JEPHTHAH. 27
Through dusty ways and desert regions
Back to the cities whence they came
With iron, massacre, and flame,
And turn their own devouring blade
On city fired and violate maid,
That Israel conquer, and men know
God is our God against a foe.
For the web of the battle is woven
Of men that are strong as the sea,
When the rocks by its tempest are cloven,
And waves wander wild to the lee;
When ships are in travail forsaken,
And tempest and tumult awaken ;
When foam by fresh foam overtaken
Boils sanguine and fervent and free.
For its sides are a million of paces;
Its centre is Death as he stands
Pale-horsed, where the iciest places
Chill blood in the furious hands.
He stands like a spectre, and urges
The horsemen in thunderous surges
On columns where blood not asperges
The splashing of struggling bands.
The sword is like lightning in battle,
The spear like the light of a star;
It strikes on the shield, and the rattle
Of arrows is hail from afar.