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[ 39 ] The barber did his job and went away, And then the girl, who offered no resistance, Was flogged and thrashed without the least delay, Then, dragged away, a solitary distance Where, in a ruin-rife deserted room, She was immured to languish in its gloom. It must be kept a secret unrevealed; The servunt knew-but then, their lips were sealed.
The merchant soon returned and found her missing: "Where is our daughter ?"'
"She is lost, I fear! Who could have dreamed that she would
disappear?" Replied the wife, a serpent in her hissing The sound of which her ears alone could hear. "Lost" cried the merchant cracking like a rock Beneath some devastating thunder-shock. And then he wandered here, and wandered there Looking for her : "Where have you gone ?
O where ? Pearl of my life ! my child ! my precious one ! Nobody answered to relieve his sorrowToday turned yesterday; each morrow's sun Measured, sun after sun, tomorrow on tomorrow,
Mahavir walked, stern stranger to desire, With but his shadow as a co-wayfarer... At every step he seemed to walk thought fire, Of all fire-bearers, loneliest fire-bearer.
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