Chapter XVII: Baly

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1. This is the appointed night, The night of joy and consecrated mirth, When, from his judgement-seat in Padalon, By Yamen's throne, Baly goes forth, that he may walk the Earth Unseen, and hear his name Still hymn'd and honour'd by the grateful voice Of humankind, and in his fame rejoice. Therefore from door to door, and street to street, With willing feet, Shaking their firebrands, the glad children run; {56} Baly! great Baly! they acclaim, Where'er they run they bear the mighty name; Where'er they meet, Baly! great Baly! still their choral tongues repeat. Therefore at every door the votive flame Through pendant lanthorns sheds its painted light, And rockets hissing upward through the sky, Fall like a shower of stars From Heaven's black canopy. Therefore, on yonder mountain's templed height, The brazen cauldron blazes through the night. Huge as a Ship that travels the main sea Is that capacious brass; its wick as tall As is the mast of some great admiral. Ten thousand votaries bring Camphor and ghee to feed the sacred flame; And while, through regions round, the nations see Its fiery pillar curling high in heaven, Baly! great Baly! they exclaim, For ever hallowed be his blessed name! Honour and praise to him for ever more be given!

2. Why art not thou among the festive throng, {57} Baly, O Mighty One! to hear thy fame? Still as of yore, with pageantry and song The glowing streets along, They celebrate thy name; Baly! great Baly! still The grateful habitants of Earth acclaim, Baly! great Baly! still The ringing walls and echoing towers proclaim. From yonder mountain the portentous flame Still blazes to the nations as before; All things appear to human eyes the same, As perfect as of yore; To human eyes, . . but how unlike to thine! Thine which were wont to see The Company divine, That with their presence came to honour thee! For all the blessed ones of mortal birth Who have been cloth'd with immortality, From the eight corners of the Earth, From the Seven Worlds assembling, all Wont to attend thy solemn festival. Then did thine eyes behold The wide air peopled with that glorious train, Now may'st thou seek the blessed ones in vain, {58} For Earth and Air are now beneath the Rajah's reign.

3. Therefore the Mighty One hath walk'd the Earth In sorrow and in solitude to-night. The sound of human mirth To him is no delight; He turns away from that ungrateful sight, Hallowed not now by visitants divine, And there he bends his melancholy way Where, in yon full-orb'd Moon's refulgent light, The Golden Towers of his old City shine Above the silver sea. The mighty Chief There bent his way in grief, As if sad thoughts indulged would work their own relief.

4. There he beholds upon the sand A lovely Maiden in the moonlight stand. The land-breeze lifts her locks of jet, The waves around her polish'd ancles play, Her bosom with the salt sea-spray is wet; Her arms are crost, unconsciously, to fold That bosom from the cold, {59} While statue-like she seems her watch to keep, Gazing intently on the restless deep.

5. Seven miserable days had Kailyal there, From earliest dawn till evening, watch'd the deep; Six nights within the chamber of the rock, Had laid her down, and found in prayer That comfort which she sought in vain from sleep. But when the seventh night came, Never should she behold her Father more, The wretched Maiden said in her despair; Yet would not quit the shore, Nor turn her eyes one moment from the sea: Never before Had Kailyal watch'd it so impatiently, Never so eagerly had hop'd before, As now when she believ'd, and said, all hope was o'er.

6. Beholding her, how beautiful she stood, In that wild solitude, Baly from his invisibility Had issued then, to know her cause of woe; {60} But that, in the air beside her, he espied Two Powers of Evil for her hurt allied, Foul Arvalan and dreadful Lorrinite. The Mighty One they could not see, And marking with what demon-like delight They kept their innocent prey in sight, He waits, expecting what the end may be.

7. She starts; for lo! where floating many a rood, A Monster, hugest of the Ocean brood, Weltering and lifeless, drifts toward the shore. Backward she starts in fear before the flood, And, when the waves retreat, They leave their hideous burthen at her feet.

8. She ventures to approach with timid tread, She starts, and half draws back in fear, Then stops, and stretches on her head, To see if that huge beast indeed be dead. Now growing bold, the Maid advances near, Even to the margin of the ocean-flood. Rightly she reads her Father's victory, {61} And lifts her joyous hands, exultingly, To Heaven in gratitude. Then spreading them toward the Sea, While pious tears bedim her streaming eyes, Come! come! my Father, come to me! Ereenia, come! she cries. Lo! from the opening deep they rise, And to Ladurlad's arms the happy Kailyal flies.

9. She turn'd from him, to meet, with beating heart, The Glendoveer's embrace. Now turn to me, for mine thou art! Foul Arvalan exdaim'd; his loathsome face Came forth, and from the air, In fleshly form, he burst. Always in horror and despair, Had Kailyal seen that form and face accurst, But yet so sharp a pang had ne'er Shot with a thrill like death through all her frame, As now when on her hour of joy the Spectre came.

10. Vain is resistance now, {62} The fiendish laugh of Lorrinite is heard; And, at her dreadful word, The Asuras once again appear, And seize Ladurlad and the Glendoveer.

11. Hold your accursed hands! A Voice exclaim'd, whose dread commands Were fear'd through all the vaults of Padalon; And there among them, in the midnight air, The presence of the mighty Baly shone. He, making manifest his mightiness, Put forth on every side an hundred arms, And seiz'd the Sorceress; maugre all her charms, Her and her fiendish ministers he caught With force as uncontroulable as fate; And that unhappy Soul, to whom The Almighty Rajah's power availeth not Living to avert, nor dead to mitigate His righteous doom.

12. Help, help, Kehama! Father, help! he cried; But Baly tarried not to abide {63} That mightier Power; with irresistible feet He stampt and cleft the Earth; it opened wide, And gave him way to his own judgement-seat. Down, like a plummet, to the World below He sunk, and bore his prey To righteous punishment, and endless woe.