Classic Poem

Fountain of living light,
That o'er all nature streams,
Of this vast microcosm both nerve and soul;
Whose swift and subtile beams,
Eluding mortal sight,
Pervade, attract, sustain the' effulgent whole,
Unite, impel, dilate, calcine,
Give to gold its weight and blaze,
Dart from the diamond many-tinted rays,
Condense, protrude, transform, concoct, refine
The sparkling daughters of the mine;
Lord of the lotos, father, friend, and king,
O Sun, thy powers I sing:
Thy substance Indra with his heavenly bands
Nor sings nor understands;
Nor e'en the Vedas three, to man explain
Thy mystic orb triform, though Brahma tun'd the strain.
Thou, nectar-beaming Moon,
Regent of dewy night,
From you black roe, that in thy bosom sleeps,
Fawn-spotted Sasin hight;
Wilt thou desert so soon
Thy night-flowers pale, whom liquid odour steeps,
And Oshadhi's transcendent beam
Burning in the darkest glade?
Will no lov'd name thy gentle mind persuade
Yet one short hour to shed thy cooling stream?
But ah! we court a passing dream:
Our prayer nor Indu nor Himansu hears;
He fades; he disappears — —
E'en Casyapa's gay daughters twinkling die,
And silence lulls the sky,
Till Chatacs twitter from the moving brake,
And sandal breathing gales on beds of ether wake.

Burst into song, ye spheres;
A greater light proclaim,
And hymn, concentric orbs! with sevenfold chime,
The god with many a name;
Nor let unhallow'd ears
Drink life and rapture from your charm sublime:
" Our bosoms, Aryama, inspire,
Gem of heaven, and flower of day,
Vivaswat, lancer of the golden ray,
Divacara, pure source of holy fire,
Victorious Rama's fervid sire,
Dread child of Aditi, Martunda bless'd,
Or Sura be address'd,
Ravi, or Mihira, or Bhanu bold,
Or Arca, title old,
Or Heridaswa drawn by green hair'd steeds,
Or Carmasacshi keen, attesting secret deeds.

" What fiend, what monster fierce
E'er durst thy throne invade?
Malignant Rahu. Him thy wakeful sight,
That could the deepest shade
Of snaky Narac pierce,
Mark'd quaffing nectar: whom by magic sleight
A Sura's lovely form he wore,
Rob'd in light, with lotos crown'd,
What time the' immortals peerless treasures found
On the churn'd Ocean's gem-bespangled shore,
And Mandar's load the tortoise bore:
Thy voice reveal'd the daring sacrilege;
Then, by the deathful edge
Of bright Sudersan cleft, his dragon head
Dismay and horror spread,
Kicking the skies, and struggling to impair
The radiance of thy robes, and stain thy golden hair.

" With smiles of stern disdain
Thou sovereign victor! see'st
His impious rage: soon from the mad assault
The coursers fly releas'd;
The coursers fly releas'd;
Then toss each verdant mane,
And gallop o'er the smooth airial vault;
Whilst in charm'd Gocul's odorous vale
Blue ey'd Yamuna descends
Exulting, and her tripping tide suspends,
The triumph of her mighty sire to hail:
So must they fall, who gods assail!
For now the demon rues his rash emprise,
Yet, bellowing blasphemies
With poisonous throat, for horrid vengeance thirsts,
And oft with tempest bursts,
As oft repell'd he groans in fiery chains,
And o'er the realms of day, unvanquish'd Surya reigns.┬╗
Ye clouds, in wavy wreathes
Your dusky van unfold;
O'er dimpled sands, ye surges, gently flow,
With sapphires edg'd and gold!
Loose-tressed Morning breathes,
And spreads her blushes with expansive glow;
But chiefly where heaven's opening eye
Sparkles at her saffron gate,
How rich, how regal in his orient state!
Ere long he shall emblaze the' unbounded sky:
The fiends of darkness yelling fly;
While birds of liveliest note and lightest wing
The rising day-star sing,
Who skirts the' horizon with a blazing line
Of topazes divine;
E'en, in their prelude, brighter and more bright,
Flames the red east, and pours insufferable light

First o'er blue hills appear,
With many an agate hoof
And pasterns fring'd with pearl, seven coursers green;
Nor boasts yon arched woof,
That girds the showery sphere,
Such heaven-spun threads of colour'd light serene,
As tinge the reins, which Arun guides,
Glowing with immortal grace,
Young Arun, loveliest of Vinatian race,
Though younger. He, whom Madhava bestrides,
When high on eagle plumes he rides:
But oh! what pencil of a living star
Could paint that gorgeous car,
In which, as in an ark supremely bright,
The lord of boundless light
Ascending calm o'er the' empyrean sails,
And with ten thousand beams his awful beauty veils.

Behind the glowing wheels
Six jocund Seasons dance,
A radiant Month in each quick-shifting hand;
Alternate they advance,
While buxom Nature feels
The grateful changes of the frolic band:
Each Month a Constellation fair
Knit in youthful wedlock holds;
And o'er each bed a varied sun unfolds,
Lest one vast blaze our visual force impair,
A canopy of woven air.
Vasanta blythe with many a laughing flow'r
Decks his Candarpa's bow'r;
The drooping pastures thirsty Grishma dries,
Till Versha bids them rise;
Than Sarat with full sheaves the champaign fills,
Which Sisira bedews, and stern Hemanta chills.

Mark, how the' all-kindling orb
Meridian glory gains!
Round Meru's breathing zone he winds oblique
O'er pure cerulean plains:
His jealous flames absorb
All meaner lights, and unresisted strike
The world with rapturous joy and dread.
Ocean, smit with melting pain,
Shrinks, and the fiercest monster of the main
Mantles in caves profound his tusky head
With sea-weeds dank and coral spread:
Less can mild Earth and her green daughters bear
The noon's wide-wasting glare;
To rocks the panther creeps: to woody night
The vulture steals his flight;
E'en cold cameleons pant in thickets dun,
And o'er the burning grit the' unwinged locusts run.

But when thy foaming steeds
Descend with rapid pace
Thy fervent axle hastening to allay, —
What majesty, what grace
Dart o'er the western meads
From thy relenting eye their blended ray!
Soon may the' undazzled sense behold
Rich as Vishnu's diadem,
Or Amrit sparkling in an azure gem,
The horizontal globe of molten gold,
Which pearl'd and rubied clouds infold.
It sinks; and myriads of diffusive dyes
Stream o'er the tissued skies,
Till Soma smiles, attracted by the song
Of many a plumed throng,
In groves, meads, vales; and, whilst he glides above
Each bush and dancing bough, quaffs harmony and love.

Then roves thy poet free,
Who with no borrow'd art
Dares hymn thy power; and durst provoke thy blaze,
But felt thy thrilling dart;
And now, on lowly knee,
From him, who gave the wound, the balsam prays,
Herbs, that assuage the fever's pain,
Scatter from thy rolling car,
Cull'd by sage Aswin and divine Cumar;
And, if they ask, " What mortal pours the strain?"
Say (for thou see'st earth, air, and main)
Say: " From the bosom of yon silver isle,
Where skies more softly smile,
He came; and, lisping, our celestial tongue,
Though not from Brahma sprung,
Draws orient knowledge from its fountains pure,
Through caves obstructed long, and paths too long obscure."

Yes; though the Sanscrit song
Be strown with fancy's wreaths,
And emblems rich, beyond low thoughts refin'd,
Yet heavenly truth it breathes
With attestation strong, —
That, loftier than thy sphere, the' Eternal Mind,
Unmov'd, unrival'd, undefil'd,
Reigns with providence benign:
He still'd the rude abyss, and bade it shine;
(While Sapience with approving aspect mild
Saw the stupendous work, and smil'd!)
Next, thee, his flaming minister, bade rise
O'er young and wondering skies.
Since thou, great orb! with all-enlightening ray
Rulest the golden day,
How far more glorious He, who said, serene,
Be, and thou wast — Himself unform'd, unchang'd, unseen!