Lallji my Desire

"This is no time for saying 'no'"     Were thy last words to me,     And yet my lips refused the kiss     They might have given thee.             How could I know             That thou wouldst go             To sleep so far from me?     They took thee to the Burning-Ghat,     Oh, Lallji, my desire,     And now a faint and lonely flame     Uprises from the pyre.     The thin grey smoke in spirals drifts     Across the opal sky.     Would that I were a wife of thine,     And thus with thee could die!             How could I know             That thou wouldst go,             Oh, Lallji, my desire?             The lips I missed             The flames have kissed             Upon the Sandal pyre.     If one should meet me with a knife     And cut my heart in twain,     Then would he see the smoke arise     From every severed vein.     Such is the burning, inward fire,     The anguish of my pain,     For my Beloved, whose dying lips     Implored a kiss - in vain!             How could I know             That thou wouldst go,             Oh, Lallji, my desire?             Too young thou art             To lay thy heart             Upon the Sandal pyre.     Thy wife awaits her coming child;     What were a child to me,     If I might take thee in these arms     And face the flames with thee?     The priests are chanting round the pyre,     At dusk they will depart     And leave to thee thy lonely rest,     To me my lonelier heart.             How could I know             Thou lovedst me so?             Upon the Sandal pyre             He lies forsaken.             The flames have taken             My Lallji, my desire!