Their arms retorted from the Demons' grasp, And looked around, all eagerly, to seek For help, where help was none; and strove for aid Yea, with imploring looks and horrent shriek, Their mercy they essayed. Still from the verge they strain, And from the dreadful Gulf avert their eyes, In vain down plunge the Demons; and their cries Feebly, as down they sink, from that profound arise. 11. What heart of living man could, undisturbed, Bear sight so sad as this? What wonder there If Kailyal's lip were blanched with inmost dread? The chill which from that icy belt Struck through her was less keen than what she felt With her heart's blood through every limb dispread. Close to the Glendoveer she clung; And, clasping round his neck her trembling hands, She closed her eyes, and there in silence hung. 12. Then to Ladurlad said the Glendoveer, "These Demons whom thou seest, the ministers Of Yamen, wonder to behold us here; But for the dead they come, and not for us: Therefore, albeit they gaze upon thee thus, Have thou no fear. A little while thou must be left alone, 13. Then, taking Kailyal in his arms, he said, Who bear thee." Saying this, his wings he spread, XXII. THE GATE OF PADALON. 1. THE strong foundations of this inmost Earth Reached the profound, — Ice in the regions of the upper air, The weight of all this upper World of ours, And with its rampart closed the Realm of Woe Eight gates hath Padalon; eight heavenly Powers Have them in charge, each always at his post, Lest from their penal caves the accursed host, Maugre the might of Baly and the God, Should break, and carry ruin all abroad. 2. Those gates stand ever open, night and day; For ever throng the way. Some from the dolorous den, Children of sin and wrath, return no more: They, fit companions of the Spirits accurst, Are doomed, like them in baths of fire immersed, Or weltering upon beds of molten ore, Or, stretched upon the brazen floor, Are fastened down with adamantine chains; While, on their substance inconsumable, Leeches of fire for ever hang and pull, And worms of fire for ever gnaw their food, That, still renewed, Freshens for ever their perpetual pains. 3. Others there were whom Baly's voice condemned, By long and painful penance, to atone Their fleshly deeds. Them, from the Judgmentthrone, Dread Azyoruca, where she sate involved To each the measure of his punishment; Till, in the central springs of fire, the Will Impure is purged away; and the freed soul, Thus fitted to receive a second birth, Embodied once again, revisits Earth. 4. But they whom Baly's righteous voice absolved, And Yamen, viewing with benignant eye, Dismissed to seek their heritage on high, How joyfully they leave this gloomy bourn, The dread sojourn Of Guilt and twin-born Punishment and Woe, And wild Remorse, here linked with worse Despair! They to the eastern Gate rejoicing go: The Ship of Heaven awaits their coming there; And on they sail, greeting the blessed light Through realms of upper air, Bound for the Swerga once; but now no more Their voyage rests upon that happy shore, Since Indra, by the dreadful Rajal's might Compelled, hath taken flight: On to the second World their way they wend, And there, in trembling hope, await the doubtful end. 5. For still in them doth hope predominate, Faith's precious privilege, when higher Powers Give way to fear in these portentous hours. Each silent at his gate Expectant stands: they turn their anxious eyes Within, and, listening to the dizzy din Of mutinous uproar, each in all his hands Holds all his weapons, ready for the fight. For, hark! what clamorous cries Upon Kehama, for deliverance, call! "Come, Rajah!" they exclaim; "too long we groan In torments. Come, Deliverer! yonder throne Awaits thee. Now, Kehama! Rajah, now! Earthly Almighty, wherefore tarriest thou?" Such were the sounds that rung, in wild upróar, O'er all the echoing vaults of Padalon; And as the Asuras from the brazen floor, Struggling against their fetters, strove to rise, Their clashing chains were heard, and shrieks and cries, With curses mixed, against the Fiends who urge, Fierce on their rebel limbs, the avenging scourge. 6. These were the sounds, which, at the southern Gate, Assailed Ereenia's ear: alighting here, Hung on his neck, well-nigh a lifeless weight. |