With steady flight, steer northward for the Pole. Anon, with irresistible control,

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 unseen Power,
That, in their mid career,

Hath seized 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!

15.

What Power was that, which, with resistless might,
Foiled the dread magic thus of Lorrinite?
'Twas all-commanding Nature. They were here
Within the sphere of the adamantine rocks
Which girt Mount Meru round, as far below
That heavenly height where Ganges hath its birth
Involved in clouds and light,

So far above its roots of ice and snow.

On, on, they roll,

16.

rapt headlong they roll on :

The lost canoe, less rapidly than this, Down the precipitous stream is whirled along To the brink of Niagara's dread abyss. On, on, they roll, and now, with shivering shock, Are dashed against the rock that girds the Pole. Down from his shattered mail the unhappy Soul Is dropped, ten thousand thousand fathoms down, Till in an ice-rift, 'mid the eternal snow,

Foul Arvalan is stopped. There let him howl, Groan there, and there, with unavailing moan,

For aid on his Almighty Father call.

17.

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.

Of utterance and of motion soon bereft,
Frozen to the ice-rock, there behold him lie,
Only the painful sense of Being left,

A Spirit who must feel, and cannot die,
Bleaching and bare beneath the polar sky.

XII.

THE SACRIFICE COMPLETED,

1.

O YE who, by the Lake
On Meru Mount, partake

The joys which Heaven hath destined for the blest! Swift, swift, the moments fly,

And

The silent hours go by,

ye must leave your dear abode of rest.
O wretched Man, prepare

Again thy Curse to bear!

Prepare, O wretched Maid, for further woe!
The fatal hour draws near,

When Indra's heavenly sphere

Must own the Tyrant of the World below.
To-day the hundredth Steed

At Siva's shrine must bleed;

The dreadful sacrifice is full to-day;
Nor man nor God hath power,

At this momentous hour,

Again to save the Swerga from his sway.
Fresh woes, O Maid divine !

Fresh trials, must be thine;

And what must thou, Ladurlad, yet endure?
But let your hearts be strong,

And rise against all wrong;

For Providence is just, and virtue is secure.

2.

They, little deeming that the fatal day

Was come, behield where through the morning sky
A Ship of Heaven drew nigh.
Onward they watch it steer its steady flight;
Till, wondering, they espy

Old Casyapa, the Sire of Gods, alight. But, when Ereenia saw the Sire appear, At that unwonted and unwelcome sight His heart received a sudden shock of fear. "Thy presence doth its doleful tidings tell, O Father!” cried the startled Glendoveer; "The dreadful hour is near! I know it well! Not for less import would the Sire of Gods Forsake his ancient and august abodes."

3.

"Even so," serene the immortal Sire replies: "Soon, like an earthquake, will ye feel the blow Which consummates the mighty sacrifice; And this World and its Heaven, and all therein, Are then Kehama's. To the second ring Of these seven Spheres, the Swerga-King, Even now, prepares for flight,

Beyond the circle of the conquered world,
Beyond the Rajah's might.

Ocean, that clips this inmost of the Spheres,
And girds it round with everlasting roar,
Set like a gem appears

Within that bending shore

Thither fly all the Sons of heavenly race. I, too, forsake mine ancient dwelling-place. And now, O Child and Father! ye must go; Take the burden of your woe,

up

And wander once again below.

With patient heart hold onward to the end; Be true unto yourselves, and bear in mind That every God is still the good Man's friend; And, when the Wicked have their day assigned, Then they who suffer bravely save mankind.”

66

4.

'Oh, tell me,” cried Ereenia, "for from thee Nought can be hidden, — when the end will be!"

"Seek not to know," old Casyapa replied,
"What pleaseth Heaven to hide.

Dark is the abyss of Time;

But light enough to guide your steps is given: Whatever weal or woe betide,

Turn never from the way of truth aside; And leave the event, in holy hope, to IIeaven. The moment is at hand; no more delay; Ascend the ethereal bark, and go your way; And Ye, of heavenly nature, follow me."

5.

"The will of Heaven be done!" Ladurlad cried: Nor more the man replied,

But placed his daughter in the ethereal bark,