The billows of the Ocean, will I lay; Gods are there none to help him now, and there For Man there is no way. To that dread scene of durance and despair, Asuras, bear your enemy! I go To chain him in the Tombs. Meantime do thou, Freed from thy foe, and now secure from fear, Son of Kehama, take thy pleasure here. 13. Her words the accursed race obey'd; Forth with a sound like rushing winds they fled, And of all aid from Earth or Heaven bereft, Alone with Arvalan the Maid was left. But in that hour of agony, the Maid Deserted not herself; her very dread Had calm'd her; and her heart Knew the whole horror, and its only part. Yamen, receive me undefiled! she said, And seized a torch, and fired the bridal bed. Up ran the rapid flames; on every side They find their fuel wheresoe'er they spread; Thin hangings, fragrant gums, and odorous wood, That piled like sacrificial altars stood. Around they run, and upward they aspire, And, lo! the huge Pagoda lined with fire. 14. The wicked Soul, who had assumed again Obnoxious as to pleasure: forth he flew, Howling and scorch'd by the devouring flame; Accursed Spirit! Still condemn'd to rue, The act of sin and punishment the same. Freed from his loathsome touch, a natural dread Came on the self-devoted, and she drew Back from the flames, which now toward her spread, And, like a living monster, seem'd to dart Their hungry tongues toward their shrinking prey. Soon she subdued her heart; "O Father!" she exclaim'd, "there was no way But this! And thou, Ereenia, who for me Sufferest, my soul shall bear thee company." 15. So having said, she knit Her body up to work her soul's desire, Like as a God, Ladurlad made his way; XV. THE CITY OF BALY. 1. KAILYAL. Ereenia! LADURLAD. Nay, let no reproachful thought Wrong his heroic heart! The Evil Powers Have the dominion o'er this wretched World, And no good Spirit now can venture here. KAILYAL. Alas, my Father! he hath ventured here, And saved me from one horror. But the Powers Of Evil beat him down, and bore away To some dread scene of durance and despair; The Ancient Tombs, methought their mistress said, Beneath the ocean-waves; no way for Man Is there; and Gods, she boasted, there are none On Earth to help him now. LADURLAD. Is that her boast? And hath she laid him in the Ancient Tombs, Relying that the Waves will guard him there? Short-sighted are the eyes of Wickedness, And all its craft but folly. Oh my child! The Curses of the Wicked are upon me, And the immortal Deities, who see And suffer all things for their own wise end, Have made them blessings to us! KAILYAL. Then thou knowest LADURLAD. To the Sepulchres Of the Ancient Kings, which Baly in his power 2. Up from the ground the Maid exultant sprung, And clapp'd her happy hands in attitude Of thanks to Heaven, and flung Her arms around her Father's neck, and stood Struggling awhile for utterance, with excess Of hope and pious thankfulness. Come.. come! she cried, Oh let us not delay, .. He is in torments there, away!.. away! 3. Long time they travell'd on; at dawn of day Till darkness closed the night. Could that brief respite brook. Hope kept her up, and her intense desire Supports that heart which ne'er at danger quails, Those feet which never tire, That frame which never fails. 4. Their talk was of the City of the days Of old, Earth's wonder once, and of the fame Of Baly its great founder, he whose name In ancient story and in poet's praise, Liveth and flourisheth for endless glory, Because his might Put down the wrong, and aye upheld the right. Till for ambition, as old sages tell, At length the universal Monarch fell: |