Collected Works (Vol. I)

JEPHTHAH To a rent uncouth attire Changed with cares ; Happy songs our love had made Ere the sun had sunk his fire, In the moonrise fall and fade, And the dregs of our desire Fall away to death ; Tears divide our labouring breath That our sister—O our sister ! Speak, Jephthah, speak! What ill has| Moon and sun and stars have kissed her ! fallen? Speak ! She must touch the lips of death, [Stlence. After a littl the Chorus of | Touch the lips whose coldness saith : Maidens understand, and break into) Thou art clay. wating, The old men gradually \ Let us fare away, away understand and fill the air with | To the ice whose ocean gray ancoherent lamentations, Behind\ Tumbles on the beach of rock, Jeruruan the soldters, with white | Where the wheeling vultures mock lips, have assumed thetr stilitarjy | Our distress with horrid cries; formation, and stand at attention \ Where the flower relenting dies, Lenter ELEAZAR and Chorits. ELEAZAR. Most welcome, conqueror ! [JeruriiaAH waves him aside. What is this? What is this? CHORUS. by a wistble effort ofself-control, «ind the sun is sharp to slay ; Where the ivory dome above ADULAH. Glimmers like the dawn of love My father, if thou hast openéd thy mouth On the weary way ; Unto the Lord, fulfil the oath to me, Where the ibex chant and call Because the Lord hath taken vengeance Over tempest’s funeral ; for thee Where the hornéd beast is shrill, Of all thine enemies, the Ammonites. And the eagle hath his will, Let this be done for me, that I may go And the shadows fall Two months upon the mountains, and Lewail, | Sharp and black, till day is passed I and my fellows, my virginity ! Over to the ocean vast ; Where the barren rocks resound JEPHTHAH. Only to the rending roar Go! Of the shattering streams that, pour Rocks by ice eternal bound, CHORUS OF MAIDENs. Myriad cascades that crowned O the time of dule and teen! Once the far resounding throne O ihe dove the hawk has snared ! Of the mountain spirits strong, Would to God we had not been, All the treacherous souls that throng We, who see our maiden queen, Desolate abodes of stone, Love has slain whom hate had spared. Barren of all comely things, Sorrow for our sister sways Given to the splendid kings, All our maiden bosoms, bared Gloomy state, and glamour dark, To the dying vesper rays, Swooping jewel-feathered wings, Where the sun below the bays Eyes translucent with a spark Of the West is stooping ; Of the world of fire, that swings All our hearts together drooping, Gates of adamant below Flowers the ocean bears. Lofty minarets of snow. All the garb that gladness wears Thence the towering flames arise,