His port lay on the other side o' the isle.
20
And there he went ashore without delay,
Having no custom-house nor quarantine
155 To ask him awkward questions on the way
About the time and place where he had been:
He left his ship to be hove down next day,
With orders to the people to careen;8
So that all hands were busy beyond measure,
160 In getting out goods, ballast, guns, and treasure.
? # #
27
He saw his white walls shining in the sun,
210 His garden trees all shadowy and green;
He heard his rivulet's light bubbling run,
The distant dog-bark; and perceived between
The umbrage of the wood so cool and dun
The moving figures, and the sparkling sheen
215 Of arms (in the East all arm)?and various dyes
Of colour'd garbs, as bright as butterflies.
28
And as the spot where they appear he nears,
Surprised at these unwonted signs of idling,
He hears?alas! no music of the spheres,
220 But an unhallow'd, earthly sound of fiddling!
A melody which made him doubt his ears,
The cause being past his guessing or unriddling;
A pipe, too, and a drum, and shortly after,
A most unoriental roar of laughter.
* ft ? 38
He did not know (Alas! how men will lie)
That a report (especially the Greeks)
Avouch'd his death (such people never die),
300 And put his house in mourning several weeks,
But now their eyes and also lips were dry;
The bloom too had return'd to Haidee's cheeks.
8. To tip a vessel on its side to clean and repair its hull. 'To be hove down': to weigh anchor.
.
722 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON
Her tears too being return'd into their fount,
She now kept house upon her own account. 39
305 Hence all this rice, meat, dancing, wine, and fiddling,
Which turn'd the isle into a place of pleasure;
The servants all were getting drunk or idling,
A life which made them happy beyond measure.
Her father's hospitality seem'd middling,
310 Compared with what Haidee did with his treasure;
'Twas wonderful how things went on improving,
While she had not one hour to spare from loving.
