97

XII.

THE SACRIFICE COMPLEATED.

1.

O YE who, by the Lake
On Meru Mount, partake

The joys which Heaven hath destin'd for the blest,

Swift, swift, the moments fly,

The silent hours go by,

And ye

must leave

your dear abode of rest.

O wretched Man, prepare

Again thy Curse to bear!

Prepare, O wretched Maid, for farther woe!

The fatal hour draws near,

When Indra's heavenly sphere
Must own the Tyrant of the World below.
To-day the hundredth Steed,

At Seeva's shrine must bleed,
The dreadful sacrifice is full to-day;
Nor man nor God hath power,
At this momentous hour,

Again to save the Swerga from his sway.

VOL. VIII.

Fresh woes, O Maid divine,

Fresh trials must be thine :

H

The rice-roots by the searching Sun were dried,

And in lean groupes, assembled at the side Of the empty tank, the cattle dropt and died; And Famine, at her bidding, wasted wide The wretched land, till, in the public way, Promiscuous where the dead and dying lay, Dogs fed on human bones in the open light of day.

7.

Her secret cell the accursed Arvalan, In quest of vengeance sought, and thus began. Mighty mother! mother wise! Revenge me on my enemies.

LORRINITE.

Comest thou, son, for aid to me?
Tell me who have injured thee,
Where they are, and who they be;
Of the Earth, or of the Sea,

?

Or of the aërial company
Earth, nor Sea, nor Air is free

From the powers who wait on me,
And my tremendous witchery.

ARVALAN.

She for whom so ill I sped,
Whom my Father deemeth dead,
Lives, for Marriataly's aid
From the water saved the Maid.

In hatred I desire her still,

And in revenge would have my will.

LONDON.

PATERNOSTER ROW.

Engraved by E. Finden