Page:Two Mock Epics (Hanuman and Tantum Religio), Lyrics, Post Meridian Verse, The Turret Captain's Toast and other Verses.pdf/35

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

25

Here in accord the Senate cheered revealing
This doubt respondent to the general feeling;
And eager looks upon the king all rivet,
To see what satisfaction he would give it.

But now o’er all the king emerged thrice glorious,
And round and round the Senate glanced victorious,
“Thrice honored be that word, so frank, so human,
Without the useless gloss of flattery’s spangle.
Thee, forthwith, my prime minister I summon:
But know our august work from every angle
In all its parts we’ve marked with diligence.
Not far from here, where round our forest fastness
The sea beach winds and depths of ocean vastness,
Upon a spot to which I’ll lead you hence,
As if in homage, Ocean’s waves have brought us
Of different suits a countless choice, a banquet
Of gems and diamonds of the rarest waters,
That from this store each one of you may prank it
From head to heels in gold galoons and samet,
Lace, silks—whate’er you will—you’ve but to name it.”

This last announcement did indeed occasion
Wild throes of joy to all the apish nation,
From wold and ruin loud the cries were bruited,
Tempests of praise through all the foliage ran,
And thus the king in thunder tones saluted:
“Long live our monarch, mighty Hanuman”
Then, not a moment waiting for his guidance,
Like the wild huntsman’s pack of phantoms chiding
Through wintry woods, that mass of apes roll, gliding
O’er branch and creeper, skip and hop and fly, dance
Through the dense thickets, leap from trees to trees
In one wild avalanche of deafening roar, all