For ever and for ever thus were seen The thousand mighty arms of that dread Queen.

16.

Here, issuing from the car, the Glendoveer Did homage to the God, then raised his head. Suppliants we come, he said,

I need not tell thee by what wrongs opprest, For nought can pass on earth to thee unknown; Sufferers from tyranny we seek for rest, And Seeva bade us go to Yamen's throne; Here, he hath said, all wrongs shall be redrest. Yamen replied, Even now the hour draws near, When Fate its hidden ways will manifest. Not for light purpose would the Wisest send His suppliants here, when we, in doubt and fear, The awful issue of the hour attend.

Wait ye in patience and in faith the end!

197

XXIV.

THE AMREETA.

1.

So spake the King of Padalon, when, lo!
The voice of lamentation ceas'd in Hell,
And sudden silence all around them fell,
Silence more wild and terrible

Than all the infernal dissonance before. Through that portentous stillness, far away, Unwonted sounds were heard, advancing on And deepening on their way;

For now the inexorable hour

Was come, and, in the fullness of his power, Now that the dreadful rites had all been done, Kehama from the Swerga hastened down, To seize upon the throne of Padalon.

2.

He came in all his might and majesty, With all his terrors clad, and all his pride; And, by the attribute of Deity, Which he had won from Heaven, self-multiplied, The Almighty Man appear'd on every side. In the same indivisible point of time,

At the eight Gates he stood at once, and beat The Warden-Gods of Hell beneath his feet; Then, in his brazen Cars of triumph, straight, At the same moment, drove through every gate. By Aullays, hugest of created kind, Fiercest, and fleeter than the viewless wind, His Cars were drawn, ten yokes of ten abreast,. What less sufficed for such almighty weight? Eight bridges from the fiery flood arose Growing before his way; and on he goes, And drives the thundering Chariot-wheels along, At once o'er all the roads of Padalon.

3.

Silent and motionless remain

The Asuras on their bed of pain, Waiting, with breathless hope, the great event. All Hell was hush'd in dread,

Such awe that omnipresent coming spread; Nor had its voice been heard, though all its rout Innumerable had lifted up one shout; Nor if the infernal firmament Had in one unimaginable burst

Spent its collected thunders, had the sound Been audible, such louder terrors went Before his forms substantial. Round about The presence scattered lightnings far and wide, That quench'd on every side,

With their intensest blaze, the feebler fire
Of Padalon, even as the stars go out,

When, with prodigious light,

Some blazing meteor fills the astonish'd night.

4.

The Diamond City shakes!
The adamantine Rock

Is loosen'd with the shock !

From its foundation moved, it heaves and quakes ; The brazen portals crumbling fall to dust; Prone fall the Giant Guards

Beneath the Aullays crush'd;

On, on, through Yamenpur, their thundering feet Speed from all points to Yamen's Judgement-seat. And lo! where multiplied,

Behind, before him, and on every side,
Wielding all weapons in his countless hands,
Around the Lord of Hell Kehama stands !
Then too the Lord of Hell put forth his might:
Thick darkness, blacker than the blackest night,
Rose from their wrath, and veil'd
The unutterable fight.

The power of Fate and Sacrifice prevail'd,
And soon the strife was done.

Then did the Man-God re-assume

His unity, absorbing into one

The consubstantiate shapes; and as the gloom Opened, fallen Yamen on the ground was seen, His neck beneath the conquering Rajah's feet, Who on the marble tomb

Had his triumphal seat.

5.

Silent the Man-Almighty sate; a smile
Gleam'd on his dreadful lips, the while

Dallying with power, he paused from following up
His conquest, as a man in social hour
Sips of the grateful cup,

Again and yet again with curious taste
Searching its subtle flavour ere he drink :

Even so Kehama now forbore his haste, Having within his reach whate'er he sought, On his own haughty power he seem'd to muse, Pampering his arrogant heart with silent thought. Before him stood the Golden Throne in sight, Right opposite; he could not choose but see Nor seeing choose but wonder. Who are ye Who bear the Golden Throne tormented there? He cried; for whom doth Destiny prepare The Imperial Seat, and why are ye but Three?

6.

FIRST STATUE.

I of the Children of Mankind was first, Me miserable! who, adding store to store, Heapt up superfluous wealth; and now accurst, For ever I the frantic crime deplore.

SECOND STATUE.

I o'er my Brethren of Mankind the first Usurping power, set up a throne sublime, A King and Conqueror: therefore thus accurst, For ever I in vain repent the crime.