Poems by Sir Alfred C. Lyall Revised and Slightly Enlarged from "Verses Written in India" (Sixth Edition) |
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| I. | I.—The Hindu Ascetic. |
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 | Poems by Sir Alfred C. Lyall |  |
I.—The Hindu Ascetic.
Here as I sit by the Jumna bank,
Watching the flow of the sacred stream,
Pass me the legions, rank on rank,
And the cannon roar, and the bayonets gleam.
Watching the flow of the sacred stream,
Pass me the legions, rank on rank,
And the cannon roar, and the bayonets gleam.
Is it a god or a king that comes?
Both are evil, and both are strong;
With women and worshipping, dancing and drums,
Carry your gods and your kings along.
Both are evil, and both are strong;
With women and worshipping, dancing and drums,
Carry your gods and your kings along.
Fanciful shapes of a plastic earth,
These are the visions that weary the eye;
These I may 'scape by a luckier birth,
Musing, and fasting, and hoping to die.
These are the visions that weary the eye;
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Musing, and fasting, and hoping to die.
When shall these phantoms flicker away?
Like the smoke of the guns on the windswept hill,
Like the sounds and colours of yesterday:
And the soul have rest, and the air be still.
Like the smoke of the guns on the windswept hill,
Like the sounds and colours of yesterday:
And the soul have rest, and the air be still.
| Poems by Sir Alfred C. Lyall | |