Page:Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan.djvu/98

62 Must have bewildered thee, I trow,
 * And made thee lose thy senses all."

A dim light on the pedlar now
 * Began to dawn; and he let fall

His bracelet basket in his haste,
 * And backward ran the way he came;

What meant the vision fair and chaste,
 * Whose eyes were they,—those eyes of flame?

Swift ran the pedlar as a hind,
 * The old priest followed on his trace,

They reached the Ghat but could not find
 * The lady of the noble face.

The birds were silent in the wood,
 * The lotus flowers exhaled a smell

Faint, over all the solitude,
 * A heron as a sentinel

Stood by the bank. They called,—in vain, No answer came from hill or fell, The landscape lay in slumber's chain,
 * E'en Echo slept within her cell.

Broad sunshine, yet a hush profound!
 * They turned with saddened hearts to go;

Then from afar there came a sound
 * Of silver bells;—the priest said low,