Thy wondrous beauty and enjoy those charms.
My kingdom broad is at thy feet, and there
Enthroned as queen my riches and my all
Shall be at thy command, and therefore hear,--
If, by to-morrow eve, thou dost not reach
My tent pitched yonder, Timmaraj shall die,
And to the pyre, if thou dost follow him,
Sure I will myself die with thee, and thus
A double sin will rest upon thy head."
As the fond mother of an only child,
When sick, clings closely to it, and for days
And nights incessant watches it with care,
When he, well versed in all the healing lore,
Gives but to please her hopes of cure complete,
But suddenly the dang'rous malady
New shape assumes, the symptoms serious grow,
The healer himself breaks at last the news
Unto the anxious mother, who stands mute,
And knows not what to do in blank despair--
So felt the hapless Chandra when these words
The treach'rous Bukka spake and left the scene.
Now 'twas her holy Brahmin priest appeared,
And counsel gave again in words like these:
"Grieve not, but well rejoice that Bukka builds
His future hope on base dishonesty.
His fall is near, and Timma's safe return
Henceforth is sure, for he that hopes to win
By treach'ry and deceit, fails sorely in
This world of God, and therefore fear him not;
It is the foe magnan'mous thou shouldst fear.