In business grave, in trifles gay,
And, form'd each varying taste to please,
Can mingle dignity with ease.

What, tho' with magic influence, sleep,
O'er every closing eyelid creep:
Tho' drunk with its oblivious wine
Our comrades on their bales recline,
My Selim's trance I sure can break--
Selim, 'tis I, 'tis I who speak.
Dangers on every side impend,
And sleep'st thou, careless of thy friend?
Thou sleep'st while every star on high,
Beholds me with a wakeful eye--
Thou changest, ere the changeful night
Hath streak'd her fleeting robe with white.

'Tis love that hurries me along--
I'm deaf to fear's repressive song--
The rocks of Idham I'll ascend,
Tho' adverse darts each path defend,
And hostile sabres glitter there,
To guard the tresses of the fair.

Come, Selim, let us pierce the grove,
While night befriends, to seek my love.
The clouds of fragrance as they rise
Shall mark the place where Abla lies.
Around her tent my jealous foes,
Like lions, spread their watchful rows;