Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79. | | | | Introductory to India | | India | | Nicholas Michell (1807–1880) |
| | (From Ruins of Many Lands)
AND this is India,—soul and eye, spell-bound, | |
| Might muse and gaze, such glories blazing round; | |
| And still, despite all war’s red bolts have riven, | |
| And time hath crushed, her sun is high in heaven. | |
| Yes, since the day when Pella’s conqueror came, | 5 |
| Bursting from Persia’s hills with sword of flame, | |
| And rajahs fled, and vanquished Porus sighed, | |
| And Hindoo blood the deep Hydaspes dyed, | |
| Ages small change have wrought; on hills and plains | |
| Old customs live, the primal race remains. | 10 |
| The Hindoo mind still superstition sways, | |
| Still to his Triune god the Brahmin prays; | |
| The laws of “caste” each generous hope restrain, | |
| And bind all mental powers with palsying chain. | |
| Still lives that old belief the Samian taught, | 15 |
| Insects and brutes with human souls are fraught, | |
| Souls doomed to wander for uncounted years, | |
| Till, pure from earthly dross, they seek the spheres. | | | | |
|
|
