Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79. | | | | Introductory to India | | The Suttees | | Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810–1889) |
| | | O GOLDEN shores, primeval home of man, | |
| How glorious is thy dwelling, Hindostan! | |
| Thine are these smiling valleys bright with bloom, | |
| Wild woods and sandal-groves, that breathe perfume, | |
| Thine, these fair skies,—where morn’s returning ray | 5 |
| Has swept the starry robe of night away, | |
| And gilt each dome and minaret and tower, | |
| Gemmed every stream and tinted every flower. | |
| But dark the spirit within thee;—from old time | |
| Still o’er thee rolls the wheeling flood of crime, | 10 |
| Still o’er thee broods the curse of guiltless blood, | |
| That shouts for vengeance from thy reeking sod; | |
| Deep-flowing Ganges in his rushy bed | |
| Moans a sad requiem for his children dead, | |
| And, wafted frequent on the passing gale, | 15 |
| Rises the orphan’s sigh,—the widow’s wail. | |
| Hark! ’t is the rolling of the funeral drum, | |
| The white-robed Brahmins see, they come, they come, | |
| Bringing, with frantic shouts and torch and trump, | |
| And mingled signs of melancholy pomp, | 20 |
| That livid corpse, borne solemnly on high,— | |
| And yon faint trembling victim, doomed to die. * * * * * | | | | |
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