tter suggested by the commentary.

One minor point calls for notice. The word Himalaya has been accented
on the second syllable wherever it occurs. This accent is historically
correct, and has some foothold in English usage; besides, it is more
euphonious and better adapted to the needs of the metre.

FORMER CLOUD

I

_A Yaksha, or divine attendant on Kubera, god of wealth, is exiled for
a year from his home in the Himalayas. As he dwells on a peak in the
Vindhya range, half India separates him from his young bride_.

On Rama's shady peak where hermits roam,
Mid streams by Sita's bathing sanctified,
An erring Yaksha made his hapless home,
Doomed by his master humbly to abide,
And spend a long, long year of absence from his bride.

II

_After eight months of growing emaciation, the first cloud warns him
of the approach of the rainy season, when neglected brides are wont to
pine and die_.

Some months were gone; the lonely lover's pain
Had loosed his golden bracelet day by day
Ere he beheld the harbinger of rain,
A cloud that charged the peak in mimic fray,
As an elephant attacks a bank of earth in play.

III

Before this cause of lovers' hopes and fears
Long time Kubera's bondman sadly bowed
In meditation, choking down his tears--
Even happy hearts thrill strangely to the cloud;
To him, poor wretch, the loved embrace was disallowed.

IV

_Unable to send tidings otherwise of his health and unchanging love,
he resolves to make the cloud his messenger_.

Longing to save his darling's life, unblest
With joyous tidings, through the rainy days,
He plucked fresh blossoms for his cloudy guest,
Such homage as a welcoming comrade pays,
And bravely spoke brave words of greeting and of praise.

V

Nor did it pass the lovelorn Yaksha's mind
How all unfitly might his message mate
With a cloud, mere fire and water, smoke and wind--
Ne'er yet was lover could discriminate
'Twixt life and lifeless things, in his love-blinded state.

VI

_He prefers his request_,

I know, he said, thy far-famed princely line,
Thy state, in heaven's imperial council chief,
Thy changing forms; to thee, such fate is mine,
I come a suppliant in my widowed grief--
Better thy lordly "no" than meaner souls' relief.

VII

O cloud, the parching spirit stirs thy pity;
My bride is far, through royal wrath and might;
Bring