Page:Poems Greenwell.djvu/119

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MADANA.
107
Vainly o'er thine aching brow
Droops the incense-breathing bough,
Not the cooling[1] Lotus leaf
Gives to hurt like thine relief;
To thy throbbing temples prest,
Bound upon thy burning breast;
Vainly! still through pulse and vein
Glows the dull unceasing pain;
Vainly, vainly! still the smart
Rankles in thy stricken heart.
Therefore from the earth a sound,
Hushed, and dream-like, and profound,
Gathers—warning whispers rise,
Murmurs, thick, mysterious sighs!
Therefore all the haunted air
Trembles—Madana is there!

  1. The flower and leaf of the lotus are used by Hindu writers as the type of all grace and beauty, and they suppose the latter to possess a peculiar efficacy in allaying any mental disquietude.