All with which Nature halloweth her daughters, Tenderness, truth and purity and meekness, Piety, patience, faith and resignation, Love and devotement. Ship of the Gods! how richly art thou laden! Proud of the charge, thou voyagest rejoicing. Clouds float around to honour thee, and Evening Lingers in heaven. A Stream descends on Meru mountain; 37 It had its birth, so Sages say, Upon the memorable day Her hands, too venturous Goddess, in her mirth, In sudden trance opprest, forgot their powers. None hath seen its secret fountain; In light and clouds, it hath its mortal birth. Earth seems that pinnacle to rear From rock to rock, with shivering force rebounding, A mountain-valley in its blessed breast Receives the stream, which there delights to lie, Untroubled and at rest, Beneath the untainted sky. There in a lovely lake it seems to sleep, And thence through many a channel dark and deep, Till, rising underneath the root Towards this Lake, above the nether sphere, Here may Ladurlad rest beyond his power. The innocent man, the man opprest, Oh joy!-hath found a place of rest His curse extends not here; his pains have past away. O happy Sire, and happy Daughter! Ye on the banks of that celestial water Your resting-place and sanctuary have found. What! hath not then their mortal taint defil'd The sacred solitary ground? Vain thought! the Holy Valley smil'd Receiving such a Sire and Child; Ganges, who seem'd asleep to lie, Beheld them with benignant eye, And rippled round melodiously, And roll'd her little waves, to meet And welcome their beloved feet. The gales of Swerga thither fled, And heavenly odours there were shed About, below, and overhead; And Earth rejoicing in their tread, Hath built them up a blooming Bower, Where every amaranthine flower Its deathless blossom interweaves With bright and undecaying leaves. Three happy beings are there here, And unto her a form hath given Fram'd of the elements of Heaven; Pure dwelling-place for perfect mind. She stood and gaz'd on Sire and Child; Her tongue not yet had power to speak, The tears were streaming down her cheek; And when those tears her sight beguil'd, And still her faultering accents fail'd, The Spirit, mute and motionless, Spread out her arms for the caress, Made still and silent with excess Of love and painful happiness. The Maid that lovely form survey'd ; Wistful she gaz'd; and knew her not; But Nature to her heart convey'd A sudden thrill, a startling thought, A feeling many a year forgot, Now like a dream anew recurring, As if again in every vein Her mother's milk was stirring. With straining neck and earnest eye She stretch'd her hands imploringly, As if she fain would have her nigh, Yet fear'd to meet the wish'd embrace, At once with love and awe opprest. Not so Ladurlad; he could trace, Though brighten'd with angelic grace, His own Yedillian's earthly face; He ran and held her to his breast! Oh joy above all joys of Heaven, By Death alone to others given, This moment hath to him restor'd The early-lost, the long-deplor'd. They sin who tell us Love can die. With life all other passions fly, All others are but vanity; In Heaven Ambition cannot dwell, Nor Avarice in the vaults of Hell: Earthly these passions of the Earth, They perish where they have their birth; But Love is indestructible: Its holy flame for ever burneth, From Heaven it came, to Heaven returneth. And thy reward is now divine, And, taking up again the spell, New strength, and confidence in Heaven, Usurp'd dominion o'er the earth; And humbled Baly in his pride; And when the Giant Ravanen Had borne triumphant, from his side, Sita, the earth-born God's beloved bride, Then, from his island-kingdom, laugh'd to scorn The insulted husband, and his power defied; How to revenge the wrong in wrath he hied, Bridging the sea before his dreadful way, And met the hundred-headed foe, And dealt him the unerring blow: By Brama's hand the righteous lance was given, And by that arm immortal driven, It laid the mighty Tyrant low; And Earth and Ocean, and high Heaven, Thus was Ladurlad's soul imbued With hope and holy fortitude; And Child and Sire, with pious mind Alike resolv'd, alike resign'd, Look'd onward to the evil day: Faith was their comfort, Faith their stay; They trusted woe would pass away, And Tyranny would sink subdued, And Evil yield to Good. Lovely wert thou, O Flower of Earth! O blessed, blessed company! The Car of Glory in their view The Lord of Night, as he sail'd by, Stay'd his pearly boat on high; There all good Spirits of the air, Suras 42 and Devetas repair, Aloft they love to hover there, And view the flower of mortal birth Here, for her innocence and worth, Transplanted from the fields of earth;And him, who on the dreadful day When Heaven was fill'd with consternation, And Indra trembled with dismay, And, for the sounds of joy and mirth, Woe was heard and lamentation, Defied the Rajah in his pride, Though all in Heaven and Earth beside Stood mute in dolorous expectation; And, rushing forward in that hour, Saved the Swerga from his power. Grateful for this they hover nigh, And bless the blessed Company. One God alone, with wanton eye, Beheld them in their Bower; Subject alike, quoth he, have felt these darts, To whom hath Fate decreed the glory, Then, in the dewy evening sky, On the green bank with amaranth sweet, Ereenia there, before the Maid, Mov'd slowly o'er the lake with gliding flight; Then rising, soar'd again, And shook the sparkling waters off like rain, And hovering o'er the silver surface hung. At him young Camdeo bent the bow; With living bees the bow was strung, The fatal bow of sugar-cane, And flowers which would inflame the heart With their petals barb'd the dart. The shaft, unerringly addrest, Unerring flew, and smote Ereenia's breast, A deeper love I bear that Maid divine, A second shaft, while thus Ereenia cried, And buzz about her with delight, For these are proof, by nobler thoughts possest. And string again thy broken bow! Rightly Ereenia spake ; and ill had thoughts Of earthly love beseem'd the sanctuary Where Kailyal had been wafted, that the Soul Of her dead Mother there might strengthen her, Feeding her with the milk of heavenly lore, And influxes of Heaven imbue her heart XI. THE ENCHANTRESS. WHEN from the sword, by arm angelic driven, Foul Arvalan fled howling, wild in pain, His thin essential spirit, rent and riven With wounds, united soon and heal'd again; Backward the accursed turn'd his eye in flight, Remindful of revengeful thoughts even then, And saw where, gliding through the evening light, The Ship of Heaven sail'd upward through the sky, Then, like a meteor, vanish'd from his sight. Where should he follow? vainly might he try To trace through trackless air its rapid course, Nor dar'd he that angelic arm defy, Still sore and writhing from its dreaded force. Should he the lust of vengeance lay aside? Too long had Arvalan in ill been train'd; Nurst up in power and tyranny and pride, His soul the ignominious thought disdain'd. Or to his mighty Father should he go, Complaining of defeature twice sustain'd, And ask new powers to meet the immortal foe?Repulse he fear'd not, but he fear'd rebuke, And sham'd to tell him of his overthrow. There dwelt a dread Enchantress in a nook Obscure; old help-mate she to him had been, Lending her aid in many a secret sin; And there, for counsel, now his way he took. She was a woman whose uniovely youth, Even like a canker'd rose,' which none will cull, Hlad wither'd on the stalk; her heart was full Of passions which had found no natural scope, Feelings which there had grown but ripen'd not; Desires unsatisfied, abortive hope, Repinings which provoked vindictive thought, These restless elements for ever wrought, Fermenting in her with perpetual stir, And thus her spirit to all evil mov'd; She hated men because they lov'd not her, And hated women because they were lov'd. And thus, in wrath aud hatred and despair, She tempted Hell to tempt her; and resign'd ller body to the Demons of the Air, Wicked and wanton fiends, who, where they will, Wander abroad, still seeking to do ill, And take whatever vacant form they find, Carcase of man or beast, that life hath left; Foul instrument for them of fouler mind. To these the Witch her wretched body gave, So they would wreak her vengeance on mankind, She thus at once their mistress and their slave; And they to do such service nothing loth, Obey'd her bidding, slaves and masters both. So from this cursed intercourse she caught Contagious power of mischief, and was taught Such secrets as are damnable to guess. Is there a child whose little lovely ways Might win all hearts,-on whom his parents gaze Till they shed tears of joy and tenderness? Oh! hide him from that Witch's withering sight! Oh! hide him from the eye of Lorrinite! Her look hath crippling in it, and her curse All plagues which on mortality can light; Death is his doom if she behold,-or worse, Diseases loathsome and incurable, And inward sufferings that no tongue can tell. Woe was to him, on whom that eye of hate Was bent; for, certain as the stroke of Fate, It did its mortal work; nor human arts Could save the unhappy wretch, her chosen prey For gazing, she consum'd his vital parts, Eating his very core of life away.44 The wine which from yon wounded palm on high Fills yonder gourd, as slowly it distills, Grows sour at once if Lorriaite pass by. The deadliest worm, from which all creatures fly, Fled from the deadlier venom of her eye; The babe unborn, within its mother's womb, Started and trembled when the Witch came nigh; And in the silent chambers of the tomb, Death shudder'd her unholy tread to hear, And from the dry and mouldering bones did fear Force a cold sweat, when Lorrinite was near. Power made her haughty: by ambition fired, Ere long to mightier mischiefs she aspired. The Calis,45 who o'er Cities rule unseen, Each in her own domain a Demon Queen, And there ador'd with blood and human life, They knew her, and in their accurst employ She stirr'd up neighbouring states to mortal strife. Sani, the dreadful God, who rides abroad Upon the King of the Ravens,46 to destroy The offending sons of men, when his four hands Were weary with their toil, would let her do His work of vengeance upon guilty lands; And Lorrinite, at his commandment, knew When the ripe earthquake should be loos'd, and where To point its course. And in the baneful air The pregnant seeds of death he bade her strew, All deadly plagues and pestilence to brew. The Locusts were her army, and their bands, Where'er she turn'd her skinny finger, flew; The floods in ruin roll'd at her commands; And when, in time of drought, the husbandman Beheld the gather'd rain about to fall, Her breath would drive it to the desert sands. While in the marshes parch'd and gaping soil, The rice-roots by the searching Sun were dried; And in lean groupes, assembled at the side Of the empty tank, the cattle dropt and died, And Famine, at her bidding, wasted wide The wretched land, till, in the public way, Promiscuous where the dead and dying lay, Dogs fed on human bones in the open light of day. Her secret cell the accursed Arvalan, In quest of vengeance, sought, and thus began. Mighty mother! mother wise! Revenge me on my enemies. LORRINITE. Com st thou, son, for aid to me? Tell me who have injur'd thee, Where they are, and who they be; Of the Earth, or of the Sea, Or of the aerial company? Earth, nor Sea, nor Air is free From the powers who wait on me, And my tremendous witchery. ARVALAN. She for whom so ill I sped, Whom my Father deemeth dead, Lives, for Marriataly's aid From the water sav'd the maid. In hatred I desire her still, And in revenge would have my will, A Deveta with wings of blue, And sword whose edge even now I rue, In a Ship of Heaven on high, Pilots her along the sky. Where they voyage thou canst tell, Mistress of the mighty spell. At this the Witch, through shrivell'd lips and thin, Sent forth a sound half-whistle and half-hiss. Two winged Hands came in, Armless and bodyless, Bearing a globe of liquid crystal, set Look in yonder orb, she cried, ARVALAN. A mountain top, in clouds of light Envelop'd, rises on my sight; Thence a cataract rushes down, Hung with many a rainbow crown; Light and clouds conceal its head, Below, a silver Lake is spread; Upon its shores a Bower I see, Fit home for blessed company. See they come forward,-one, two, three,The last a Maiden,-it is she! The foremost shakes his wings of blue, 'Tis he whose sword even yet I rue; And in that other one I know The visage of my deadliest foe. Mother, let thy magic might Arm me for the mortal fight; Helm and shield, and mail afford Proof against his dreaded sword. Then will I invade their seat, Then shall vengeance be compitee. LORRINITE. Spirits, who obey my will, Hear him, and his wish fulfill. So spake the mighty one, nor farther spell Needed; anon a sound, like smother'd thunder, Was heard, slow rolling under; The solid pavement of the cell Quak'd, heav'd, and cleft asunder, Helmet and mail, and shield and scymitar, were laid. The Asuras, often put to flight, And scatter'd in the fields of light, By their foes' celestial might, Forged this enchanted armour for the fight. 'Mid fires intense did they anneal, In mountain furnaces, the quivering steel, Till, trembling through each deepening hue, It settled in a midnight blue; Last they cast it, to aslake, In the penal icy lake. Then, they consign'd it to the Giant brood; The work of Giant strength with magic charms. The shield and helmet of avail. Then she led him to the den, An adamantine rib, which met in air, Upon their brazen necks, the seat of power. Arvalan mounts the car, and in his hand Receives the magic reins from Lorrinite; The dragons, long obedient to command, Their ample sails expand; Like steeds well-broken to fair lady's hand, Son of the Wicked, doth thy soul delight To think its hour of vengeance now is nigh? Lo! where the far-off light Of Indra's palace flashes on his sight, And Meru's heavenly summit shines on high, With clouds of glory bright, Amid the dark-blue sky. Already, in his hope, doth he espy, Himself secure in mail of tenfold charms, Ereenia writhing from the magic blade, The Father sent to bear his Curse,-the Maid Resisting vainly in his impious arms. Ah, Sinner! whose anticipating soul Incurs the guilt even when the crime is spar'd! Joyous toward Meru's summit on he far'd, While the twin Dragons, rising as he guides, With steady flight, steer northward for the pole. Anon, with irresistible controul, Force mightier far than his arrests their course; It wrought as though a Power unseen had caught Their adamantine yokes to drag them on. Straight on they bend their way, and now, in vain, Upward doth Arvalan direct the rein; The rein of magic might avails no more, Bootless its strength against that unscen Power That, in their mid career, Hath seiz'd the Chariot and the Charioteer. With hands resisting, and down-pressing feet Upon their hold insisting, He struggles to maintain his difficult seat. Seeking in vain with that strange Power to vie, Their doubled speed the affrighted Dragons try. Forced in a stream from whence was no retreat, Strong as they are, behold them whirled along, Headlong, with useless pennons, through the sky. What Power was that, which, with resistless might, Foil'd the dread magic thus of Lorrinite? T was all-commanding Nature.-They were here Within the sphere of the adamantine rocks Which gird Mount Meru round, as far below That heavenly height where Ganges hath its birth Involv'd in clouds and light, So far above its roots of ice and snow. On-on they roll,-rapt headlong they roll on;The lost canoe, less rapidly than this, Down the precipitous stream is whirl'd along To the brink of Niagara's dread abyss. On-on they roll, and now, with shivering shock, Are dash'd against the rock that girds the Pole. Down from his shatter'd mail the unhappy Soul Is dropt,-ten thousand thousand fathoms down,Till in an ice-rift, 'mid the eternal snow, Foul Arvalan is stopt. There let him howl, Groan there, and there, with unavailing moan, For aid on his Almighty Father call. All human sounds are lost Amid those deserts of perpetual frost, Old Winter's drear domain, Beyond the limits of the living World, Beyond Kehama's reign. |