Smote her so rudely. Her poor heart
How audibly it panted,
With sudden stop and start:
Her breath how short and painfully it came!
Hark! all is still around her,...
And the night so utterly dark,
She opened her eyes and she closed them,
And the blackness and blank were the same.
11.
’Twas like a dream of horror, and she stood
Half doubting whether all indeed were true.
A Tyger’s howl loud echoing through the wood,
Rous’d her; the dreadful sound she knew,
And turn’d instinctively to what she fear’d.
Far off the Tyger’s hungry howl was heard;
A nearer horror met the maiden’s view,
For right before her a dim form appear’d,
A human form in that black night,
Distinctly shaped by its own lurid light,
Such light as the sickly moon is seen to shed,
Through spell-rais’d fogs, a bloody baleful red,
12.
That Spectre fix’d his eyes upon her full;
The light which shone in their accursed orbs
Was like a light from Hell,
And it grew deeper, kindling with the view.
She could not turn her sight
From that infernal gaze, which like a spell
Bound her, and held her rooted to the ground.
It palsied every power;
Her limbs avail’d her not in that dread hour.
There was no moving thence,
Thought, memory, sense were gone:
She heard not now the Tyger’s nearer cry,
She thought not on her father now,
Her cold heart’s-blood ran back, i
Her hand lay senseless on the bough it clasp’d,
Her feet were motionless;
Her fascinated eyes
Like the stone eye-balls of a statue fix’d,
Yet conscious of the sight that blasted them.
13.
The wind is abroad,
It opens the clouds;
Scattered before the gale,
They skurry through the sky,
And the darkness retiring rolls over the vale.
The stars in their beauty come forth on high,
And through the dark-blue night
The moon rides on triumphant, broad and bright.
Distinct and darkening in her light
Appears that Spectre foul.
The moon beam gives his face and form to sight,
The shape of man,
The living form and face of Arvalan!
His hands are spread to clasp, her.
14.
But at that sight of dread the maid awoke;
As if a lightning-stroke
Had burst the spell of fear,
Away she broke all franticly and fled.
There stood a temple near beside the way,
An open fane of Pollear, gentle God,
To whom the travellers for protection pray.
With elephantine head and eye severe,
Here stood his image, such as when he seiz’d
And tore the rebel giant from the ground,
With mighty trunk wreath’d round
His impotent bulk, and on his tusks, on high
Impal’d upheld him between earth and sky.
15.
Thither the affrighted maiden sped her flight,
And she hath reach’d the place of sanctuary;
And now within the temple in despite,
Yea, even before the altar, in his sight,
Hath Arvalan with fleshly arm of might
Seiz’d her. That instant the insulted God
Caught him aloft, and from his sinuous grasp,
As if from some tort catapult let loose,
Over the forest hurl’d him all abroad.
16.
O’ercome with dread,
She tarried not to see what heavenly power
Had saved her in that hour.
Breathless and faint she fled.
And now her foot struck on the knotted root
Of a broad manchineil, and there the maid
Fell senselessly beneath the deadly shade.
VI. CASYAPA.
1.
Shall this then be thy fate, O lovely Maid,
Thus, Kailyal, must thy sorrows then be ended!
Her face upon the ground,
Her arms at length extended,
There like a corpse behold her laid,
Beneath the deadly shade.
What if the hungry Tyger, prowling by,
Should snuff his banquet nigh?
Alas, Death needs not now his ministry;
The baleful boughs hang o’er her,
The poison-dews descend.
What power will now restore her,
What God will be her friend?
2.
Bright and so beautiful was that fair night,
It might have calm’d the gay amid their mirth,
And given the wretched a delight in tears.
One of the Glendoveers,
The loveliest race of all of heavenly birth,
Hovering with gentle motion o’er the earth,
Amid the moonlight air,
In sportive flight was floating round and round,
Unknowing where his joyous way was tending.
He saw the maid where motionless she lay,
And stoopt his flight descending,
And rais’d her from the ground.
Her heavy eye-lids are half clos’d,
Her cheeks are pale and livid like the dead,
Down hang her loose arms lifelessly,
Down hangs her languid head.
3.
With timely pity touch’d for one so fair,
The gentle Glendoveer
Prest her thus pale and senseless to his breast,
And springs aloft in air with sinewy wings,
And bears the Maiden there,,
Where Himakoot, the holy Mount, on high
From mid-earth rising in mid-Heaven,
Shines in its glory like the throne of Even.
Soaring with strenuous flight above,
He bears her to the blessed Grove,
Where in his ancient and august abodes,
There dwells old Casyapa, the Sire of Gods.
4.
The Father of the Immortals sate,
Where underneath the Tree of Life
The fountains of the Sacred. River sprung:
The Father of the Immortals smil’d
Benignant on his son.
Knowest thou, he said, my child,
Ereenia, knowest thou whom thou bringest here,
A mortal to the holy atmosphere?
EREENIA.
I found her in the Groves of Earth,
Beneath a poison-tree,
Thus lifeless as thou seest her.
In pity have I brought her to these bowers,
Not erring, Father! by that smile...
By that benignant eye!
CASYAPA.
What if the maid be sinful? If her ways
Were ways of darkness, and her death predoom’d
To that black hour of midnight, when the Moon
Hath turn’d her face away,
Unwilling to behold
The unhappy end of guilt?
EREENIA.
Then what a lie, my Sire, were written here,
In these fair characters! And she had died,
Sure proof of purer life and happier doom,
Now in the moonlight, in the eye of Heaven,
If I had left so fair a flower to fade.
But thou,... all knowing as thou art,
Why askest thou of me?
O Father, oldest, holiest, wisest, best,
To whom all things are plain,
Why askest thou of me?<
br />
CASYAPA.
Knowest thou Kehama?
EREENIA.
The Almighty Man!
Who knows not him and his tremendous power?
The Tyrant of the Earth,
The Enemy of Heaven!
CASYAPA.
Fearest thou the Rajah?
EREENIA,
He is terrible!
CASYAPA.
Yea, he is terrible! such power hath he,
That hope hath entered Hell.
The A suras and the spirits of the damn’d
Acclaim their Hero; Yam en, with the might
Of Godhead, scarce can quell
The rebel race accurst;
Half from their beds of torture they uprise,
And half uproot their chains.
Is there not fear in Heaven?
The souls that are in bliss suspend their joy;
The danger hath disturb’d
The calm of Deity,
And Brama fears, and Veeshnoo turns his face
In doubt toward Seeva’s throne.
Ereenia.
I have seen Indra tremble at his prayers,
And at his dreadful penances turn pale.
They claim and wrest from Seeva power so vast,
That even Seeva’s self,
The Highest, cannot grant and be secure.
CASYAPA.
And darest thou, Ereenia, brave
The Almighty Tyrant’s power?
EREENIA.
I brave him, Father! I?
CASYAPA.
Darest thou brave his vengeance?... for if not,
Take her again to earth,
Cast her before the tyger in his path,
Or where the death-dew-dropping tree
May work Kehama’s will.
EREENIA.
Never I
CASYAPA.
Then meet his wrath! for he, even he,
Hath set upon this worm his wanton foot
EREENIA.
I knew her not, how wretched and how fair,
When here I wafted her:... poor Child of Earth,
Shall I forsake thee, seeing thee so fair,
So wretched? O my Father, let the maid
Dwell in the Sacred Grove.
CASYAPA.
That must not be,
For Force and Evil then would enter here;
Ganges, the holy stream which cleanseth sin,
Would flow from hence polluted in its springs,
And they who gasp upon its banks in death,
Feel no salvation. Piety and peace
And Wisdom, these are mine; but not the power
Which could protect her from the Almighty Man;
Nor when the spirit of dead Arvalan
Should persecute her here to glut his rage,
To heap upon her yet more agony,
And ripen more damnation for himself.
EREENIA.
Dead Arvalan?
CASYAPA.
All power to him, whereof
The disembodied spirit in its state
Of weakness could be made participant,
Kehama hath assign’d, until his days
Of wandering shall be numbered.
EREENIA.
Look! she drinks
The gale of healing from the blessed Groves.
She stirs, and lo! her hand
Hath touch’d the Holy River in its source,
Who would have shrunk if aught impure were nigh.
CASYAPA.
The Maiden, of a truth, is pure from sin.
5.
The waters of the holy Spring
About the hand of Kailyal play;
They rise, they sparkle, and they sing.
Leaping where languidly she lay,
As if with that rejoicing stir
The holy Spring would welcome her.
The Tree of Life which o’er her spread,
Benignant bow’d its sacred head,
And dropt its dews of healing;
And her heart-blood at every breath,
Recovering from the strife of death,
Drew in new strength and feeling.
Behold her beautiful in her repose,
A life-bloom reddening now her dark-brown cheek;
And lo! her eyes unclose,
Dark as the depth of Ganges’ spring profound
When night hangs over it,
Bright as the moon’s refulgent beam,
That quivers on its clear up-sparkling stream.
6.
Soon she let fall her lids,
As one who, from a blissful dream
Waking to thoughts of pain,
Fain would return to sleep, and dream again.
Distrustful of the sight,
She moves not, fearing to disturb
The deep and full delight.
In wonder fix’d, opening again her eye
She gazes silently,
Thinking her mortal pilgrimage was past,
That she had reach’d her heavenly home of rest,
And these were Gods before her,
Or spirits of the blest.
7.
Lo! at Ereenia’s voice,
A Ship of Heaven comes sailing down the skies.
Where wouldst thou bear her? cries
The ancient Sire of Gods.
Straight to the Swerga, to my Bower of Bliss,
The Glendoveer replies,
To Indra’s own abodes. — .
Foe of her foe, were it alone for this
Indra should guard her from his vengeance there;
But if the God forbear,
Unwilling yet the perilous strife to try,
Or shrinking from the dreadful Rajah’s might,...
Weak as I am, O Father, even I
Stand forth in Seeva’s sight.
8.
Trust thou in Him whate’er betide,
And stand forth fearlessly!
The Sire of Gods replied:
All that He wills is right, and doubt not thou,
Howe’er our feeble scope of sight
May fail us now,
His righteous will in all things must be done.
My blessing be upon thee, O my son!
VII. THE SWERGA.
1.
Then in the Ship of Heaven, Ereenia laid
The waking, wondering Maid;
The Ship of Heaven, instinct with thought, display’d
Its living sail, and glides along the sky.
On either side in wavy tide,
The clouds of morn along its path divide;
The Winds who swept in wild career on high,
Before its presence check their charmed force;
The Winds that loitering lagg’d along their course,
Around the living Bark enamour’d play,
Swell underneath the sail, and sing before its way.
2.
That Bark, in shape, was like the furrowed shell
Wherein the Sea-Nymphs to their parent-king,
On festal day, their duteous offerings bring.
Its hue?... Go watch the last green light
Ere Evening yields the western sky to Night;
Or fix upon the Sun thy strenuous sight
Till thou hast reach’d its orb of chrysolite.
The sail from end to end display’d
Bent, like a rainbow, o’er the maid.
An Angel’s head, with visual eye,
Through trackless space, directs its chosen way;
Nor aid of wing, nor foot, nor fin,
Requires to voyage o’er the obedient sky.
Smooth as the swan when not a breeze at even
Disturbs the surface of the silver stream,
Through air and sunshine sails the Ship of Heaven.
3.
Recumbent there the Maiden glides along
On her aerial way,
How swift she feels not, though the swiftest wind
Had
flagg’d in flight behind.
Motionless as a sleeping babe she lay,
And all serene in mind,
Feeling no fear; for that etherial air
With such new life and joyance fill’d her heart,
Fear could not enter there;
For sure she deem’d her mortal part was o’er,
And she was sailing to the heavenly shore;
And that Angelic form, who mov’d beside,
Was some good Spirit sent to be her guide.
4.
Daughter of Earth! therein thou deem’st aright.
And never yet did form more beautiful,
In dreams of night descending from on high,
Bless the religious Virgin’s gifted sight;
Nor, like a vision of delight,
Rise on the raptur’d Poet’s inward eye.
Of human form divine was he,
The immortal Youth of Heaven who floated by;
Even such’ as that divinest form shall be
In those blest stages of our onward race,
When no infirmity,
Low thought, nor base desire, nor wasting care,
Deface the semblance of our heavenly sire.
The wings of Eagle or of Cherubim
Had seem’d unworthy him:
Angelic power and dignity and grace
Were in his glorious pennons; from the neck
Down to the ankle reach’d their swelling web,
Richer than robes of Tyrian die, that deck
Imperial majesty:
Their colour like the winter’s moonless sky
When all the stars of midnight’s canopy
Shine forth; or like the azure deep at noon,
Reflecting back to heaven a brighter blue.
Such was their tint when clos’d, but when outspread,
The permeating light
Shed through their substance thin a varying hue;
Now bright as when the Rose,.
Beauteous as fragrant, gives to scent and sight
A like delight; now like the juice that flows
From Douro’s generous vine,
Or ruby when with deepest red it glows;
Or as the morning clouds refulgent shine
Complete Poetical Works of Robert Southey Page 144