Penny Dreadfuls, 1900 · page 77 of 142
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, and the Salaman and Absal of Jami — page 77: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a text page from a Victorian penny dreadful titled "Salaman and Absál," presenting a "Preliminary Invocation"—an ornate poetic prayer in blank verse. The invocation appeals to a divine spirit to kindle love and beauty in mortal hearts, specifically naming characters Laila, Majnún, and Shírín (identified in a footnote as "well-known Types of Eastern Lovers"). The poem treats love and beauty as divine manifestations, with human passion described as ecstatic response to the divine revealed through mortal form. The decorative border and page number (5*) indicate this is early in the serialized narrative.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
CBee ia . sine or Rr ae SALAMAN AND ABSATL. PRELIMINARY INVOCATION. Ou Thou, whose Spirit through this universe In which Thou dost involve thyself diffused, Shall so perchance irradiate human clay That men, suddenly dazzled, lose themselves In ecstacy before a mortal shrine Whose Light is but a Shade of the Divine; Not till thy Secret Beauty through the cheek Of Laita smite doth she inflame Magny ;! And not till Thou have kindled Suirin’s Eyes The hearts of those two Rivals swell with blood. For Lov’d and Lover are not but by Thee, Nor Beauty ;—mortal Beauty but the veil Thy Heavenly hides behind, and from itself Feeds, and our hearts yearn after as a Bride 1 Well-known Types of Eastern Lovers. Suirin and her Snitors figure in Sect, XX. om CORNCEOO© S, (C©)