THE TWELFTH BOOK.
Then Thalaba drew off Abdaldar’s ring,
And cast it in the sea, and cried aloud,
“Thou art my shield, my trust, my hope, O God!
“Behold and guard me now,
“Thou who alone canst save.
“If from my childhood up, I have looked on
“With exultation to my destiny,
“If, in the hour of anguish, I have felt
“The justice of the hand that chastened me,
“If, of all selfish passions purified,
“I go to work thy will, and from the world
“Root up the ill-doing race,
“Lord! let not thou the weakness of my arm
“Make vain the enterprize!”
The Sun was rising all magnificent,
Ocean and Heaven rejoicing in his beams.
And now had Thalaba
Performed his last ablutions, and he stood
And gazed upon the little boat
Riding the billows near,
Where, like a sea-bird breasting the broad waves,
It rose and fell upon the surge;
Till from the glitterance of the sunny main
He turned his aching eyes,
And then upon the beach he laid him down
And watched the rising tide.
He did not pray, he was not calm for prayer;
His spirit troubled with tumultuous hope
Toiled with futurity.
His brain, with busier workings, felt
The roar and raving of the restless sea,
The boundless waves that rose and rolled and rocked;
The everlasting sound
Opprest him, and the heaving infinite,
He closed his lids for rest.
Meantime with fuller reach and stronger swell
Wave after wave advanced;
Each following billow lifted the last foam
That trembled on the sand with rainbow hues;
The living flower, that, rooted to the rock,
Late from the thinner element
Shrunk down within its purple stem to sleep,
Now feels the water, and again
Awakening blossoms out
All its green anther-necks.
Was there a Spirit in the gale
That fluttered o’er his cheek?
For it came on him like the gentle sun
That plays and dallies o’er the night-closed flower,
And woos it to unfold anew to joy;
For it came on him as the dews of eve
Descend with healing and with life
Upon the summer mead;
Or liker the first sound of seraph song
And Angel hail, to him
Whose latest sense had shuddered at the groan
Of anguish, kneeling by his death bed-side.
He starts and gazes round to seek
The certain presence. “Thalaba!” exclaimed
The Voice of the Unseen;...
“Father of my Oneiza!” he replied,
“And have thy years been numbered? art thou too
“Among the Angels?” “Thalaba!”
A second and a dearer voice repeats,
“Go in the favour of the Lord
“My Thalaba go on!
“My husband. I have drest our bower of bliss.
“Go and perform the work,
“Let me not longer suffer hope in heaven!”
He turned an eager glance towards the sea,
“Come!” quoth the Damsel, and she drove
Her little boat to land.
Impatient thro’ the rising wave
He rushed to meet its way,
His eye was bright, his cheek was flushed with joy.
“Hast thou had comfort in thy prayers?” she cried,
“Yea,” answered Thalaba,
“A heavenly visitation.” “God be praised!”
She uttered, “then I do not hope in vain!”
And her voice trembled, and her lips
Quivered, and tears ran down.
“Stranger,” quoth she, “in years long past
“Was one who vowed himself
“The Champion of the Lord like thee
“Against the race of Hell.
“Young was he, as thyself,
“Gentle, and yet so brave!
“A lion-hearted man.
“Shame on me, Stranger! in the arms of love
“I held him from his calling, till the hour
“Was past, and then the Angel who should else
“Have crowned him with his glory-wreath,
“Smote him in anger ... years and years are gone....
“And in his place of penance he awaits
“Thee the Deliverer, surely thou art he!
“It was my righteous punishment
“In the same youth unchanged and changeless love,
“And fresh affliction and keen penitence
“To abide the written hour when I should waft
“The doomed Destroyer and Deliverer here.
“Remember thou that thy success involves
“No single fate, no common misery.”
As thus she spake, the entrance of the cave
Darkened the boat below.
Around them from their nests,
The screaming sea-birds fled.
Wondering at that strange shape
Yet unalarmed at sight of living man,
Unknowing of his sway and power misused;
The clamours of their young
Echoed in shriller yells
That rung in wild discordance round the rock.
And farther as they now advanced
The dim reflection of the darkened day
Grew fainter, and the dash
Of the out-breakers deadened; farther yet
And yet more faint the gleam,
And there the waters at their utmost bound
Silently rippled on the rising rock.
They landed and advanced, and deeper in
Two adamantine doors
Closed up the cavern pass.