1.

Around her Father's neck the Maiden lock'd
Her arms, when that portentous blow was given;
Clinging to him she heard the dread uproar,
And felt the shuddering shock which ran through Heaven;
Earth underneath them rock'd,
Her strong foundations heaving in commotion,
Such as wild winds upraise in raving Ocean,
As though the solid base were rent asunder.
And lo! where, storming the astonish'd sky,
Kehama and his evil host ascend!
Before them rolls the thunder;
Ten thousand thousand lightnings round them fly;
Upward the lengthening pageantries aspire,
Leaving from Earth to Heaven a widening wake of fire.

2.

When the wild uproar was at length allay'd,
And Earth, recovering from the shock, was still,
Thus to her Father spake the imploring Maid: —
Oh! by the love which we so long have borne
Each other, and we ne'er shall cease to bear, —
Oh! by the sufferings we have shared,
And must not cease to share, —
One boon I supplicate in this dread hour,
One consolation in this hour of woe!
Father, thou hast it in thy power;
Thou wilt not, Father, sure refuse me now
The only comfort my poor heart can know.

3.

O dearest, dearest Kailyal! with a smile
Of tenderness and anguish, he replied,
O best beloved, and to be loved the best,
Best worthy, — set thy duteous heart at rest.
I know thy wish, and let what will betide,
Ne'er will I leave thee wilfully again.
My soul is strengthen'd to endure its pain;
Be thou, in all my wanderings, still my guide;
Be thou, in all my sufferings, at my side.

4.

The Maiden, at those welcome words, impress'd
A passionate kiss upon her Father's cheek:
They look'd around them then, as if to seek
Where they should turn, North, South, or East, or West,
Wherever to their vagrant feet seem'd best.
But, turning from the view her mournful eyes,
Oh, whither should we wander? Kailyal cries,
Or wherefore seek in vain a place of rest?
Have we not here the Earth beneath our tread,
Heaven overhead,
A brook that winds through this sequester'd glade,
And yonder woods, to yield us fruit and shade?
The little all our wants require is nigh;
Hope we have none; — why travel on in fear?
We cannot fly from Fate, and Fate will find us here.

5.

'Twas a fair scene wherein they stood,
A green and sunny glade amid the wood,
And in the midst an aged Bannian grew.
It was a goodly sight to see
That venerable tree,
For o'er the lawn, irregularly spread,
Fifty straight columns propp'd its lofty head;
And many a long, depending shoot,
Seeking to strike its root,
Straight like a plummet, grew towards the ground.
Some on the lower boughs which cross'd their way,
Fixing their bearded fibres, round and round,
With many a ring and wild contortion wound;
Some to the passing wind, at times, with sway
Of gentle motion swung;
Others, of younger growth, unmoved, were hung
Like stone-drops from the cavern's fretted height;
Beneath was smooth and fair to sight,
Nor weeds nor briers deform'd the natural floor,
And through the leafy cope which bower'd it o'er
Came gleams of checker'd light.
So like a temple did it seem, that there
A pious heart's first impulse would be prayer.

6.

A brook, with easy current, murmur'd near;
Water so cool and clear
The peasants drink not from the humble well,
Which they, with sacrifice of rural pride,
Have wedded to the cocoa-grove beside;
Nor tanks of costliest masonry dispense
To those in towns who dwell,
The work of Kings, in their beneficence.
Fed by perpetual springs, a small lagoon,
Pellucid, deep, and still, in silence join'd,
And swell'd the passing stream. Like burnish'd steel
Glowing, it lay beneath the eye of noon;
And when the breezes, in their play,
Ruffled the darkening surface, then, with gleam
Of sudden light, around the lotus stem
It rippled, and the sacred flowers, that crown
The lakelet with their roseate beauty, ride,
In easy waving rock'd, from side to side;
And as the wind upheaves
Their broad and buoyant weight, the glossy leaves
Flap on the twinkling waters, up and down.

7.

They built them here a bower, of jointed cane,
Strong for the needful use; and light and long
Was the slight framework rear'd, with little pain;
Lithe creepers, then, the wicker sides supply,
And the tall jungle-grass fit roofing gave
Beneath the genial sky.
And here did Kailyal, each returning day,
Pour forth libations from the brook to pay
The Spirits of her Sires their grateful rite;
In such libations pour'd in open glades,
Beside clear streams and solitary shades,
The Spirits of the virtuous dead delight.
And duly here, to Marriataly's praise,
The Maid, as with an angel's voice of song,
Pour'd her melodious lays
Upon the gales of even,
And gliding in religious dance along,
Moved graceful as the dark-eyed Nymphs of Heaven;
Such harmony to all her steps was given.

8.

Thus ever, in her Father's doting eye,
Kailyal perform'd the customary rite;
He, patient of his burning pain the while,
Beheld her, and approved her pious toil;
And sometimes, at the sight,
A melancholy smile
Would gleam upon his awful countenance.
He, too, by day and night, and every hour,
Paid to a higher Power his sacrifice;
An offering, not of ghee, or fruit, and rice,
Flower-crown, or blood; but of a heart subdued,
A resolute, unconquer'd fortitude,
An agony repress'd, a will resign'd,
To her, who, on her secret throne reclin'd,
Amid the Sea of Milk, by Veeshnoo's side,
Looks with an eye of mercy on mankind.
By the Preserver, with his power endued,
There Voomdavee beholds this lower clime,
And marks the silent's sufferings of the good,
To recompense them in her own good time.

9.

O force of faith! O strength of virtuous will!
Behold him in his endless martyrdom,
Triumphant still!
The Curse still burning in his heart and brain;
And yet doth he remain
Patient the while, and tranquil, and content
The pious soul hath framed unto itself
A second nature, to exist in pain
As in its own allotted element.

10.

Such strength the will reveal'd had given
This holy pair, such influxes of grace,
That to their solitary resting-place
They brought the peace of Heaven.
Yea, all around was hallow'd! Danger, Fear,
Nor thought of evil ever enter'd here.
A charm was on the Leopard when he came.
Within the circle of that mystic glade;
Submiss he crouch'd before the heavenly Maid,
And offer'd to her touch his speckled side,
Or, with arch'd back erect, and bending head,
And eyes half-closed for pleasure, would he stand.
Courting the pressure of her gentle hand.

11.

Trampling his path through wood and brake,
And canes which crackling fall before his way,
And tassel-grass, whose silvery feathers play,
O'ertopping the young trees,
On comes the Elephant, to slake
His thirst at noon in yon pellucid springs.
Lo! from his trunk upturn'd, aloft he flings
The grateful shower; and now
Plucking the broad-leaved bough,
Of yonder plane, with wavy motion slow,
Fanning the languid air,
He moves it to and fro.
But when that form of beauty meets his sight,
The trunk its undulating motion stops,
From his forgetful hold the plane-branch drops,
Reverent he kneels, and lifts his rational eyes
To her as if in prayer;
And when she pours her angel voice in song,
Intranced he listens to the thrilling notes,
Till his strong temples, bathed with sudden dews
Their fragrance of delight and love diffuse.

12.

Lo! as the voice melodious floats around,
The Antelope draws near,
The Tigress leaves her toothless cubs to hear,
The Snake comes gliding from the secret brake,
Himself in fascination forced along
By that enchanting song;
The antic Monkeys, whose wild gambols late,
When not a breeze waved the tall jungle-grass,
Shook the whole wood, are hush'd, and silently
Hang on the cluster'd tree.
All things in wonder and delight are still;
Only at times the Nightingale is heard,
Not that in emulous skill that sweetest bird
Her rival strain would try,
A mighty songster, with the Maid to vie;
She only bore her part in powerful sympathy.

13.

Well might they thus adore that heavenly Maid!
For never Nymph of Mountain,
Or Grove, or Lake, or Fountain,
With a diviner presence fill'd the shade.
No idle ornaments deface
Her natural grace,
Musk-spot, nor sandal-streak, nor scarlet stain,
Ear-drop nor chain, nor arm nor ankle-ring,
Nor trinketry on front, or neck, or breast,
Marring the perfect form: she seem'd a thing
Of Heaven's prime uncorrupted work, a child
Of early nature undefiled,
A daughter of the years of innocence.
And therefore all things loved her. When she stood
Beside the glassy pool, the fish, that flies
Quick as an arrow from all other eyes,
Hover'd to gaze on her. The mother bird,
When Kailyal's step she heard,
Sought not to tempt her from her secret nest,
But, hastening to the dear retreat, would fly
To meet and welcome her benignant eye.

14.

Hope we have none, said Kailyal to her Sire.
Said she aright? and had the mortal Maid
No thoughts of heavenly aid, —
No secret hopes her inmost heart to move
With longings of such deep and pure desire,
As Vestal Maids, whose piety is love,
Feel in their ecstasies, when, rapp'd above,
Their souls unto their heavenly Spouse aspire?
Why else so often doth that searching eye
Roam through the scope of sky?
Why, if she sees a distant speck on high,
Starts there that quick suffusion to her cheek?
'Tis but the Eagle in his heavenly height;
Reluctant to believe, she hears his cry,
And marks his wheeling flight,
Then pensively averts her mournful sight.
Why ever else, at morn, that waking sigh,
Because the lovely form no more is nigh
Which hath been present to her soul all night;
And that injurious fear
Which ever, as it riseth, is repress'd,
Yet riseth still within her troubled breast,
That she no more shall see the Glendoveer!

15.

Hath he forgotten me? The wrongful thought
Would stir within her, and, though still repell'd
With shame, and self-reproaches, would recur.
Days after days unvarying come and go,
And neither friend nor foe
Approaches them in their sequester'd bower.
Maid of strange destiny! but think not thou
Thou art forgotten now,
And hast no cause for further hope or fear;
High-fated Maid, thou dost not know
What eyes watch over thee for weal and woe!
Even at this hour,
Searching the dark decrees divine,
Kehama, in the fulness of his power,
Perceives his thread of fate entwine with thine.
The Glendoveer, from his far sphere,
With love that never sleeps, beholds thee here,
And in the hour permitted will be near.
Dark Lorrinite on thee hath fixed her sight,
And laid her wiles, to aid
Foul Arvalan when he shall next appear;
For well she ween'd his Spirit would renew
Old vengeance now, with unremitting hate;
The Enchantress well that evil nature knew;
The accursed Spirit hath his prey in view;
And thus, while all their separate hopes pursue,
All work, unconsciously, the will of Fate.

16.

Fate work'd its own the while. A band
Of Yoguees, as they roam'd the land,
Seeking a spouse for Jaga-Naut, their God,
Stray'd to this solitary glade,
And reach'd the bower wherein the Maid abode
Wondering at form so fair, they deem'd the Power
Divine had led them to his chosen bride,
And seized and bore her from her Father's side.