Classic Poem

1.

The Earth, by Baly's feet divided,
Closed o'er his way as to the Judgment-seat
He plunged and bore his prey.
Scarce had the shock subsided,
When, darting from the Swerga's heavenly heights;
Kehama, like a thunderbolt, alights.
In wrath he came; a bickering flame
Flash'd from his eyes, which made the moonlight dim,
And passion forcing way from every limb,
Like furnace-smoke, with terrors wrapt him round.
Furious he smote the ground;
Earth trembled underneath the dreadful stroke,
Again in sunder riven;
He hurl'd in rage his whirling weapon down.
But lo! the fiery sheckra to his feet.
Return'd, as if by equal force re-driven,
And from the abyss the voice of Baly came
Not yet, O Rajah, hast thou won
The realms of Padalon!
Earth and the Swerga are thine own;
But, till Kehama shall subdue the throne
Of Hell, in torments Yamen holds his son.

2.

Fool that he is! — in torments let him lie
Kehama, wrathful at his son, replied.
But what am I,
That thou shouldst brave me? — kindling in his pride
The dreadful Rajah cried.
Ho! Yamen! hear me. God of Padalon,
Prepare thy throne,
And let the Amreeta cup
Be ready for my lips, when I anon
Triumphantly shall take my seat thereon,
And plant upon thy neck my royal feet.

3.

In voice like thunder thus the Rajah cried,
Impending o'er the abyss, with menacing hand
Put forth, as in the action of command,
And eyes that darted their red anger down.
Then, drawing back, he let the earth subside,
And, as his wrath relax'd, survey'd,
Thoughtfully and silently, the mortal Maid.
Her eye the while was on the farthest sky,
Where up the ethereal height
Ereenia rose and pass'd away from sight.
Never had she so joyfully
Beheld the coming of the Glendoveer,
Dear as he was and he deserved to be,
As now she saw him rise and disappear.
Come now what will, within her heart said she;
For thou art safe, and what have I to fear?

4.

Meantime the Almighty Rajah, late
In power, and majesty, and wrath array'd,
Had laid his terrors by,
And gazed upon the Maid.
Pride could not quit his eye,
Nor that remorseless nature from his front
Depart; yet whoso had beheld him then,
Had felt some admiration mix'd with dread,
And might have said,
That sure he seem'd to be the King of Men!
Less than the greatest that he could not be,
Who carried in his port such might and majesty.

5.

In fear no longer for the Glendoveer,
Now toward the Rajah Kailyal turn'd her eyes,
As if to ask what doom awaited her.
But then surprise,
Even as with fascination, held them there;
So strange a thing it seem'd to see the change
Of purport in that all-commanding brow,
Which thoughtfully was bent upon her now.
Wondering she gazed, the while her Father's eye
Was fixed upon Kehama haughtily;
It spake defiance to him, high disdain,
Stern patience unsubduable by pain,
And pride triumphant over agony.

6.

Ladurlad, said the Rajah, thou and I
Alike have done the work of Destiny,
Unknowing each to what the impulse tended;
But now that over Earth and Heaven my reign
Is stablish'd, and the ways of Fate are plain
Before me, here our enmity is ended.
I take away thy Curse. — As thus he said,
The fire which in Ladurlad's heart and brain
Was burning, fled, and left him free from pain.
So rapidly his torments were departed,
That at the sudden ease he started,
As with a shock, and to his head
His hands up-fled,
As if he felt through every failing limb
The power and sense of life forsaking him.

7.

Then turning to the Maid, the Rajah cried,
O Virgin, above all of mortal birth
Favor'd alike in beauty and in worth,
And in the glories of thy destiny,
Now let thy happy heart exult with pride,
For Fate bath chosen thee
To be Kehama's bride,
To be the Queen of Heaven and Earth,
And of whatever Worlds beside
Infinity may hide; for I can see
The writing which, at thy nativity,
All-knowing Nature wrought upon thy brain,
In branching veins, which to the gifted eye
Map out the mazes of futurity.
There is it written, Maid, that thou and I,
Alone of human kind a deathless pair,
Are doom'd to share
The Amreeta-drink divine
Of immortality. Come, Maiden mine!
High-fated One, ascend the subject sky,
And by Kehama's side
Sit on the Swerga throne, his equal bride.

8.

Oh never, — never, — Father! Kailyal cried;
It is not as he saith, — it cannot be!
I! — I his bride!
Nature is never false; he wrongeth her!
My heart belies such lines of destiny.
There is no other true interpreter!

9.

At that reply, Kehama's darkening brow
Bewray'd the anger which he yet suppress'd;
Counsel thy daughter! tell her thou art now
Free from thy Curse, he said, and bid her bow
In thankfulness to Fate's benign behest.
Bid her her stubborn will restrain, —
For Destiny at last must be obey'd, —
And tell her, while obedience is delay'd,
Thy Curse will burn again.

10.

She needeth not my counsel, he replied,
And idly, Rajah, dost thou reason thus
Of Destiny! for though all other things
Were subject to the starry influencings,
And bow'd submissive to thy tyranny,
The virtuous heart and resolute mind are free.
Thus in their wisdom did the Gods decree
When they created man. Let come what will
This is our rock of strength; in every ill,
Sorrow, oppression, pain, and agony,
The spirit of the good is unsubdued,
And, suffer as they may, they triumph still.

11

Obstinate fools! exclaim'd the Mighty One;
Fate and my pleasure must be done,
And ye resist in vain!
Take your fit guerdon till we meet again!
So saying, his vindictive hand he flung
Towards them, fill'd with curses; then on high
Aloft he sprung, and vanish'd through the Sky.