Wistful voices of wild birds calling--
Far, faint lightning towards the West,--
Twinkling lights of a Tyah homestead,--
Ruddy glow on a girl's bare breast--

Drifting boats on a mournful River,
Shifting thoughts in a dreaming mind,--
We two, seeking the Sea, together,--
When we reach it,--what shall we find?


Shivratri (the Night of Shiva)

(While the procession passed at Ramesram)


Nearer and nearer cometh the car
Where the Golden Goddess towers,
Sweeter and sweeter grows the air
From a thousand trampled flowers.
We two rest in the Temple shade
Safe from the pilgrim flood,
This path of the Gods in olden days
Ran royally red with blood.

Louder and louder and louder yet
Throbs the sorrowful drum--
That is the tortured world's despair,
Never a moment dumb.
Shriller and shriller shriek the flutes,