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Page 1 of 21898 · PDF PAGE 69
JEPHTHAH. 65 Singing lest our eyes escape All his tunic wried and loose With the feet that softly trod In the vat the fairy god ; Never more our eyes shall swim, Looking to the ocean brim In the magic moon that rose Through the archipelagos, When the Grecian woods were wet With our dewy songs, that set Quivering all seas and snows, Stars and tender winds that fret Lily, lily, laughing rose, Sighing, sighing violet, Dusky pansy, swaying rush, And the stream that flows Singing, ringing softly: Hush! Listen to the bird that goes Wooing to the brow…
1898 · PDF PAGE 33
… solitude, I went Nightly upon a rock that stood alone Threatening the sandy wilderness, and prayed. Where many visions came before mine eyes So strange—these eyes have started from my head, And every hair, grown fearful, like a steed Reared in its frenzy ; see, these lips of mine Have blanched, these nails have bitten through my flesh For sundry things I saw—and these informed
1898 · PDF PAGE 71
JEPHTHAH. 67 With calm impenetrable eyes The after glory that shall be ; But we, of mortal bodies born, Laugh lies consoling unto scorn. The God of Israel is strong ; His mighty arm hath wrought this day A victory and a triumph-song— And now He breathes upon His clay, And we, who were as idols crowned, Lie dust upon the empty ground. She goes, our sorrow’s sacrifice, Our lamb, our firstling, frail and white, With large sweet love-illumined eyes Into the night, into the night. The throne of night shall be withdrawn ; So moveth she toward the daw…
1898 · PDF PAGE 39
…leep are unfurled, The moon in the east is rekindled, The hope of the passionate world. The stars for a token of glory Flash fire in the eyes of the night, And the holy immaculate story Of Heaven is flushed into light. For the night has a whisper to wake us, And the sunset a blossom to kiss, And the silences secretly take us To the well of the water that is ; For the darkness is pregnant with being, As earth that is glad of the rain, And the eyes that are silent and seeing - Are free of the trammels of pain. Like light through the portals they …
1898 · PDF PAGE 61
JEPHTHAH. 57 SEMICHORUS II. With hearts infused of fire, Eyes clear with many waters, With lips to air that quire, We, earth’s desirous daughters, Lift up the song of triumph, sound the lutes of our desire! Elohim ! SEMICHORUS I. With branches strewn before us, And roses flung In all the ways, we chorus With throat and tongue The glory of our warrior sires whose victor swords restore us Jephthah! SEMICHORUS II. With angels vast and calm That keep his way, With streams of holy balm, The prayers of them that pray, We go to bring him home and rais…
1898 · PDF PAGE 46
…try lacks not reward. And now the sun is up: for Israel, march! JARED. Good luck be with your spears ; and homecoming Gladden victorious eyes ere set of sun. [Exeunt Jephthah and Soldiers. Enter Eleazar, Ahinoam, Chorus of Elders. CHORUS. The sun is past meridian. No sound Of trampling hoofs assails th’ unquiet wind, Nor trembles in the pillared echo-places, And windy corridors of pathless snow. But let us wait, expecting victory. No fugitive returns, nor messenger : They have not shocked together, or perchance The grim fight rolls its sickenin…
1898 · PDF PAGE 67
…odes of stone, Barren of all comely things, Given to the splendid kings, Gloomy state, and glamour dark, Swooping jewel-feathered wings, Eyes translucent with a spark Of the world of fire, that swings Gates of adamant below Lofty minarets of snow. Thence the towering flames arise, Where the flashes white and wise Find their mortal foe. Let us thither, caring not Anything, or any more, Since the sorrow of our lot Craves to pass the abysmal door ; Never more for us shall twine Rosy fingers on the vine ; * Never maiden lips that cull Myriad blosso…
1898 · PDF PAGE 72
…ise To greet her beauty lover-wise. The silver west fades fast, the skies | Are blue and silver overhead ; She stands upon the snow, her eyes Fixed fast upon the fountain-head Whence from Eternity is drawn The awful glory of the dawn! ELEAZAR. Let every man depart unto his house. CHORUS. He hath made His face as a fire; His wrath as a sword; He hath smitten our soul’s desire; He is the Lord.
1898 · PDF PAGE 20
…le flower ; And we indeed were born of drudging wives, Pale spouses whom his heart despised, but thou Wast of a fairer face and brighter eyes,
1898 · PDF PAGE 50
… But in the lusty days of youth my face Turned from the battle and pursuit and spoil Only to one face dearer than my soul, And my wife’s eyes were welcome more desired Than chains of roses, and the song of children, And swinging palm branches, and milk-white—elders. CHORUS. Fie on thy railing! But his wife is sick, And cannot leave the borders of her house.
1898 · PDF PAGE 56
…ws one pale fume of wine. Their songs, their purity, their peace, Glide slowly in the arms of God; His lips assume their sanctities, His eyes perceive the period Of woven webs of lutes at ease, e And measures by pure maidens trod, Till, like the smoke of mountains risen at dawn, The cloud-veils of the Ain are withdrawn. | Pure spirits rise to heaven, the bride. Pure bodies are as lamps below. The shining essence, glorified With fire more cold than fresh-fallen snow, And influences, white and wide, - Descend, re-gather, kindle, grow, Till from o…
1898 · PDF PAGE 44
40 JEPHTHAH. _ And other dawns more deep and wise Burn awful in his holy eyes. A moment, and the fire is low Upon the black. stone of the altar, The spilt blood eagerly doth glow, And lightnings lick the light, and falter, Feeling the vast Shekinah shine Above their excellence divine. The Lord is gracious to His own, And hides with glory as a mist The sacrifice and smitten stone, And on the lips His presence kissed Burn the high vows with ample flame That He shall swear to by the Name. JEPHTHAH. Highest of Highest, most Concealed of all, Most H…
1898 · PDF PAGE 53
… is our disgrace. CHORUS. Fair as the dawn is the maiden wise, Pale as the poppies by still white water, Sunlight burns in her pure deep eyes, Love lights the tresses of Jephthah’s daughter ; Kissing rays of the moon have caught her, Rays of the moon that sleeps and sighs. JARED [aszde]. In our disgrace, behold! Our vengeance strikes. I am inspired with so profound a hate— He shall not triumph : in the very hour When his o’ermastering forehead tops the sky I strike him to the earth. I need not move. Silence—no more—and all accomplishes. Leviath…
1898 · PDF PAGE 59
…pe at last Crowning, have maddened Jephthah’s kinsman here. Mark his lips muttering, and his meaningless Furious gestures, and indignant eyes Starting, and hard-drawn breath! Him lead away Tenderly, as beseems the mercy shown To his repentance by this maiden queen. The Lord is merciful to them that show Mercy, and all such as are pure of heart ; Thy crown, Adulah, wears a double flower Of these fair blossoms wreathed in one device Of perfect love in perfect maidenhood. JARED [recovering himself \. Nay, but my voice must fill the song of joy Wit…
1898 · PDF PAGE 14
…e a dove, Hovers, and lingers, and wings his flight, Spurned and rejected and lost to sight; But we desire him, a holy bird, And we turn eyes to the hollow hills ; For God is strong, and His iron word Mocks at the gods of the woods and rills. For .our God is as a fire That consumeth every one That is underneath the sun, And our uttermost desire Must abase, with rent attire, Souls and bodies to His throne, Where above the starry choir Stands the jasper, where alone Palest seraphim respire
1898 · PDF PAGE 10
… in a double death, Hangs imminent to crush the slender sides And battered bulwarks of our state. O thou Whose hoary locks and sightless eyes compel Our pity and our reverence, and whose mouth Foams with the presence of some nearer god Insatiate of thy body frail, give tongue, If tongue may so far master deity As give his fury speech, or shape thy words From the blind auguries of madness. PROPHET. Ha! The rose has washed its petals, and the blood Pours through its burning centre from my heart. The fire consumes the light; and rosy flame Leaps t…
1898 · PDF PAGE 58
…e, I do good To her, the milk-white virgin sacrifice, And only smite the bloody father down! A lie, Isay! A lie! Yet—dare I speak, Those eyes upon me, torturing my soul And threatening revenge? His fingers gross, Purple, and horrible, to blister me With infamous tearing at my throat. O Hell! Vomit thy monsters forth in myriads To putrefy this fair green earth with blood, But make not me the devilish minister Of such a deed as this! No respite ?—-Must? Irrevocable? I dare not call on God. Thou, thou wilt serve me if I do this thing? Oh, if this …
1898 · PDF PAGE 21
…the hideous nightbird of defeat. Mourn, mourn and cry ; bow down unto the dust O Israel, and O Gilead, for your son Comes with unpitying eyes and lips compressed To watch the desecration of thy shrine, Jehovah, and the ruin of our hearth. JEPHTHAH. I am your outcast brother. At my birth My father did not smile, nor she who bore These limbs dishonourable did not smile, Nor did my kisses soothe a mother’s woe, Because my thews grown strong were impotent To reign or be a captain any more, Though I might serve the children who had grown Less godlik…
1898 · PDF PAGE 47
…gnat may make Riding for sport upon a little whirl Of moving breezes, so it glows and rolls, Caught in the furnace of the sun, opaque To eyes that seek its depth, but penetrable By those long filaments of light beyond. See, the spot darkens, and a horseman spurs A flagging steed with bloody flanks, and waves A cloudy sword to heaven—I am sure He brings us eagle-wingéd victory, And tiding of no battle lost for Israel. Yes, he grows great before the sun, and stands Now in his stirrups, and shouts loud, and waves A blade triumphant. Now the weary …
1898 · PDF PAGE 23
…usly, and each abode Safe in the shadow of his vine ; as when The peace of Joshua lay upon the land, And God turned not away His piteous eyes, Nor smote us with the fury of His hand, Nor clouded over His mysterious skies, And storm and wind had no more might at all, And death and pestilence forgotten were, And angels came to holy men that call, And gracious spirits thronged the happy air; When God was very gracious to all folk, And lifted from us the Philistian yoke, And all the iron power of Edom broke, And all the Earth was fair! Now, seeing …