The Amreeta-drink divine

Of immortality. Come, Maiden mine!
High-fated One, ascend the subject sky,
And by Kehama's side

Sit on the Swerga throne, his equal bride.

Nature is never false; he wrongeth her!
My heart belies such lines of destiny.
There is no other true interpreter !

9.

At that reply, Kehama's darkening brow Bewray'd the anger which he yet suppress'd; Counsel thy daughter! tell her thou art now Free from thy Curse, he said, and bid her bow In thankfulness to Fate's benign behest. Bid her her stubborn will restrain, For Destiny at last must be obey'd, And tell her, while obedience is delay'd, Thy Curse will burn again.

10.

She needeth not my counsel, he replied, And idly, Rajah, dost thou reason thus Of destiny! for though all other things Were subject to the starry influencings, And bow'd submissive to thy tyranny, The virtuous heart and resolute mind are free. Thus in their wisdom did the Gods decree

When they created man. Let come what will,
This is our rock of strength; in every ill,
Sorrow, oppression, pain and agony,
The spirit of the good is unsubdued,
And suffer, as they may, they triumph still.

11.

Obstinate fools! exclaim'd the Mighty One, Fate and my pleasure must be done, And ye resist in vain!

Take your fit guerdon till we meet again! So saying, his vindictive hand he flung Towards them, fill'd with curses; then on high Aloft he sprung, and vanish'd through the Sky.

157

XIX.

MOUNT CALASAY.

1.

THE Rajah, scattering curses as he rose, Soar'd to the Swerga, and resumed his throne. Not for his own redoubled agony,

Which now through heart and brain
With renovated pain,

Rush'd to its seat, Ladurlad breathes that groan,
That groan is for his child; he groan'd to see
That she was stricken now with leprosy,
Which as the enemy vindictive fled,

O'er all her frame with quick contagion spread. She, wondering at events so passing strange, And fill'd with hope and fear,

And joy to see the Tyrant disappear, And glad expectance of her Glendoveer, Perceived not in herself the hideous change. His burning pain, she thought, had forced the groan Her father breathed; his agonies alone

Were present to her mind; she clasp'd his knees, Wept for his Curse, and did not feel her own.

2.

Nor when she saw her plague, did her good heart,
True to itself, even for a moment fail.
Ha, Rajah! with disdainful smile she cries,
Mighty and wise and wicked as thou art,
Still thy blind vengeance acts a friendly part.
Shall I not thank thee for this scurf and scale
Of dire deformity, whose loathsomeness,
Surer than panoply of strongest mail,
Arms me against all foes? Oh, better so,
Better such foul disgrace,

Than that this innocent face

Should tempt thy wooing! That I need not dread; Nor ever impious foe

Will offer outrage now, nor farther woe Will beauty draw on my unhappy head, Safe through the unholy world may Kailyal go.

3.

Her face in virtuous pride

Was lifted to the skies,

As him and his poor vengeance she defied;
But earthward, when she ceased, she turn'd her eyes,
As if she sought to hide

The tear which in her own despite would rise.
Did then the thought of her own Glendoveer
Call forth that natural tear?

Was it a woman's fear,

A thought of earthly love which troubled her?
Like yon thin cloud amid the moonlight sky

That flits before the wind

And leaves no trace behind,

The womanly pang pass'd over Kailyal's mind.
This is a loathsome sight to human eye,
Half-shrinking at herself, the Maiden thought;
Will it be so to him? Oh surely not!
The immortal Powers, who see

Through the poor wrappings of mortality, Behold the soul, the beautiful soul, within, Exempt from age and wasting maladies, And undeform'd, while pure and free from sin. This is a loathsome sight to human eyes, But not to eyes divine,

Ereenia, Son of Heaven, oh not to thine!

4.

The wrongful thought of fear, the womanly pain Had pass'd away, her heart was calm again. She raised her head, expecting now to see The Glendoveer appear;

Where hath he fled, quoth she,

That he should tarry now? Oh! had she known Whither the adventurous Son of Heaven was flown, Strong as her spirit was, it had not borne The appalling thought, nor dared to hope for his return.

5.

For he in search of Seeva's throne was gone,
To tell his tale of wrong;

In search of Seeva's own abode

The Glendoveer began his heavenly road.