Azarco Rebuked

"Draw rein, draw rein one moment,
And calm thy hurrying steed,
Who bounds beneath the furious spur
That makes his flank to bleed.
Here would I, by my grief distraught,
Upon the very spot,
Remind thee of the happy hours
Thou, faithless, hast forgot.
When thou, upon thy prancing barb,
Adown this street would pace,
And only at my window pause
To gaze into my face.
At thought of all thy cruelty
A stricken slave I pine;
My heart is burning since it touched
That frozen breast of thine.
How many pledges didst thou give,
To win me for thine own!
Our oaths were mutual; I am true,
Whilst thou art recreant grown.
My eyes, they thrilled thee yesterday,
To-day thou hast no fears;
For love is not alike two days
Within a thousand years.
I thought thy name a pledge to me
Of fondest hope; no less
That thou wouldst take as pledges true
My kiss and soft caress.
What were thy glowing words but lures
Thy victim's eyes to blind?
Now safe from treachery's hour I bear
No rancor in my mind.
But better had I known the truth,
When I desired to know,
And listened to thy pleading words,
And read thy written vow.
Nay, give me no excuses vain,
For none of them I ask,
Plead truth to her thou cozenest now--
They'll serve thee in the task.
And if my counsel thou wilt take,
Forget these eyes, this heart,
Forget my grief at thy neglect--
Forget me--and depart."
Thus to the Moor, Azarco,
The lovely Zaida cried,
And closed her lattice, overwhelmed
With sorrow's rising tide.
He spurred his barb and rode away,
Scattering the dust behind,
And cursed the star that made his heart
Inconstant as the wind.