Page:Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan.djvu/168

132 Shimmering in radiance that no words may tell! Beside the tree an Angel stood; he plucked A few small sprays, and bound them round my head. Oh, the delicious touch of those strange leaves! No longer throbbed my brows, no more I felt The fever in my limbs—"And oh," I cried, "Bind too my father's forehead with these leaves." One leaf the Angel took and therewith touched His forehead, and then gently whispered "Nay!" Never, oh never had I seen a face More beautiful than that Angel's, or more full Of holy pity and of love divine. Wondering I looked awhile,—then, all at once Opened my tear-dimmed eyes—When lo! the light Was gone—the light as of the stars when snow Lies deep upon the ground. No more, no more, Was seen the Angel's face. I only found My father watching patient by my bed, And holding in his own, close-prest, my hand.