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ti speaks of wrong._" The river floweth on. XX. Nuleeni looked in wonder, Yet softly answered she-- "By loves that last when lights are past, I vowed that vow to thee: But why glads it thee that a bride-day be By a word of _woe_ defiled? That a word of _wrong_ take the cradle-song From the ear of a sinless child?" "Why?" Luti said, and her laugh was dread, And her eyes dilated wild-- "That the fair new love may her bridegroom prove, And the father shame the child!" The river floweth on. XXI. "Thou flowest still, O river, Thou flowest 'neath the moon; Thy lily hath not changed a leaf,[5] Thy charmed lute a tune: _He_ mixed his voice with thine and _his_ Was all I heard around; But now, beside his chosen bride, I hear the river's sound." The river floweth on. XXII. "I gaze upon her beauty Through the tresses that enwreathe it; The light above thy wave, is hers-- My rest, alone beneath it: Oh, give me back the dying look My father gave thy water! Give back--and let a little love O'erwatch his weary daughter!" The river floweth on. XXIII. "Give back!" she hath departed-- The word is wandering with her; And the stricken maidens hear afar The step and cry together. Frail symbols? None are frail enow For mortal joys to borrow!-- While bright doth float Nuleeni's boat, She weepeth dark with sorrow. The river floweth on. FOOTNOTES: [2] The Hindoo heaven is localized on the summit of Mount Meru--one of the mountains of Himalaya or Himmaleh, which signifies, I believe, in Sanscrit, the abode of snow, winter, or coldness. [3] Himadeva, the Indian god of love, is imagined to wander through the three worlds, accompanied by the humming-bird, cuckoo, and gentle breezes. [4] The casting of rice upon the head, and the fixing of the band or tali about the neck, are parts of the Hindoo marriage ceremonial. [5] The Ganges is represented as a white woman, with a water-lily in her right hand, and in her left a lute. _RHYME OF THE DUCHESS MAY._ I. To the belfry, one by one, went the ringers from the sun, _Toll slowly._ And the oldest
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