from Canto V

111

Her very smile was haughty, though so sweet;
     Her very nod was not an inclination;
There was a self-will even in her small feet,
     As though they were quite conscious of her station—
They trod as upon necks; and to complete
     Her state, (it is the custom of her nation),
A poniard decked her girdle, as the sign
She was a sultan’s bride, (thank Heaven, not mine).

112

“To hear and to obey” had been from birth
    The law of all around her; to fulfil
All phantasies which yielded joy or mirth,
     Had been her slaves’ chief pleasure, as her will;
Her blood was high, her beauty scarce of earth:
    Judge, then, if her caprices e’er stood still;
Had she but been a Christian, I’ve a notion
We should have found out the “perpetual motion.”

113

Whate’er she saw and coveted was brought;
     Whate’er she did not see, if she supposed
It might be seen, with diligence was sought,
    And when ‘twas found straightway the bargain closed:
There was no end unto the things she bought,
     Nor to the trouble which her fancies caused;
Yet even her tyranny had such a grace,
The women pardoned all except her face.

114

Juan, the latest of her whims, had caught
     Her eye in passing on his way to sale;
She ordered him directly to be bought,
     And Baba, who had ne’er been known to fail
In any kind of mischief to be wrought,
     At all such auctions knew how to prevail:
She had no prudence, but he had; and this
Explains the garb which Juan took amiss.

115

His youth and features favoured the disguise,
     And, should you ask how she, a sultan’s bride,
Could risk or compass such strange phantasies,
    This I must leave sultanas to decide:
Emperors are only husbands in wives’ eyes,
    And kings and consorts oft are mystified,
As we may ascertain with due precision,
Some by experience, others by tradition.

116

But to the main point, where we have been tending:—
     She now conceived all difficulties past,
And deemed herself extremely condescending
     When, being made her property at last,
Without more preface, in her blue eyes blending
     Passion and power, a glance on him she cast,
And merely saying, “Christian, canst thou love?”
Conceived that phrase was quite enough to move.

117

And so it was, in proper time and place;
    But Juan, who had still his mind o’erflowing
With Haide’s isle and soft Ionian face,
     Felt the warm blood, which in his face was glowing,
Rush back upon his heart, which filled apace,
    And left his cheeks as pale as snowdrops blowing:
These words went through his soul like Arab-spears,
So that he spoke not, but burst into tears.

118

She was a good deal shocked; not shocked at tears,
     For women shed and use them at their liking;
But there is something when man’s eye appears
     Wet, still more disagreeable and striking:
A woman’s tear-drop melts, a man’s half sears,
     Like molten lead, as if you thrust a pike in
His heart to force it out, for (to be shorter)
To them ‘tis a relief, to us a torture.

119

And she would have consoled, but knew not how;
     Having no equals, nothing which had e’er
Infected her with sympathy till now,
     And never having dreamt what ‘twas to bear
Aught of a serious sorrowing kind, although
     There might arise some pouting petty care
To cross her brow, she wondered how so near
Her eyes another’s eye could shed a tear.

120

But nature teaches more than power can spoil,
     And, when a strong although a strange sensation,
Moves—female hearts are such a genial soil
     For kinder feelings, whatsoe’er their nation,
They naturally pour the “wine and oil,”
     Samaritans in every situation;
And thus Gulbeyaz, though she knew not why,
Felt an odd glistening moisture in her eye.