Collected Works (Vol. I)

34 JEPHTHAH 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 one virgin bosom flows a river Of white devotion adamant for ever. Enter ADULAH and her Maidens. ADULAH. Fathers of Israel, we are come to you With many maidens praising God, for this The victory of my father. Happy girls! Whose brothers struck to-day for Israel, Whose fathers smote the heathen ; happiest, Ye blushing flowers, beyond your younger spring 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 be- seem 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 the expected 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. he soon P? Comes 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 Accept the bargain. 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. JARED [aszde]. She is’ most gracious: I must speak and save. [Aloud.| Friends! [Aside.] Stay—Is this a tempter voice that soothes _ My conscience? Art thou that Leviathan, Thou lipless monster, gnashing at my soul Abominable teeth? Art thou the fiend Whom I have seen in sleep, and waking served ? O horrible distortion of all truth That I must serve thee still! Yet—dare I speak, Those eyes upon me, torturing my soul And threatening revenge? Those 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 be a snare thou settest now, Who hast once already mocked our pact, I swear By God, I cast thee off. Leviathan! And I seal it—thus. [ Writing in the atr. I will keep silence, though they tear my tongue Blaspheming from my throat. now ! My servant