Classic and Contemporary Poetry
KRISHNA AND HIS THREE HANDMAIDENS, by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: And where he sat beneath the mystic stars Last Line: And all the woodlands laughed, and earth was glad! Subject(s): Legends | ||||||||
AND where he sat beneath the mystic stars, Nigh the twin founts of Immortality, That feed fair channels of the Stream of Trance, -- To Krishna once his three handmaidens came, Asking a boon: "O king! O lord!" they said, "Test thou thy servants' wisdom; long in dreams, Born of the waters of thy Stream of Trance, Have we, thy fond handmaidens wandered free, And lapped in airiest wreaths of fantasy; Now would we, viewless, bearing each some gift From thee, our father, seek the world of man, The world of man and pain, which whoso leaves Better or brighter, for thy gift bestowed Most worthily, shall claim thy just reward, The Crown of Wisdom!" Krishna heard, and gave To each one tiny drop of diamond dew, Drawn from the fount's that feed the Stream of Trance, Wherewith, on waftage of miraculous winds, Breathing full south, they sought the world of man, The world of man and pain, that shrank in drought, Palsied and withered, like an old man's face Death-smitten. And the first handmaiden saw A monarch's fountain, sparkling in the waste, Glowing and fresh, though all the land was sick, Gasping for rain, and famished thousands died: "O brave," she said, "O beautiful bright waves! Like calls to like;" and so her dewdrop glanced, And glittered downward as a fairy star Loosed from a tress of Cassiopeia's hair, Down to the glorious fountain of the king. Over the passionless bosom of the sea, The Indian Sea, cerulean, crystal-clear, And calm, the second handmaid, hovering, viewed -- Far through the tangled sea-weed and cool tides Pulsing 'twixt coral branches -- the wide lips Of purpling shells that yearned to clasp a pearl: So where the oyster, blindly reared, awaits Its priceless soul -- she lets the dewdrop fall, Thenceforth to grow a jewel fit for courts, And shine on swanlike necks of haughty queens! But Krishna's third handmaiden scarce had felt The fume from parched plains that made the air As one vast caldron of invisible fire, Than casting downward pitiful eyes, she saw, Crouched in the brazen cere of that red heat, A tiny bird -- a poor, weak, suffering thing (Its bright eyes glazed, its limbs convulsed and prone), -- Dying of thirst in torture: "Ah, kind Lord Krishna," his handmaid murmured, "speed thy gift, Best yielded here, to soothe, perchance to save The lowliest mortal creature cursed with pain!" Gently she shook the dewdrop from her palm Into the silent throat that thirst had sealed, Soon silent, sealed no more, -- for, lo! the bird Fluttered, arose, was strengthened, and through calms Of happy ether, echoing fair and far, Rang the charmed music of the nightingale. And so, where crowned beneath the mystic stars, Nigh the twin founts of immortality, Krishna, the father, saw what ruth was hers, And, smiling, to his wise handmaiden's rule Gave the great storm-clouds and the mists of heaven, Till at her voice the mighty vapors rolled Up from the mountain-gorges, and the seas, And cloudland darkened, and the grateful rain, Burdened with benedictions, rushed and foamed Down the hot channels, and the foliaged hills, And the frayed lips and languid limbs of flowers; And all the woodlands laughed, and earth was glad! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE GHOST OF DEACON BROWN by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON ICE SHALL COVER NINEVEH by KENNETH REXROTH MONUMENT MOUNTAIN by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT THE STRANGER; AFTER A GUARANI LEGEND RECORDED BY ERNESTO MORALES by WILLIAM STANLEY MERWIN THE PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE THE GUERDON by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH THE LEGEND OF ARA-COELI by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH A STORM IN THE DISTANCE (AMONG THE GEORGIAN HILLS) by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE |
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