Jephthah and Other Mysteries

JEPHTHAH. 53 That bends in you toward summer, faint and fair, Whose lovers bared their swords to-day ; and ye, O reverend heads, most beautiful for gray, The comely crown of age, that doth beseem Your wise sweet beauty, as the ivy wreathes The rugged glory of the sycamore, Have ye heard aught of Jephthah’s home-coming ? For our cheeks tingle with th’ expected kiss Of hardy warriors dear to us, and now By double kinship rendered doubly dear. For O! my father comes to gladden me With those enduring kisses that endow Heart, hope, and life with gladness. Comes he soon ? ELEAZAR. Maiden most perfect, daughter of our lord, And ye, most fairest branches of our tree, Maidens of Israel, we await you here That ye, no other, may go forth to meet The chief victorious. And after you Those villains that once cast him out shall forth In sackcloth to his feet, if haply so He spare their vagabond and worthless lives. . ADULAH. Not so, my father. In my father’s name I promise unto all great happiness, And vengeance clean forgotten in the land; “ Vengeance is mine, Jehovah will repay.” My father shall not frown on any man.