[Dark Saint Alaick]

'That night I spent in Taralika's company on the bank of the lake. To
my wretchedness it was like a night of doom, [287] drawn out to a
thousand years, all torment, all grief, all hell, all fire. (335)
Sleep was rooted out, and I tossed on the ground; my face was hidden
by the loosened and dishevelled tresses that clung to my cheeks,
wet with tears and gray with dust, and my throat was weak, for my
voice failed, broken with piteous weeping.

'"'At dawn I arose and bathed in the lake, and having formed my
resolve, I took, for love of Pundarika, his pitcher and his bark
garments and his rosary; for I clearly knew the worthlessness of the
world. I perceived my own lack of merit; I pictured to myself the
remediless cruelty of the blows of fate; I pondered the inevitableness
of grief; I beheld the harshness of destiny; I meditated the course
of love, rich in sorrow; I learnt the inconstancy of earthly things;
I considered the frailness of all joys. Father and mother were
disregarded; kinsfolk and followers abandoned; the joys of earth were
banished from my mind; the senses held in firm restraint.

'"'I took the ascetic vow, and sought the protection of Çiva, lord
of the three worlds and helper of the helpless. Next day my father
came, having somehow learnt my story, bringing with him my mother and
kinsfolk. Long he wept, and strove with all his might and by every
means--prayers, admonitions, and tender words of every kind--to lead
me home. (336) And when he understood my firm resolve, and knew that I
could not be turned from that infatuation, he could not, even though
without hope, part with his love for his child; and though I often
bade him go, he stayed for some days, and went home at length full
of grief, and with his heart hot within him.