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XIX.

MOUNT CALASAY.

1.

THE Rajah, scattering curses as he rose, Soar'd to the Swerga, and resumed his throne. Not for his own redoubled agony,

Which now through heart and brain
With renovated pain,

Rush'd to its seat, Ladurlad breathes that groan,
That groan is for his child; he groan'd to see
That she was stricken now with leprosy,
Which as the enemy vindictive fled,

O'er all her frame with quick contagion spread. She, wondering at events so passing strange, And fill'd with hope and fear,

And joy to see the Tyrant disappear, And glad expectance of her Glendoveer, Perceived not in herself the hideous change. His burning pain, she thought, had forced the groan Her father breathed; his agonies alone

Were present to her mind; she clasp'd his knees, Wept for his Curse, and did not feel her own.

2.

Nor when she saw her plague, did her good heart,
True to itself, even for a moment fail.
Ha, Rajah! with disdainful smile she cries,
Mighty and wise and wicked as thou art,
Still thy blind vengeance acts a friendly part.
Shall I not thank thee for this scurf and scale
Of dire deformity, whose loathsomeness,
Surer than panoply of strongest mail,
Arms me against all foes? Oh, better so,
Better such foul disgrace,

Than that this innocent face

Should tempt thy wooing! That I need not dread; Nor ever impious foe

Will offer outrage now, nor farther woe Will beauty draw on my unhappy head, Safe through the unholy world may Kailyal go.

3.

Her face in virtuous pride

I Was lifted to the skies,

As him and his poor vengeance she defied; But earthward, when she ceased, she turn'd her eyes, As if she sought to hide

The tear which in her own despite would rise.
Did then the thought of her own Glendoveer
Call forth that natural tear?

Was it a woman's fear,

A thought of earthly love which troubled her?
Like yon thin cloud amid the moonlight sky

That flits before the wind

And leaves no trace behind,

The womanly pang pass'd over Kailyal's mind.
This is a loathsome sight to human eye,
Half-shrinking at herself, the Maiden thought;
Will it be so to him? Oh surely not!
The immortal Powers, who see

Through the poor wrappings of mortality, Behold the soul, the beautiful soul, within, Exempt from age and wasting maladies, And undeform'd, while pure and free from sin. This is a loathsome sight to human eyes, But not to eyes divine,

Ereenia, Son of Heaven, oh not to thine!

4.

The wrongful thought of fear, the womanly pain Had pass'd away, her heart was calm again. She raised her head, expecting now to see The Glendoveer appear;

Where hath he fled, quoth she,

That he should tarry now? Oh! had she known Whither the adventurous Son of Heaven was flown, Strong as her spirit was, it had not borne The appalling thought, nor dared to hope for his return.

5.

For he in search of Seeva's throne was gone,
To tell his tale of wrong;

In search of Seeva's own abode

The Glendoveer began his heavenly road.

O wild emprize! above the farthest skies
He hoped to rise!

Him who is throned beyond the reach of thought,
The Alone, the Inaccessible, he sought.
O wild emprize! for when in days of yore,
For proud pre-eminence of power,
Brama and Veeshnoo, wild with rage, contended,
And Seeva in his might,

Their dread contention ended;
Before their sight

In form a fiery column did he tower,
Whose head above the highest height extended,
Whose base below the deepest depth descended.
Downward, its depth to sound
Veeshnoo a thousand years explored
The fathomless profound,

And yet no base he found:
Upward, to reach its head,

Ten myriad years the aspiring Brama soar'd,
And still, as up he fled,

Above him still the Immeasurable spread.
The rivals own'd their Lord,

And trembled and adored.

How shall the Glendoveer attain

What Brama and what Veeshnoo sought in vain?

6.

Ne'er did such thought of lofty daring enter Celestial Spirit's mind. O wild adventure That throne to find, for he must leave behind This World, that in the centre,

Within its salt-sea girdle, lies confined;

Yea the Seven Earths that, each with its own ocean,
Ring clasping ring, compose the mighty round.
What power of motion,

In less than endless years shall bear him there,
Along the limitless extent,

To the utmost bound of the remotest spheres ?
What strength of wing

Suffice to pierce the Golden Firmament
That closes all within?

Yet he hath pass'd the measureless extent
And pierced the Golden Firmament;
For Faith hath given him power, and Space and Time
Vanish before that energy sublime.
Nor doth eternal Night

And outer Darkness check his resolute flight; By strong desire through all he makes his way, Till Seeva's Seat appears,.. behold Mount Calasay!'

7.

Behold the Silver Mountain! round about Seven ladders stand, so high, the aching eye, Seeking their tops in vain amid the sky, Might deem they led from earth to highest Heaven. Ages would pass away,

And worlds with age decay,

Ere one whose patient feet from ring to ring
Must win their upward way,

Could reach the summit of Mount Calasay.
But that strong power that nerved his wing,
That all-surmounting will,

Intensity of faith and holiest love,