“Two servants were in Wanna Issi’s pay;
A blazing torch their care;
Each morning Koit must light it till its ray
Flamed through the air;
“And every evening Ämmarik’s fair hand
Must quench the waning light;
Then over all the weary, waiting land
Fell the still night.
“So passed the time; then Wanna Issi said,
“For faithful service done,
Lo, here reward! To-morrow shall ye wed,
And so be one.”
“ ‘Not so,’ said Koit; ‘for sweeter far to me
The joy that neareth still;
Then grant us ever fast betrothed to be.”
They had their will.
“And now the blazing lustre to transfer
Himself, is all his claim;
Warm from her lover’s hand it comes to her,
To quench the flame.
“Only for four times seven lengthening days,
At midnight, do they stand
Together, while Koit gives the dying blaze
To Ämmarik’s hand.
“O wonder then! She lets it not expire,
But lights it with her breath—
The breath of love, that, warm with quickening fire,
Wakes life from death.
“Then hands stretch out, and touch, and clasp on high,
Then lip to lip is pressed,
And Ämmarik’s blushes tinge the midnight sky
From east to west.”