Harem

"When the Spirit of Fragrance is up with the day From his Haram of night-flowers stealing away;"

"There too the Haram’s inmates smile;— Maids from the West, with sun-bright hair, And from the Garden of the NILE, Delicate as the roses there;— Daughters of Love from CYPRUS rocks, With Paphian diamonds in their locks;— Light PERI forms such as there are On the gold Meads of CANDAHAR; ..."

"I’m fond myself of solitude or so, But then, I beg it may be understood, By solitude I mean a sultan’s, not A hermit’s, with a haram for a grot."

"La très chère était nue, et, connaissant mon coeur, Elle n’avait gardé que ses bijoux sonores, Dont le riche attirail lui donnait l’air vainqueur Qu’ont dans leurs jours heureux les esclaves des Mores."

"The avenues through which women passed into the harem were many. Each Mughal victory brought in female captives. So common and yet so cruel was the method of capturing women for officers and men in war and during peace that Akbar issued an order in 1563 prohibiting capture and enslavement of women by victorious troops."

"And tho’ bright was his Haram,—a living parterre Of the flowers of this planet—tho’ treasures were there, For which SOLIMAN’s self might have given all the store That the navy from OPHIR e’er winged to his shore, Yet dim before her were the smiles of them all And the Light of his Haram was young NOURMAHAL!"

"Behind the veil, where depth is traced By many a complicated line,— Behind the lattice closely laced With filigree of choice design,— Behind the lofty garden-wall, Where stranger face can ne’er surprise,— That inner world her all-in-all, The Eastern Woman lives and dies."