Jephthah and Other Mysteries

JEPHTHAH. 61 ADULAH. My father, if thou hast openéd thy mouth Unto the Lord, fulfil the oath to me, Because the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee Of all thine enemies, the Ammonites. Let this be done for me, that I may go Two months upon the mountains, and bewail, I and my fellows, my virginity ! JEPHTHAH. Go! CHORUS OF MAIDENS. O the time of dule and teen! O the dove the hawk has snared ! Fate the cruel and obscene, Fate that snaps us unprepared, We, who else had dared Every mountain cold and keen, Cleft and stricken in between By the joy our bosoms shared ; Would to God we had not been, We, who see our maiden queen, Love has slain whom hate had spared. Sorrow for our sister sways All our maiden bosoms, bared To the dying vesper rays, Where the sun below the bays Of the West is stooping ; All our hearts together drooping,