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 founts 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 find 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 parch
(Paul Hamilton Hayne)
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Based on Topics: Man Poems, World Poems, Fairness Poems, Dreams Poems, Kings & Queens Poems, Pain Poems, Wisdom & Knowledge Poems, Fathers Poems, Hair Poems, Charity Poems, Courage PoemsBased on Keywords: airiest, crystal-clear, swanlike, handmaidens, cassiopeia, waftage, soul-she, death-smitten