2. Bright and so beautiful was that fair night, It might have calm'd the gay amid their mirth, And given the wretched a delight in tears. One of the Glendoveers, The loveliest race of all of heavenly birth, Hovering with gentle motion o'er the earth, Amid the moonlight air, In sportive flight was floating round and round, Unknowing where his joyous way was tending. He saw the maid where motionless she lay, And stoopt his flight descending, And rais'd her from the ground. Her heavy eye-lids are half clos'd, Her cheeks are pale and livid like the dead, Down hang her loose arms lifelessly, Down hangs her languid head. 3. With timely pity touch'd for one so fair, The gentle Glendoveer Prest her thus pale and senseless to his breast, {49} And springs aloft in air with sinewy wings, And bears the Maiden there, Where Himakoot, the holy Mount, on high From mid-earth rising in mid-Heaven, Shines in its glory like the throne of Even. Soaring with strenuous flight above, He bears her to the blessed Grove, Where in his ancient and august abodes, There dwells old Casyapa, the Sire of Gods. 4. The Father of the Immortals sate, Where underneath the Tree of Life The fountains of the Sacred River sprung: The Father of the Immortals smil'd Benignant on his son. Knowest thou, he said, my child, Ereenia, knowest thou whom thou bringest here, A mortal to the holy atmosphere? EREENIA. I found her in the Groves of Earth, Beneath a poison-tree, {50} Thus lifeless as thou seest her. In pity have I brought her to these bowers, Not erring, Father! by that smile . . . By that benignant eye! CASYAPA. What if the maid be sinful? If her ways Were ways of darkness, and her death predoom'd To that black hour of midnight, when the Moon Hath turn'd her face away, Unwilling to behold The unhappy end of guilt? EREENIA. Then what a lie, my Sire, were written here, In these fair characters! And she had died, Sure proof of purer life and happier doom, Now in the moonlight, in the eye of Heaven, If I had left so fair a flower to fade. But thou, . . . all knowing as thou art, Why askest thou of me? O Father, oldest, holiest, wisest, best, To whom all things are plain, {51} Why askest thou of me? CASYAPA. Knowest thou Kehama? EREENIA. The Almighty Man! Who knows not him and his tremendous power? The Tyrant of the Earth, The Enemy of Heaven! CASYAPA. Fearest thou the Rajah? EREENIA. He is terrible! CASYAPA. Yea, he is terrible! such power hath he, That hope hath entered Hell. The Asuras and the spirits of the damn'd Acclaim their Hero; Yamen, with the might Of Godhead, scarce can quell {52} The rebel race accurst; Half from their beds of torture they uprise, And half uproot their chains. Is there not fear in Heaven? The souls that are in bliss suspend their joy; The danger hath disturb'd The calm of Deity, And Brama fears, and Veeshnoo turns his face In doubt toward Seeva's throne.