The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1884-01-17
IA EDarATIONS OF \ BgNBT
PRINCE AND AEA EPTEC


u the world over, wonder IN lands that |
never have trod,
Are the people eternally seeking for the signs
and steps OF a Code
Westward across the ocean. and nOrthwarl
Do they all stand gazing, rs ever. and what do
the wlSeSt know? -
Here, in this mystical India. the deities hover
and swarm
Like the wild bees hid in the tree tops, or the
gusts of i gathering storm;
In the air men hear their voices. their feet on
the rocks are seen,
Yet we all say, Whence is this message, and
what may the wonder mean?
A million shrines stand open, and ever the cen
As they bow e mystic symbol, or the figures
And the incense rises ever, and rises the end
OF those who are heavy laden. and of towards,
10th TO die.
For the destiny drives us together, like Il deer
in a pass of the hills.
Above is the sky, and around us, the sound and
the shot that kills;
Pushed by Power we see not, and struck by a
We pray 10 the trees for shelter, and press our
lips to stone.
The trees wave a shadowy answer, and the
rock frowns hollow and grim.
And the form and the nod Of the demon are
caught in the twilight dim;
And we look to the sunlight falling afar on the
mountain crest,
there and rest?
The path, all! who has shown it, and which is
the faithful guide?
The haven, all! who has kown it? for steep IS
the mountain side.
For ever the Shot strikes surely, and ever the
wasted breath
OF the praying multitude rises, whose answer
is only death.
Here are the .ombs of my kinsfolk, the itrst Of
an ancient name,
Chiefs who were slain on the war field. and
women who died in tiame;
They are DIS, these kings Of the t0retlme,
they are spirits who guard our race
| Ever watch and worship; they sit With a mar
| Bile face.
And the myriad idols around me, and the le-
| gion uf muttering priests,
The revels and rites unholy, the dark Unspeak-
| able feasts!
What have they wrung from the silence? hath
Of the secret-Whence and Whittier? Alas!
| for the gods are dumb.
Shall list to the word of the English who
come from the utterInOst sea?
| "The secret, hath il been told you, and what Is
your message to me?
It is nought but the underworld story how the
earth and the heavens began,
How the gods are glad and angry, and Delt!
once was m Il.
/ had thought "Perchance in the cities where
the rulers of India dwell,
Whose orders flash from far land, who 2lrdlt
The earth with a spell,
They have fathomed The depths W e float on, Of
| measured the unknown mali"
Sadley they turn from the venture, and Sa!
| that the quest Is vain.
Is life then, DIRE am and delGsiOn, and where
shall the dreamer awake?
Is the word seen like shadows on water, anC
what If the mirror break?
Shall it pass, as a camp that IS struck, as
tent that is gathered and gone
| From the sands that were lamp-lit at eve, an(
at morning are level and lone?
Is there nought in the heaven above, whence
the hail and the vim are hurled,
But the wind that Is swept around us by thu
rush Of the rolling world?
, | The wind that shall scatter my ashes, and bea
| me to silence and sleep
With the dlrge, and the sounds of lamenting
and the V ice of women who weep.
\. G. LYALI.