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 her my message to the Yaksha city,
  Rich-gardened Alaka, where radiance bright
  From Shiva’s crescent bathes the palaces in light.

  VIII

hinting at the same time that the’ cloud will find his kindly labour rewarded by pleasures on the road,

    When thou art risen to airy paths of heaven,
  Through lifted curls the wanderer’s love shall peep
    And bless the sight of thee for comfort given;
  Who leaves his bride through cloudy days to weep
  Except he be like me, whom chains of bondage keep?

  IX

and by happy omens.

    While favouring breezes waft thee gently forth,
  And while upon thy left the plover sings
    His proud, sweet song, the cranes who know thy worth
  Will meet thee in the sky on joyful wings
  And for delights anticipated join their rings.

  X

He assures the cloud that his bride is neither dead nor faithless;

    Yet hasten, O my brother, till thou see—­
  Counting the days that bring the lonely smart—­
    The faithful wife who only lives for me: 
  A drooping flower is woman’s loving heart,
  Upheld by the stem of hope when two true lovers part.

  XI

further, that there will be no lack of travelling companions.

    And when they hear thy welcome thunders break,
  When mushrooms sprout to greet thy fertile weeks,
    The swans who long for the Himalayan lake
  Will be thy comrades to Kailasa’s peaks,
  With juicy bits of lotus-fibre in their beaks.

  XII

    One last embrace upon this mount bestow
  Whose flanks were pressed by Rama’s holy feet,
    Who yearly strives his love for thee to show,
  Warmly his well-beloved friend to greet
  With the tear of welcome shed when two long-parted meet.

  XIII

He then describes the long journey,

    Learn first, O cloud, the road that thou must go,
  Then hear my message ere thou speed away;
    Before thee mountains rise and rivers flow: 
  When thou art weary, on the mountains stay,
  And when exhausted, drink the rivers’ driven spray.

  XIV

beginning with the departure from Rama’s peak, where dwells a company of Siddhas, divine beings of extraordinary sanctity.

    Elude the heavenly elephants’ clumsy spite;
  Fly from this peak in richest jungle drest;
    And Siddha maids who view thy northward flight
  Will upward gaze in simple terror, lest
  The wind be carrying quite away the mountain crest.