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Page 1 of 21899 · PDF PAGE 31
JEPHTHAH. CHORUS. A sword, a sword, to smite our foes withal ! ELEAZAR. A help shall come from desert lands to us. CHORUS. Toward what end? For present help is much, But uttermost destruction more, for we Have no strong hope in any hand of man: God is our refuge and our tower of strength. In Him if any man abide; but if He put his faith in horsemen, or the sword, The sword he trusted shall be for an end. ELEAZAR. But evils fall like rain upon the land. CHORUS. Let us not call the hail to give us peace. ELEAZAR. Nor on the sun, lest he too eat u…
1899 · PDF PAGE 229
LYRICAL AND DRAMATIC. My sword, that darts among them serpentwise— And all their warriors fell back a space, _ And all the air rang out with sudden cries, Seeing the death and fury of my face, And feeling the long sword sweep out and kill, Till there was won the slippery path, the place Whence I might sever the white cords, and fill The ship with tangled wreckage of the sail. All this I did, and bore the blade of ill Back, dripping blood, to thee most firm and pale Who held our rudder, all alone, and stood Fierce and triumphant in the rising ga…
1899 · PDF PAGE 239
…combine To wreak swift justice, human and divine? Priests thrive on poison. Carrion Their eager teeth Tear, till the sacramental sun Its sword unsheath, And bid their horrid carnival be done, And smite beneath In their cold gasping valleys, and bid light Break the battalions of the angry night. That sword that smote from Heaven was so keen, Its silver blade No angel’s sight, no fairy’s eye hath seen, No tender maid With subtle insight may behold its sheen With light inlaid ; But God, who forged it, breathed upon its point, And His pure unction …
1899 · PDF PAGE 46
…ictory, to content His army with their present brief success, Lest he pass by the barrier of our suffering, And find our wrath no broken sword, and find Despair more terrible than hope. Go now. A SOLDIER. We go, my lord, less readily to sleep Than if you bade us march. No man of us But stirs a little, I warrant, in his dreams, And reaches out for sword-hilt. All hail, Jephthah! SOLDIERS. Jephthah! a leader, a deliverer. Hail! [Exeunt Soldiers and Young Men.
1899 · PDF PAGE 120
…g servant of my lady and lord, In that abandoned chapel, late destroyed By Etna’s fury. Nothing else remained (Save in the ante-room the sword we knew So often flashing at the column-head) Within. I think my lord has written this. And for the child, whose rearing is my care, And in whose life is left my single hope, This writing shall conclude the book of song His father made in worship and true love Of his fair lady, and these songs shall be His hope, and his tradition, and his pride. Thus have I written for the sake of truth, And for his sake…
1899 · PDF PAGE 38
…s bring For His temple a tribute of tears. Enter Jephthah amid his Soldiers, with many young men of Israel. | JEPHTHAH. Yea, for a man’s sword should not turn again To his own bosom, and the sword of fear Smites not in vain the heart of cowardice. But who hath called me hither to what end ? ELEAZAR. For these, and for the sake of Israel. JEPHTHAH. And who are these? And who are Israel? CHORUS. Turn not thy face from us in wrath, for we Are thine own father’s children, and his loins With double fervour gat a double flower ; And we indeed were bo…
1899 · PDF PAGE 11
…, a boy’s desire, , I bring with reverent hands. The task is ended— The twilight draws on me: the sacred fire Sleeps: I have sheathed my sword, my bow un- bended : , So for one hour I lay aside the lyre, And come, alone, unholpen, unbefriended, As streams get water of the sun-smit sea, Seeking my ocean and my sun in thee. Yea, with thy whirling clouds of fiery light Involve my music, gyring fuller and faster! - Yea, to my sword lend majesty and might To dominate all tumult and disaster,
1899 · PDF PAGE 116
… feet, And Death was not. She leapt within, and bent Her own white shoulders to the thwart, and bade Me steer, and keep stern watch with sword unsheathed For fear of something that her soul had seen Above. And thus upon the oily black Silent swift river we sailed out to reach Its source, no longer feeling as compelled, But led by some incomprehensible Passion. And here lewd fishes snapped at us, - And watersnakes writhed silently toward Our craft. But these I fought against, and smote Head from foul body, to our further ill, For frightful jelly…
1899 · PDF PAGE 30
… shall bridle him, or turn his way? For Fate alone of gods, inflexible, And careless of men’s deeds, is firm in heaven. PROPHET. I see a sword whose hilt is to thy hand. CHORUS. But which of us shall wield the shining blade? PROPHET. I see a dove departing to the hills. CHORUS. I pray it bring an olive-branch to us. PROPHET. The god has overcome me, I am silent. CHORUS. He lies as one lies dead; none wakens him. Nor life nor death must touch him now: beware! ELEAZAR. Beware now, all ye old wise men, of this. For high things spoken and unjustly …
1899 · PDF PAGE 163
… o’er its level sward Of sea-reflecting white flowers and fresh grass I walk. Man’s darkness is a leathern sheath, Myself the sun-bright sword ! I have no fear, nor doubt, nor sorrow now, For I give Self to God—I give my best Of soul and blood and brain To my poor Art—there comes to me somehow This fact: Man’s work is God made manifest; Life is all Peace again. And Dreams are beyond life. Their wider scope, Limitless Empire o’er the world of thought, Help my desires to press Beyond all stars toward God and Heaven and Hope; And in the world-amaz…
1899 · PDF PAGE 37
…y Arm, We not presuming in our arrogance To come with cunning, and defend ourselves ? ELEAZAR. Nay, but God smites with sharpness of our swords, CHORUS. The sword is made sharp in our hands, but the point He shall guide; We grasp the tough ash of the spear, but His hand is beside ; We drive in a cloud at the foe, but His chariots ride Before us to sunder the spears.
1899 · PDF PAGE 35
…Who high truth and faith may swear, And betray us at the end /To his robber bands. So we clasp our humble hands, Praying God to lift His sword From our bleeding state, that stands Tottering to its fall. Though we call not Jephthah back To repel the harsh attack, Nor his followers call, Hear thou, O Most High, give ear To our pitiful complaint: Under woes of war we faint. Pity, Lord of Hosts, our fear! Hear, Most High, oh, hear! ° Enter Messenger. MESSENGER. My lords, take heed now, prayer is good to save - While yet the foemen are far off ; but…
1899 · PDF PAGE 72
…shing through her flower-crowned hair. . CHORUS. Behold a virgin to the Lord! Behold a maiden pale as death, Whose glance is silver as a sword, And flowers of Kedar fill her breath, Whose fragrance saturates the sward, Whose sunny perfume floating saith : From my ineffable desire is drawn The awful glory of the golden dawn. Behold her bosom bare and bold Whose billows like the ocean swing! The painted palaces of gold, Where shell-born maidens laugh and sing,
1899 · PDF PAGE 34
… rule Where the far blue Syrian sky Stretches, where the clouds as wool Mark the white Arabian border, To become a tyrant king Where his sword came conquering. Out of chaos rises order On her wide unwearying wing, But the desolate marauder Never over us shall swing Such a sceptre as should bring Sorrow to one home of ours. Better bear the heavy hours Under God’s avenging breath, Better brave the horrid powers, Nor avoid the foreign death, Humbling all our pride before God’s most holy throne, abasing Every man’s strong soul, and facing All the h…
1899 · PDF PAGE 90
…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.
1899 · PDF PAGE 33
…His holy Places, and our prayers ascend Fervent, and may sunder slowly The blue darkness at the end. For we know not where to send For a sword to cleanse the land, For a sharp two-edgéd brand, All our homesteads to defend. For amid the desert sand Lives an outcast of our race, Strong, immutable, and grand,
1899 · PDF PAGE 89
…rably bright. So priest and people join to praise The secret wisdom of the Lord, Awaiting the arisen rays That smite through heaven as a sword
1899 · PDF PAGE 43
…concealments, highest of all, We swear to be true men to thee and thine. JEPHTHAH. I thank you, people. Let the younger men Gather their swords and spears, and pass before This spear I strike into the earth, that so I see how many fight for Israel. CHORUS. The young men are girded with swords, And the spears flash on high, and each shield Gleams bright like the fury of lords Through the steam of the well-foughten field, And the children of Ammon are broken, their princes and warriors yield. The captain is chosen for fight, The light of his eye …
1899 · PDF PAGE 49
…s 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.
1899 · PDF PAGE 56
…PHTHAH. Why therefore did ye not recover them Then and not now? I have not sinned against thee; But thou dost me foul wrong to bring thy sword And torch of rapine in my pleasant land. Between the folk of Ammon and the folk Of Israel this day be God the judge. [Exzt Second Herald. ELEAZAR. Well spoken: but the ear that will not hear Is deafer than the adder none may charm. JEPHTHAH. I know it, and will not await the answer. But dawn shall see a solemn sacrifice, And solemn vows, and long swords glittering, And moving columns that shall shake the…