from Canto V

121

But tears must stop like all things else; and soon
     Juan, who for an instant had been moved
To such a sorrow by the intrusive tone
     Of one who dared to ask if “he had loved,”
Called back the stoic to his eyes, which shone
    Bright with the very weakness he reproved;
And although sensitive to beauty, he
Felt most indignant still at not being free.

122

Gulbeyaz, for the first time in her days,
     Was much embarrassed, never having met
In all her life with aught save prayers and praise;
     And as she also risked her life to get
Him whom she meant to tutor in love’s ways
     Into a comfortable tte—tte,
To lose the hour would make her quite a martyr,
And they had wasted now almost a quarter.

123

I also would suggest the fitting time,
     To gentlemen in any such like case,
That is to say—in a meridian clime,
     With us there is more law given to the chase,
But here a small delay forms a great crime:
    So recollect that the extremest grace
Is just two minutes for your declaration—
A moment more would hurt your reputation.

124

Juan’s was good; and might have been still better,
     But he had got Haide into his head:
However strange, he could not yet forget her,
     Which made him seem exceedingly ill-bred.
Gulbeyaz, who looked on him as her debtor
     For having had him to her palace led,
Began to blush up to the eyes, and then
Grow deadly pale, and then blush back again.

125

At length, in an imperial way, she laid
     Her hand on his, and bending on him eyes,
Which needed not an empire to persuade,
     Looked into his for love, where none replies:
Her brow grew black, but she would not upbraid,
     That being the last thing a proud woman tries;
She rose, and pausing one chaste moment, threw
Herself upon his breast, and there she grew.

126

This was an awkward test, as Juan found,
    But he was steeled by sorrow, wrath, and pride:
With gentle force her white arms he unwound,
     And seated her all drooping by his side.
Then rising haughtily he glanced around,
     And looking coldly in her face, he cried,
“The prisoned eagle will not pair, nor I
Serve a sultana’s sensual phantasy.

127

“Thou ask’st, if I can love? be this the proof
     How much I have loved—that I love not thee!
In this vile garb, the distaff, web, and woof
     Were fitter for me: Love is for the free!
I am not dazzled by this splendid roof.
     Whate’er thy power, and great it seems to be,
Heads bow, knees bend, eyes watch around a throne,
And hands obey—our hearts are still our own.”

128

This was a truth to us extremely trite,
     Not so to her, who ne’er had heard such things;
She deemed her least command must yield delight,
     Earth being only made for queens and kings.
If hearts lay on the left side or the right
     She hardly knew, to such perfection brings
Legitimacy its born votaries, when
Aware of their due royal rights o’er men.

129

Besides, as has been said, she was so fair
     As even in a much humbler lot had made
A kingdom or confusion anywhere,
     And also, as may be presumed, she laid
Some stress on charms, which seldom are, if e’er,
    By their possessors thrown into the shade:
She thought hers gave a double “right divine,”
And half of that opinion’s also mine.

130

Remember, or (if you can not) imagine,
     Ye! who have kept your chastity when young,
While some more desperate dowager has been waging
     Love with you, and been in the dog-days stung
By your refusal, recollect her raging!
     Or recollect all that was said or sung
On such a subject; then suppose the face
Of a young downright beauty in this case.