Page:A Treasury of South African Poetry.djvu/183

 THE INCANTATION. up Indoda climbing,
 * Hangs the wizard forest old,

From whose shade is heard the chiming
 * Of a streamlet clear and cold:

With a mournful sound it gushes
 * From its cavern in the steep;

Then at once its wailing hushes
 * In a lakelet dark and deep.

Standing by the dark-blue water,
 * Robed in panther's speckled hide,

Who is she? Jaluhsa's daughter,
 * Bold Makanna's widowed bride.

Stern she stands, her left hand clasping
 * By the arm her wondering child;

He, her shaggy mantle grasping,
 * Gazes up with aspect wild.

Thrice in the soft fount of nursing
 * With sharp steel she pierced a vein,—

Thrice the white oppressor cursing,
 * While the blood gushed forth amain,—

Wide upon the dark-blue water,
 * Sprinkling thrice the crimson tide,—

Spoke Jaluhsa's high-souled daughter,
 * Bold Makanna's widowed bride.