Page:Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan.djvu/88

52 Here with an arrow, lo, I trace
 * A magic circle ere I leave,

No evil thing within this space
 * May come to harm thee or to grieve.

Step not, for aught, across the line,
 * Whatever thou mayst see or hear,

So shalt thou balk the bad design
 * Of every enemy I fear.

And now farewell! What thou hast said,
 * Though it has broken quite my heart,

So that I wish that I were dead—
 * I would before, O Queen, we part

Freely forgive, for well I know
 * That grief and fear have made thee wild,

We part as friends,—is it not so?"
 * And speaking thus,—he sadly smiled.

"And oh ye sylvan gods that dwell
 * Among these dim and sombre shades,

Whose voices in the breezes swell
 * And blend with noises of cascades,

Watch over Sita, whom alone
 * I leave, and keep her safe from harm,

Till we return unto our own,
 * I and my brother, arm in arm.