Hands, which they cannot see, let slip
The cable of that fated Ship;

The land-breeze sends her on her way;
And, lo! they leave the living light of day!

XXI.

THE WORLD'S END.

1.

SWIFT as an arrow in its flight, The Ship shot through the incumbent night, And they have left behind

The raging billows and the roaring wind, The storm, the darkness, and all mortal fears; And, lo! another light

To guide their way appears,
The light of other spheres.

2.

That instant from Ladurlad's heart and brain The Curse was gone; he feels again Fresh as in youth's fair morning, and the Maid Hath lost her leprous stain.

"The Tyrant, then, hath no dominion here!" Starting, she cried: "oh, happy, happy hour! We are beyond his power!"

Then, raising to the Glendoveer,

With heavenly beauty bright, her angel face, Turned not reluctant now, and met his dear embrace.

3.

Swift glides the Ship with gentle motion
Across that calm and quiet ocean,

That glassy sea, which seemed to be
The mirror of tranquillity.

Their pleasant passage soon was o'er;
The Ship hath reached its destined shore,
A level belt of ice, which bound,
As with an adamantine mound,
The waters of the sleeping Ocean round.
Strange forms were on the strand,
Of earth-born spirits slain before their time,
Who, wandering over sea and sky and land,
Had so fulfilled their term, and now were met
Upon this icy belt, a motley band,

Waiting their summons at the appointed hour, When each before the Judgment-seat must stand, And hear his doom from Baly's righteous power.

4.

Foul with habitual crimes, a hideous crew Were there, the race of rapine and of blood, Now, having overpassed the mortal flood, Their own deformity they knew,

And knew the meed that to their deeds was due Therefore in fear and agony they stood, Expecting when the Evil Messenger

Among them should appear.

But with their fear

A hope was mingled now:

O'er the dark shade of guilt a deeper hue It threw, and gave a fiercer character To the wild eye and lip and sinful brow. They hoped that soon Kehama would subdue The inexorable God, and seize his throne, Reduce the infernal World to his command, And, with his irresistible right hand, Redeem them from the vaults of Padalon.

5.

Apart from these, a milder company, The victims of offences not their own, Looked when the appointed Messenger should come; Gathered together some, and some alone, Brooding in silence on their future doom; Widows whom, to their husbands' funeral fire, Force or strong error led, to share the pyre, As to their everlasting marriage-bed; And babes, by sin unstained,

Whom erring parents vowed

To Ganges, and the holy stream profaned
With that strange sacrifice, rite unordained
By Law, by sacred Nature unallowed;
Others, more hapless in their destiny,
Scarce having first inhaled their vital breath,
Whose cradles from some tree
Unnatural hands suspended,
Then left till gentle Death,

Coming like Sleep, their feeble moanings ended; Or for his prey the ravenous Kite descended; Or, marching like an army from their caves, The Pismires blackened o'er, then, bleached and bare, Left their unhardened bones to fall asunder there.

6.

Innocent Souls.! thus set so early free
From sin and sorrow and mortality,
Their spotless spirits all-creating Love
Received into its universal breast.
Yon blue serene above

Was their domain; clouds pillowed them to rest;
The Elements on them like nurses tended,
And with their growth ethereal substance blended.
Less pure than these is that strange Indian bird,
Who never dips in earthly streams her bill,
But, when the sound of coming showers is heard,
Looks up, and from the clouds receives her fill.
Less pure the footless fowl of Heaven, that never
Rest upon earth, but, on the wing for ever
Hovering o'er flowers, their fragrant food inhale,
Drink the descending dew upon its way,
And sleep aloft while floating on the gale.

7.

And thus these innocents, in yonder sky, Grow and are strengthened, while the allotted years Perform their course; then hitherward they fly, Being free from moral taint, so free from fears,

A joyous band, expecting soon to soar
To Indra's happy spheres,

And mingle with the blessed company
Of heavenly spirits there for evermore.

8.

A Gulf profound surrounded
This icy belt; the opposite side
With highest rocks was bounded;
But where their heads they hide,
Or where their base is founded,

None could espy. Above all reach of sight They rose; the second Earth was on their height; Their feet were fixed in everlasting night.

9.

So deep the Gulf, no eye

Could plumb its dark profundity; Yet all its depth must try; for this the road To Padalon, and Yamen's dread abode. And, from below, continually Ministrant Demons rose, and caught The Souls whose hour was come; Then, with their burden fraught, Plunged down, and bore them to receive their doom

10.

Then might be seen who went in hope, and who Trembled to meet the meed

Of many a foul misdeed, as wild they threw