The Curse
1.
Alone towards the Table of the Dead
Kehama moved; there on the altar-stone
Honey and rice he spread.
There, with collected voice and painful tone,
He call'd upon his son.
Lo! Arvalan appears;
Only Kehama's powerful eye beheld
The thin, ethereal spirit hovering nigh;
Only the Rajah's ear
Receiv'd his feeble breath.
And is this all? the mournful Spirit said,
This all that thou canst give me after death?
This unavailing pomp,
These empty pageantries, that mock the dead!
2.
In bitterness the Rajah heard,
And groan'd, and smote his breast, and o'er his face
Cowl'd the white mourning vest.
3.
ARVALAN .
Art thou not powerful, — even like a God'
And must I, through my years of wandering,
Shivering and naked to the elements,
In wretchedness await
The hour of Yamen's wrath?
I thought thou wouldst imbody me anew,
Undying as I am; —
Yea, re-create me! — Father, is this all?
This all? and thou Almighty!
4.
But in that wrongful and upbraiding tone
Kehama found relief;
For rising anger half suppress'd his grief.
Reproach not me! he cried,
Had I not spell-secur'd thee from disease,
Fire, sword, — all common accidents of man, —
And thou! — fool, fool — to perish by a stake!
And by a peasant's arm! —
Even now, when from reluctant Heaven,
Forcing new gifts and mightier attributes,
So soon I should have quell'd the Death-God's power.
5.
Waste not thy wrath on me, quoth Arvalan;
It was my hour of folly! Fate prevail'd;
Nor boots it to reproach me that I fell.
I am in misery, Father! Other souls,
Predoom'd to Indra's Heaven, enjoy the dawn
Of bliss; to them the temper'd elements
Minister joy: genial delight the sun
Sheds on their happy being, and the stars
Effuse on them benignant influences;
And thus o'er earth and air they roam at will,
And, when the number of their days is full,
Go fearlessly before the awful throne.
But I, — all naked feeling and raw life, —
What worse than this hath Yamen's hell in store?
If ever thou didst love me, mercy, father!
Save me, for thou can'st save — the Elements
Know and obey thy voice.
6.
KEHAMA .
The Elements
Shall sin no more against thee; whilst I speak,
Already dost thou feel their power is gone.
Fear not! I cannot call again the past;
Fate hath made that its own; but Fate shall yield
To me the future; and thy doom be fix'd
By mine, not Yamen's will. Meantime all power,
Whereof thy feeble spirit can be made
Participant, I give. Is there aught else
To mitigate thy lot?
ARVALAN .
Only the sight of vengeance. Give me that!
Vengeance, full, worthy vengeance! — not the stroke
Of sudden punishment, — no agony
That spends itself, and leaves the wretch at rest,
But lasting, long revenge.
KEHAMA .
What, boy? is that cup sweet? then take thy fill!
7.
So, as he spake, a glow of dreadful pride
Inflamed his cheek; with quick and angry stride
He moved toward the pile,
And raised his hand to hush the crowd, and cried,
Bring forth the murderer! At the Rajah's voice,
Calmly, and like a man whom fear had stunn'd,
Ladurlad came, obedient to the call,
But Kailyal started at the sound,
And gave a womanly shriek; and back she drew,
And eagerly she roll'd her eyes around,
As if to seek for aid, albeit she knew
No aid could there be found.
8.
It chanced that near her, on the river-brink,
The sculptured form of Marriataly stood;
It was an Idol roughly hewn of wood,
Artless, and mean, and rude;
The Goddess of the poor was she;
None else regarded her with piety.
But when that holy Image Kailyal view'd,
To that she sprung, to that she clung;
On her own Goddess with close-clasping arms,
For life the maiden hung.
9.
They seized the maid; with unrelenting grasp
They bruised her tender limbs;
She, nothing yielding, to this only hope
Clings with the strength of frenzy and despair;
She screams not now, she breathes not now,
She sends not up one vow,
She forms not in her soul one secret prayer,
All thought, all feeling, and all powers of life
In the one effort centring. Wrathful they
With tug and strain would force the maid away;
Didst thou, O Marriataly, see their strife?
In pity didst thou see the suffering maid?
Or was thine anger kindled, that rude hands
Assail'd thy holy Image? — for behold
The holy image shakes!
10.
Irreverently bold, they deem the maid
Relax'd her stubborn hold,
And now with force redoubled drag their prey,
And now the rooted Idol to their sway
Bends, — yields, — and now it falls. But then they scream;
For lo! they feel the crumbling bank give way,
And all are plunged into the stream.
11.
She hath escaped my will, Kehama cried;
She hath escaped, — but thou art here;
I have thee still,
The worser criminal!
And on Ladurlad, while he spake, severe
He fix'd his dreadful frown.
The strong reflection of the pile
Lit his dark lineaments,
Lit the protruded brow, the gathered front,
The steady eye of wrath.
12.
But while the fearful silence yet endured;
Ladurlad roused himself;
Ere yet the voice of destiny
Which trembled on the Rajah's lips was loosed,
Eager he interposed,
As if despair had waken'd him to hope;
Mercy! oh mercy! only in defence —
Only instinctively —
Only to save my child, I smote the Prince;
King of the world, be merciful!
Crush me — but torture not!
13.
The Man-Almighty deign'd him no reply;
Still he stood silent; in no human mood
Of mercy, in no hesitating thought
Of right and justice. At the length he raised
His brow, yet unrelax'd, — his lips unclosed,
And, uttered from the heart,
With the whole feeling of his soul enforced,
The gathered vengeance came.
14.
I charm thy life
From the weapons of strife,
From stone and from wood,
From fire and from flood,
From the serpent's tooth,
And the beasts of blood:
From Sickness I charm thee,
And Time shall not harm thee;
But Earth, which is mine,
Its fruits shall deny thee;
And Water shall hear me,
And know thee and fly thee;
And the Winds shall not touch thee
When they pass by thee,
And the Dews shall not wet thee,
When they fall nigh thee:
And thou shalt seek Death
To release thee, in vain;
Thou shalt live in thy pain,
While Kehama shall reign,
With a fire in thy heart,
And a fire in thy brain;
And Sleep shall obey me,
And visit thee never,
And the Curse shall be on thee
Forever and ever.
15.
There where the Curse had stricken him,
There stood the miserable man,
There stood Ladurlad, with loose-hanging arms,
And eyes of idiot wandering.
Was it a dream? alas!
He heard the river flow;
He heard the crumbling of the pile;
He heard the wind which shower'd
The thin, white ashes round.
There motionless he stood,
As if he hoped it were a dream,
And feared to move, lest he should prove
The actual misery;
And still at times he met Kehama's eye,
Kehama's eye, that fastened on him still.
Alone towards the Table of the Dead
Kehama moved; there on the altar-stone
Honey and rice he spread.
There, with collected voice and painful tone,
He call'd upon his son.
Lo! Arvalan appears;
Only Kehama's powerful eye beheld
The thin, ethereal spirit hovering nigh;
Only the Rajah's ear
Receiv'd his feeble breath.
And is this all? the mournful Spirit said,
This all that thou canst give me after death?
This unavailing pomp,
These empty pageantries, that mock the dead!
2.
In bitterness the Rajah heard,
And groan'd, and smote his breast, and o'er his face
Cowl'd the white mourning vest.
3.
ARVALAN .
Art thou not powerful, — even like a God'
And must I, through my years of wandering,
Shivering and naked to the elements,
In wretchedness await
The hour of Yamen's wrath?
I thought thou wouldst imbody me anew,
Undying as I am; —
Yea, re-create me! — Father, is this all?
This all? and thou Almighty!
4.
But in that wrongful and upbraiding tone
Kehama found relief;
For rising anger half suppress'd his grief.
Reproach not me! he cried,
Had I not spell-secur'd thee from disease,
Fire, sword, — all common accidents of man, —
And thou! — fool, fool — to perish by a stake!
And by a peasant's arm! —
Even now, when from reluctant Heaven,
Forcing new gifts and mightier attributes,
So soon I should have quell'd the Death-God's power.
5.
Waste not thy wrath on me, quoth Arvalan;
It was my hour of folly! Fate prevail'd;
Nor boots it to reproach me that I fell.
I am in misery, Father! Other souls,
Predoom'd to Indra's Heaven, enjoy the dawn
Of bliss; to them the temper'd elements
Minister joy: genial delight the sun
Sheds on their happy being, and the stars
Effuse on them benignant influences;
And thus o'er earth and air they roam at will,
And, when the number of their days is full,
Go fearlessly before the awful throne.
But I, — all naked feeling and raw life, —
What worse than this hath Yamen's hell in store?
If ever thou didst love me, mercy, father!
Save me, for thou can'st save — the Elements
Know and obey thy voice.
6.
KEHAMA .
The Elements
Shall sin no more against thee; whilst I speak,
Already dost thou feel their power is gone.
Fear not! I cannot call again the past;
Fate hath made that its own; but Fate shall yield
To me the future; and thy doom be fix'd
By mine, not Yamen's will. Meantime all power,
Whereof thy feeble spirit can be made
Participant, I give. Is there aught else
To mitigate thy lot?
ARVALAN .
Only the sight of vengeance. Give me that!
Vengeance, full, worthy vengeance! — not the stroke
Of sudden punishment, — no agony
That spends itself, and leaves the wretch at rest,
But lasting, long revenge.
KEHAMA .
What, boy? is that cup sweet? then take thy fill!
7.
So, as he spake, a glow of dreadful pride
Inflamed his cheek; with quick and angry stride
He moved toward the pile,
And raised his hand to hush the crowd, and cried,
Bring forth the murderer! At the Rajah's voice,
Calmly, and like a man whom fear had stunn'd,
Ladurlad came, obedient to the call,
But Kailyal started at the sound,
And gave a womanly shriek; and back she drew,
And eagerly she roll'd her eyes around,
As if to seek for aid, albeit she knew
No aid could there be found.
8.
It chanced that near her, on the river-brink,
The sculptured form of Marriataly stood;
It was an Idol roughly hewn of wood,
Artless, and mean, and rude;
The Goddess of the poor was she;
None else regarded her with piety.
But when that holy Image Kailyal view'd,
To that she sprung, to that she clung;
On her own Goddess with close-clasping arms,
For life the maiden hung.
9.
They seized the maid; with unrelenting grasp
They bruised her tender limbs;
She, nothing yielding, to this only hope
Clings with the strength of frenzy and despair;
She screams not now, she breathes not now,
She sends not up one vow,
She forms not in her soul one secret prayer,
All thought, all feeling, and all powers of life
In the one effort centring. Wrathful they
With tug and strain would force the maid away;
Didst thou, O Marriataly, see their strife?
In pity didst thou see the suffering maid?
Or was thine anger kindled, that rude hands
Assail'd thy holy Image? — for behold
The holy image shakes!
10.
Irreverently bold, they deem the maid
Relax'd her stubborn hold,
And now with force redoubled drag their prey,
And now the rooted Idol to their sway
Bends, — yields, — and now it falls. But then they scream;
For lo! they feel the crumbling bank give way,
And all are plunged into the stream.
11.
She hath escaped my will, Kehama cried;
She hath escaped, — but thou art here;
I have thee still,
The worser criminal!
And on Ladurlad, while he spake, severe
He fix'd his dreadful frown.
The strong reflection of the pile
Lit his dark lineaments,
Lit the protruded brow, the gathered front,
The steady eye of wrath.
12.
But while the fearful silence yet endured;
Ladurlad roused himself;
Ere yet the voice of destiny
Which trembled on the Rajah's lips was loosed,
Eager he interposed,
As if despair had waken'd him to hope;
Mercy! oh mercy! only in defence —
Only instinctively —
Only to save my child, I smote the Prince;
King of the world, be merciful!
Crush me — but torture not!
13.
The Man-Almighty deign'd him no reply;
Still he stood silent; in no human mood
Of mercy, in no hesitating thought
Of right and justice. At the length he raised
His brow, yet unrelax'd, — his lips unclosed,
And, uttered from the heart,
With the whole feeling of his soul enforced,
The gathered vengeance came.
14.
I charm thy life
From the weapons of strife,
From stone and from wood,
From fire and from flood,
From the serpent's tooth,
And the beasts of blood:
From Sickness I charm thee,
And Time shall not harm thee;
But Earth, which is mine,
Its fruits shall deny thee;
And Water shall hear me,
And know thee and fly thee;
And the Winds shall not touch thee
When they pass by thee,
And the Dews shall not wet thee,
When they fall nigh thee:
And thou shalt seek Death
To release thee, in vain;
Thou shalt live in thy pain,
While Kehama shall reign,
With a fire in thy heart,
And a fire in thy brain;
And Sleep shall obey me,
And visit thee never,
And the Curse shall be on thee
Forever and ever.
15.
There where the Curse had stricken him,
There stood the miserable man,
There stood Ladurlad, with loose-hanging arms,
And eyes of idiot wandering.
Was it a dream? alas!
He heard the river flow;
He heard the crumbling of the pile;
He heard the wind which shower'd
The thin, white ashes round.
There motionless he stood,
As if he hoped it were a dream,
And feared to move, lest he should prove
The actual misery;
And still at times he met Kehama's eye,
Kehama's eye, that fastened on him still.
Translation:
Language:
Reviews
No reviews yet.