At his feet she flings it, flings her burden vile;
"Soorj! I keep my promise! Brothers, build the pile!"
They have built it, set it, all as Rajpoots do
From the cage of iron taken Soorj Dehu;
In the lap of Neila, seated on the pile,
Laid his head—she radiant, like a queen the while.
Then the lamp is lighted, and the ghee is poured—
"Soorj, we burn together: O my love, my lord!"
In the flame and crackle dies her tender tongue,
Dies the Ranee, truest, all true wives among.
At the dawn a clamour runs from tent to tent,
Like the wild geese cackling when the night is spent.
"Shureef Khan lies headless! gone is Soorj Dehu!
And the wandering Nautch-girl, who has seen her, who?"
This but know the sentries, at the "breath of morn"
Forth there fared two horsemen, by the first was borne.
The urn of clay, the vessel that Rajpoots use to bring
The ashes of dead kinsmen to Gungas' holy spring.