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- THE INDIAN UPON GOD
-
- I PASSED along the water's edge below the humid trees,
- My spirit rocked in evening light, the rushes round my
- knees,
- My spirit rocked in sleep and sighs; and saw the moor-
- fowl pace
- All dripping on a grassy slope, and saw them cease to
- chase
- Each other round in circles, and heard the eldest speak:
- i{Who holds the world between His bill and made us strong} or
- i{weak}
- i{Is an undying moorfowl, and He lives beyond the sky.}
- i{The rains are from His dripping wing, the moonbeams from}
- i{His eye.}
- I passed a little further on and heard a lotus talk:
- i{Who made the world and ruleth it, He hangeth on a stalk,}
- i{For} I i{am in His image made, and all this tinkling tide}
- i{Is but a sliding drop of rain between His petals wide.}
- A little way within the gloom a roebuck raised his eyes
- Brimful of starlight, and he said: i{The Stamper} of i{the}
- i{Skies,}
- i{He is} a i{gentle roebuck; for how else,} I i{pray, could He}
- i{Conceive a thing so sad and soft, a gentle thing like me?}
- I passed a little further on and heard a peacock say:
- i{Who made the grass and made the worms and made my feathers}
- i{gay,}
- i{He is a monstrous peacock, and He waveth all the night}
- i{His languid tail above us, lit with myriad spots} of i{light.}
-