Page:Sakuntala and Her Keepsake.pdf/14

Kalidas!— O thou that showest Kanva's holy hermitage,
And the forest-maiden's wedding, and Durvasas' mighty rage:

Lover of the legends, glorying in the deeds of Raghu's line—
In the deeds of love and valour blazon'd by thy lays divine:

Chanter of the Mountain, piping Uma's birth in Mena's womb,
Uma married to her lover, and the demon Tarak's doom:

With thy pangs of parted passion, pining Yaksha youth serene!—
Thro' the lightning-laden cloud-bode comforting thy bosom's queen:

Thou the panting Pururavas, with thy heavenward-lifted eye
Fixt in one bright look of longing on the daughter of the sky:

Landscape-gardener, weaving sweetly in one garland rare and dear
All the bloom of all the seasons rolling with the rolling year:

Thou that tellest Nala's story in one mazy-worded strain,
Showest Agnimitra's bosom cleft by twofold love in twain:

Thou with fingers dipt in visions all unseen, unknown before,
Master of a mighty fancy, lord of language and of lore:

Thou who seest One High Deity in the many deities known,
Thou who findest Nature guided by the hand of God alone:

Poet of the valley'd mountain, laughing woodland, dale and down,
Fountain, forest, river, ocean, hall and hamlet, thorp and town:

Now thy Sipra leaps no longer, faded high Ujjayin's blaze—
Tho' thy levin-flash of rhythm break thro' many a rumbling phrase;

Now the Crown of Crowns is fallen, fallen all the Jewels Nine—
All but thou, the pick'd of Vani, starting from her heart divine;

All but thou, O music-moulder, thou the mighty man of sense,
Who for ever and for ever wilt be heard with reverence;—

Lo, from out the land of sailors whilom for her fleet renown'd,
I, a mortal, dare to greet thee with immortal chaplet crown'd!