No More Learning

"Give back! " she hath departed--
The word is wandering with her;
And the stricken maidens hear afar
The step and cry together.
Frail symbols? None are frail enow
For mortal joys to borrow! --
While bright doth float Nuleeni's boat,
She weepeth dark with sorrow.
The river floweth on.

FOOTNOTES:

[2] The Hindoo heaven is localized on the summit of Mount Meru--one of
the mountains of Himalaya or Himmaleh, which signifies, I believe, in
Sanscrit, the abode of snow, winter, or coldness.

[3] Himadeva, the Indian god of love, is imagined to wander through
the three worlds, accompanied by the humming-bird, cuckoo, and gentle
breezes.

[4] The casting of rice upon the head, and the fixing of the band or
tali about the neck, are parts of the Hindoo marriage ceremonial.

[5] The Ganges is represented as a white woman, with a water-lily in
her right hand, and in her left a lute.




_RHYME OF THE DUCHESS MAY. _


I.

To the belfry, one by one, went the ringers from the sun,
_Toll slowly. _
And the oldest ringer said, "Ours is music for the dead
When the rebecks are all done. "

II.
Six abeles i' the churchyard grow on the north side in a row,
_Toll slowly. _
And the shadows of their tops rock across the little slopes
Of the grassy graves below.

III.

On the south side and the west a small river runs in haste,
_Toll slowly. _
And, between the river flowing and the fair green trees a-growing,
Do the dead lie at their rest.

IV.

On the east I sate that day, up against a willow grey:
_Toll slowly. _
Through the rain of willow-branches I could see the low hill-ranges
And the river on its way.

V.

There I sate beneath the tree, and the bell tolled solemnly,
_Toll slowly. _
While the trees' and river's voices flowed between the solemn noises,--
Yet death seemed more loud to me.

VI.

There I read this ancient rhyme while the bell did all the time
_Toll slowly. _
And the solemn knell fell in with the tale of life and sin,
Like a rhythmic fate sublime.


THE RHYME.


I.