Nor aught that time could touch or force destroy, Children of Earth," Neroodi cried, 16. "Of other frame, O Son of Heaven, art thou! Yet hast thou now to go Through regions which thy heavenly mould will try Glories unutterably bright, I know, And beams intense of empyrean light, Thine eye divine can bear; but fires of woe, The sight of torments, and the cry Of absolute despair, Might not these things dismay thee on thy flight, And thy strong pennons flag and fail thee there? Trust not thy wings, celestial though thou art, Nor thy good heart, which horror might assail, And pity quail,— Pity, in these abodes of no avail; But take thy seat this mortal pair beside, And Carmala the infernal Car will guide. Go, and may happy end your way betide!" So, as he spake, the self-moved Car rolled on; And, lo! they pass the Gate of Padalon. XXIII. PADALON. 1. WHOE'ER hath loved, with venturous step, to tread The chambers dread Of some deep cave, and seen his taper's beam Playing afar upon the sunless stream, Whoe'er hath trod such caves of endless night, And how, with quickened feet, he hastens up, The living World and blessed sunshine there; Of joy, with thirsty lips, the open air. 2. Far other light than that of day there shone They, too, in darkness entered on their way; A glow, as of a fiery furnace light, Filled all before them. "Twas a light which made Darkness itself appear A thing of comfort; and the sight, dismayed, Shrunk inward from the molten atmosphere. Their way was through the adamantine rock Which girt the World of Woe: on either side Its massive walls arose, and overhead Arched the long passage. Onward as they ride, With stronger glare the light around them spread; And, lo! the regions dread, The World of Woe, before them, opening wide. 3. There rolls the fiery flood, Girding the realms of Padalon around: A sea of flame it seemed to be, For neither mortal nor immortal sight Could pierce across through that intensest light. A single rib of steel, Keen as the edge of keenest cimeter, Spanned this wide gulf of fire. The infernal Car Rolled to the Gulf, and, on its single wheel Self-balanced, rose upon that edge of steel. Red-quivering float the vapors overhead; The fiery Gulf, beneath them spread, Tosses its billowing blaze with rush and roar: Steady and swift the self-moved Chariot went, Winning the long ascent; Then, downward rolling, gains the farther shore. 4. But, oh! what sounds and sights of woe, Assail the mortal travellers here! Their way was on a causey straight and wide, Those wondrous winged alchemists infold Thick walls of adamant divide The dungeons; and, from yonder circling flood, Off-streams of fire through secret channels glide, And wind among them, and in each provide An everlasting food Of rightful torments for the accursed brood. 5. These were the rebel race, who, in their might Confiding impiously, would fain have driven. The Deities supreme from highest Heaven; But by the Suras, in celestial fight, Opposed and put to flight, Here, in their penal dens, the accursed crew, Not for its crime, but for its failure, rue Their wild ambition. Yet again they long The contest to renew, And wield their arms again in happier hour ; Following Kehama's triumph, to press on From World to World, and Heaven to Heaven, and Sphere To Sphere, till Hemakoot shall be their own, And Meru Mount, and Indra's Swerga-Bowers, And Brama's region, where the heavenly Hours Weave the vast circle of his age-long day. Even over Vishnu's empyreal seat They trust the Rajah shall extend their sway; And that the seven-headed Snake, whereon The strong Preserver sets his conquering feet, Will rise, and shake him headlong from his throne, When, in their irresistible array, Amid the Milky Sea they force their way. Even higher yet their frantic thoughts aspire; Yea, on their beds of torment as they lie, The highest, holiest Siva they defy, And tell him they shall have anon their day, When they will storm his realm, and seize Mount Calasay. 6. Such impious hopes torment Their raging hearts, impious and impotent; And lust of vengeance, that, like inward fire, |