25] proceeding from the shades - infused into his Soul the most voluptious ideas & transports unknown before - But short & fleeting were his joys - a fragment falling [ILLEGIBLE] from the Cliffs into the waters - roused him from his sleep - & drove far away all its delicious? illusions - he lifted up his Head - & beheld the vast hemisphere burning/sparcling with stars.

[Continued in Part 5]