It was the incantation by which, in sight of all the gods of her people, she protested against her loss, calling on the parted spirit to return from its place beyond the grave.
Laying her right hand on the dead man's forehead, her left upon his heart, she raised her head and sang:
"By the power of the Seven
Great tokens of light;
By the Judges of Heaven,
The watchers of night;
By the might of those forces
That govern on high,
The Stars in their courses,
The hosts of the sky;
By Ashur, grim pagan,
Our father in mail;
By Nebo and Dagon,
By Nisroch and Baal;
By pale Ishtar contrasting
With Red Merodach,
By the wings everlasting,
I summon thee back!
From the ranks of a legion
That files through the gloom
Of a shadowy region
Disclosed by the tomb;
From the gulf of black sorrow
Of silence and sleep,
Where a night with no morrow
Broods over the deep;
By desire unavailing,
And pleasure that's fled;
By the living bewailing
Her love for the dead;
By the wish that endears thee,
The kisses that burn,
And the passion that sears thee,
I bid thee return!
Thou art cold, and thy face is
So waxen at rest,
In my fiery embraces
Seek warmth on my breast.
Through the lips that caress thee
Draw balm in my breath,
And the arms that compress thee
Shall wrench thee from Death.
Though he boasteth to spare not
For ransom or fee,
Yet he shall not, he dare not,
Take tribute of me.
Then if love can restore thee,
Though bound on the track,
From the journey before thee,
Beloved, come back!"
While the last syllables died on her lips in long pathetic tones, she sank across the dead body, brow to brow, breast to breast, and mouth to mouth. Surely, if but one spark of life had been left, that wild embrace must have drawn and kindled it into flame.
But Assarac's brain reeled, and the cavern swam before his eyes. Staggering, suffocated, he hastened from the place, passing the men of war at the entrance as he rushed blindly out into the darkness. Said one spearman to his comrade, "Surely it is a spirit. Behold how it vanisheth in the night!" To which the other, leaning thoughtfully on his shield, replied,
"It is the demon who hath entered, and taken possession of the man, and driven him forth, and fled with him into the wilderness."