Atma - A Romance

Atma loved to wander apart. One day he penetrated to a secluded court,

whose beauty and silence charmed him more than anything he had hitherto

seen. It was Moti's garden.

"High in air the fountain flung

Its living gems, on sunbeams strung

They wreathed and shook the mists among;

A thousand roses audience held,

For floral state the place was meet,

With blissful light and joy replete,

And depths of sweetness unrevealed.

Glittered and sparkled the revelling spray,

Swelled and receded its silvery lay,

Rustled the roses in fervid array,

In fragrance declaring their costly acclaim,

Wafting on soft winds the redolent fame

Of fantasy, fountain, and tuneful refrain.

Joy, Happiness, and Bliss had here

Alighted when from Eden driven,

Poor wanderers of far other sphere

They languished for their native heaven;

And lingering they glamoured all the place,

The flowers bloomed in airs of Paradise,

That lulled the days to dreams of changeless peace.

No marvel were it if to mortal eyes

This garden seemed the threshold of the skies.

But fountain and roses and glittering spray,

Ambrosial converse and redolent lay

Saddened and dimmed in the radiant day,

Unbroken the yellow sunbeams streamed,

As ever the flashing jewels gleamed.

But a shadow fell

And a silent spell

In homage of one who was fairer than they.

And who was the despot whose wondrous array

Of tyrant charms thus over-wrought

With hues of soft humility

The joys of this enchanting spot?

There stood she, envied of the closing day,

Loved by the evening star,

Moti, than costliest jewel of Cathay

More rare and lovelier far.

* * * * * Weep balmy tears,

O dear white Rose, and tell to am'rous airs

They waste their sweetness on thy charms, and chide

Their ling'ring dalliance, o'er the whole world wide

Bid them on buoyant morning wings to move,

And whisper "Love;"

Fair winds, be tender of her blissful name,

On soft AEolian strings weave dainty dream,

Let but the dove

Hear a faint echo of her happy name;

But tell her worth,

Say that at sight of her the evening dies

Upon the earth,

And bees and little flower bells still their mirth

And jasmines whisp'ring of her starry eyes.

* * * * * And Atma spoke, with love and wonder bold,

"Tread I the valley where the fadeless vine

Drops dew immortal and sweet spices grow

From fragrant roots which in that blessed mould,

Watered by tears of penitential woe,

Drank deep of primal peace and balm divine,

When in the morn of time the tale was told

Of forfeit happiness and ruined shrine?

Tell me, O beauteous Spirit of the bower,

Is it thy gentle task when others sleep,

To guard all that a fallen world may keep

Of pristine bliss and lost felicities,

The fragrant memory of a purer hour,

The healing aroma of Paradise?"