Don Juan 06-096 ~ 100
  
 
Don Juan 06-096
Canto the Sixth
 
     XCVI
 
But as it was, his Highness had to hold
     His daily council upon ways and means
How to encounter with this martial scold,
     This modern Amazon and queen of queans;
And the perplexity could not be told
     Of all the pillars of the state, which leans
Sometimes a little heavy on the backs
Of those who cannot lay on a new tax.
  
 
Don Juan 06-097
Canto the Sixth
 
     XCVII
 
Meantime Gulbeyaz, when her king was gone,
     Retired into her boudoir, a sweet place
For love or breakfast; private, pleasing, lone,
     And rich with all contrivances which grace
Those gay recesses: -- many a precious stone
     Sparkled along its roof, and many a vase
Of porcelain held in the fetter'd flowers,
Those captive soothers of a captive's hours.
  
 
Don Juan 06-098
Canto the Sixth
 
     XCVIII
 
Mother of pearl, and porphyry, and marble,
     Vied with each other on this costly spot;
And singing birds without were heard to warble;
     And the stain'd glass which lighted this fair grot
Varied each ray; -- but all descriptions garble
     The true effect, and so we had better not
Be too minute; an outline is the best, --
A lively reader's fancy does the rest.
  
 
Don Juan 06-099
Canto the Sixth
 
     XCIX
 
And here she summon'd Baba, and required
     Don Juan at his hands, and information
Of what had pass'd since all the slaves retired,
     And whether he had occupied their station;
If matters had been managed as desired,
     And his disguise with due consideration
Kept up; and above all, the where and how
He had pass'd the night, was what she wish'd to know.
  
 
Don Juan 06-100
Canto the Sixth
 
     C
 
Baba, with some embarrassment, replied
     To this long catechism of questions, ask'd
More easily than answer'd, -- that he had tried
     His best to obey in what he had been task'd;
But there seem'd something that he wish'd to hide,
     Which hesitation more betray'd than mask'd;
He scratch'd his ear, the infallible resource
To which embarrass'd people have recourse.
         
George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron (1788-1824) 
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