Hark! all is still around her, .. And the night so utterly dark, She opened her eyes and she closed them, And the blackness and blank were the same. 'Twas like a dream of horror, and she stood Half doubting whether all indeed were true. A Tyger's howl loud echoing through the wood, Rous'd her; the dreadful sound she knew, And turn'd instinctively to what she fear'd. Far off the Tyger's hungry howl was heard; A nearer horror met the maiden's view, For right before her a dim form appear'd, A human form in that black night, Distinctly shaped by its own lurid light, Such light as the sickly moon is seen to shed, Through spell-rais'd fogs, a bloody baleful red. That Spectre fix'd his eyes upon her full; The light which shone in their accursed orbs Was like a light from Hell, And it grew deeper, kindling with the view. She could not turn her sight From that infernal gaze, which like a spell Bound her, and held her rooted to the ground. It palsied every power; Her limbs avail'd her not in that dread hour. There was no moving thence, Thought, memory, sense were gone: She heard not now the Tyger's nearer cry, She thought not on her father now, Her cold heart's-blood ran back, Her hand lay senseless on the bough it clasp'd, Her feet were motionless; Her fascinated eyes Like the stone eye-balls of a statue fix'd, Yet conscious of the sight that blasted them. The wind is abroad, It opens the clouds; Scattered before the gale, They skurry through the sky, And the darkness retiring rolls over the vale. The stars in their beauty come forth on high, And through the dark-blue night The moon rides on triumphant, broad and bright. Distinct and darkening in her light Appears that Spectre foul. The moon beam gives his face and form to sight, The living form and face of Arvalan!... But at that sight of dread the maid awoke; Had burst the spell of fear, Away she broke all franticly and fled. Here stood his image, such as when he seiz'd With mighty trunk wreath'd round His impotent bulk, and on his tusks, on high Impal❜d upheld him between earth and sky, Thither the affrighted maiden sped her flight, And she hath reach'd the place of sanctuary; And now within the temple in despite, Yea, even before the altar, in his sight, Hath Arvalan with fleshly arm of might Seiz'd her. That instant the insulted God Caught him aloft, and from his sinuous grasp, As if from some tort catapult let loose, Over the forest hurl'd him all abroad. O'ercome with dread, She tarried not to see what heavenly power Had saved her in that hour. Breathless and faint she fled. And now her foot struck on the knotted root Of a broad manchineil, and there the maid Fell senselessly beneath the deadly shade. VOL. 1. VI. CASYAPA. Shall this then be thy fate, O lovely Maid, Thus, Kailyal, must thy sorrows then be ended! Her face upon the ground, Her arms at length extended, There like a corpse behold her laid, Beneath the deadly shade. What if the hungry Tyger, prowling by, Alas, Death needs not now his ministry; The poison-dews descend. What power will now restore her, |