yearning message by a cloud.

XLI

_According to the treatise called "Virtues
Banner," a lover has four solaces in separation:
first, looking at objects that remind
him of her he loves_;

'I see thy limbs in graceful-creeping vines,
Thy glances in the eyes of gentle deer,
Thine eyebrows in the ripple's dancing lines,
Thy locks in plumes, thy face in moonlight clear--
Ah, jealous! But the whole sweet image is not here.

XLII

_second, painting a picture of her_;

And when I paint that loving jealousy
With chalk upon the rock, and my caress
As at thy feet I lie, I cannot see
Through tears that to mine eyes unbidden press--
So stern a fate denies a painted happiness.

XLIII

_third, dreaming of her_;

And when I toss mine arms to clasp thee tight,
Mine own though but in visions of a dream--
They who behold the oft-repeated sight,
The kind divinities of wood and stream,
Let fall great pearly tears that on the blossoms gleam.

XLIV

_fourth, touching something which she
has touched_.

Himalaya's breeze blows gently from the north,
Unsheathing twigs upon the deodar
And sweet with sap that it entices forth--
I embrace it lovingly; it came so far,
Perhaps it touched thee first, my life's unchanging star!

XLV

Oh, might the long, long night seem short to me!
Oh, might the day his hourly tortures hide!
Such longings for the things that cannot be,
Consume my helpless heart, sweet-glancing bride,
In burning agonies of absence from thy side.

XLVI

_The bride is besought not to lose heart at
hearing of her lover's wretchedness_,

Yet much reflection, dearest, makes me strong,
Strong with an inner strength; nor shouldst thou feel
Despair at what has come to us of wrong;
Who has unending woe or lasting weal?
Our fates move up and down upon a circling wheel.

XLVII

_and to remember that the curse has its
appointed end, when the rainy season is
over and the year of exile fulfilled. Vishnu
spends the rainy months in sleep upon the
back of the cosmic serpent Shesha_.

When Vishnu rises from his serpent bed
The curse is ended; close thine eyelids tight
And wait till only four months more are sped;
Then we shall taste each long-desired delight
Through nights that the full autumn moon illumines bright.

XLVIII

_Then is added a secret which, as it coul