Page:Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan.djvu/63

Rh As still Savitri sat beside
 * Her husband dying,—dying fast,

She saw a stranger slowly glide
 * Beneath the boughs that shrunk aghast.

Upon his head he wore a crown
 * That shimmered in the doubtful light;

His vestment scarlet reached low down,
 * His waist, a golden girdle dight.

His skin was dark as bronze; his face
 * Irradiate, and yet severe;

His eyes had much of love and grace,
 * But glowed so bright, they filled with fear.

A string was in the stranger's hand
 * Noosed at its end. Her terrors now

Savitri scarcely could command.
 * Upon the sod beneath a bough,

She gently laid her husband's head, And in obeisance bent her brow. "No mortal form is thine,"—she said,
 * "Beseech thee say what god art thou?