On the morrow the Rajah of Kashmir sat in the terraced garden and talked

of life. Those who sat with him had lately braved death on battlefield,

but death had forborne to touch them, and they rejoiced in existence.

All around them the story was repeated; the deepening shade spoke of

another shadow, but the flashing sunbeams chased the thought ere it

chilled; eaves fluttering to the mould said, "Ponder the grave," but the

shining air stirred and sent them whirling aloft. Death and Life enacted

a drama.

* * * * * The human comedy ends in woe, but Nature tenderly masks her catastrophe,

and her sorrows are hung with gayest colours and adorned with fairest

effects. This is seen at sunset. The evening saddens, the earth melts,

and in my egoism I hail a fellow mourner. I would protract the moment of

the sun's entombment.

"There's such a charm in melancholy,

I would not if I could be gay."

It is the mood of little griefs. An unquiet wind murmurs, but it does

not rise to a wail.

I fain would bid th' AEolian tones prolong

To mourn the jolly Day's discomfiture,

And, mindful of mine own estate, among

The buds and grieving trees my plaint outpour,

That sweets must fade though Night will aye endure.

But crafty Nature, fancy to beguile

From her disaster, which, alas! is mine,

Bids to the front in radiant defile

A trooping host whose pomps incarnadine

The faded trophies of the dying day,

And, lest I fail before so brave array,

She decks the quiet clouds where fancies dwell

With sweet translucent gleam and melting hue

To woo my swooning sense with softer spell

Of blissful pink and hyacinthine blue.

* * * * * "Life," said the Rajah, "is the fairest of flowers, and its beauty and

fragrance are for him who plucks."

"Plucks," sighed one, "to find it wither in his grasp."

Said the Rajah, "To do justice to life, one must forget death."

"Forgetfulness may be desirable," said another, "but how shall it be

attained? How deny the tyrant who at each sunset demands his tribute

dues of sleep, and enwraps my vassal being in dull oblivion?"

"By ill-conditioned fears," replied the Rajah, "men invite evil. To him

who desires the solace of ghostly companionship shall the spectres

troop, a phantom in every shadow, and with him make their abode. He who

fears is already overcome. To the man who would live there must be no

death. For me, I love the rosy, teeming present; to-morrow is with the

gods, and I for one," he added laughing, "will not be guilty of an

impious theft by anticipating their gifts."




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