That Glory unimaginably bright;
The Sun himself had seemed
A speck of darkness there,
Amid that Light of Light!

13.

Down fell the Glendoveer;

Down through all regions, to our mundane sphere, He fell but in his ear

A Voice, which from within him came, was heard, The indubitable word

Of Him to whom all secret things are known:

66

Go,

ye who suffer, go to Yamen's throne; He hath the remedy for every woe;

He setteth right whate'er is wrong below."

XX.

THE EMBARKATION.

1.

Down from the Heaven of Heavens Ereenia fell Precipitate, yet imperceptible

His fall: nor had he cause nor thought of fear:
And when he came within this mundane sphere,
And felt that Earth was near,

The Glendoveer his azure wings expanded,
And, sloping down the sky

Toward the spot from whence he sprung on high, There on the shore he landed.

2.

Kailyal advanced to meet him,

Not moving now as she was wont to greet him,
Joy in her eye and in her eager pace:
With a calm smile of melancholy pride
She met him now; and, turning half aside,
Her warning hand repelled the dear embrace.

3.

"Strange things, Ereenia, have befallen us here," The Virgin said: "the Almighty Man hath read The lines which, traced by Nature on my brain, There to the gifted eye

Make all my fortunes plain,

Mapping the mazes of futurity.

He sued for peace; for it is written there, That I with him the Amreeta cup must share: Wherefore he bade me come, and by his side Sit on the Swerga-throne, his equal bride. I need not tell thee what reply was given: My heart, the sure interpreter of Heaven, His impious words belied.

Thou seest his poor revenge!" So having said, One look she glanced upon her leprous stain Indignantly, and shook

VOL. VIII.

Her head in calm disdain.

N

4.

"O Maid of soul divine!
O more than ever dear,

And more than ever mine!"

Replied the Glendoveer:

"He hath not read, be sure, the mystic ways Of Fate; almighty as he is, that maze Hath mocked his fallible sight.

Said he the Amreeta cup? So far aright The Evil One may see; for Fate displays Her hidden things in part, and part conceals, Baffling the wicked eye

Alike with what she hides, and what reveals, When with unholy purpose it would pry Into the secrets of futurity.

So

may it be permitted him to see Dimly the inscrutable decree;

For to the World below,

Where Yamen guards the Amreeta, we must go: Thus Siva hath expressed his will; even he, The Holiest, hath ordained it: there, he saith, All wrongs shall be redressed

By Yamen, by the righteous Power of Death."

5.

Forthwith the Father and the fated Maid,

And that heroic Spirit who for them
Such flight had late essayed,

The will of Heaven obeyed:

They went their way along the road
That leads to Yamen's dread abode.

6.

Many a day hath passed away Since they began their arduous way,of toil and pain;

Their way

And now their weary feet attain The Earth's remotest bound, Where outer Ocean girds it round. But not like other Oceans this; Rather it seemed a drear abyss, Upon whose brink they stood. Oh scene of fear! the travellers hear The raging of the flood;

They hear how fearfully it roars: But clouds of darker shade than night, For ever hovering round those shores, Hide all things from their sight; The Sun upon that darkness pours His unavailing light;

Nor ever Moon nor Stars display, Through the thick shade, one guiding ray To show the perils of the way.

7.

There, in a creek, a vessel lay:
Just on the confines of the day,
It rode at anchor in its bay,

These venturous pilgrims to convey

Across that outer Sea.

Strange vessel, sure, it seemed to be, And all unfit for such wild sea! For through its yawning side the wave Was oozing in; the mast was frail, And old and torn its only sail. How may that crazy vessel brave The billows that in wild commotion For ever roar and rave?

How hope to cross the dreadful Ocean O'er which eternal shadows dwell, Whose secrets none return to tell?

8.

Well might the travellers fear to enter! But, summoned once on that adventure, For them was no retreat.

Nor boots it with reluctant feet

To linger on the strand :
"Aboard! aboard!"

An awful Voice, that left no choice,
Sent forth its stern command:
"Aboard! aboard!"

The travellers hear that voice in fear, And breathe to Heaven an inward prayer, And take their seats in silence there.

9.

Self-hoisted then, behold the sail
Expands itself before the gale!