XXXV. "Nay-yet it chafes me that I could not bend One will; nor tame and tutor with mine eye That dull cold-blooded Cæsar. Prithee, friend, Where is Mark Antony? XXXVI. "The man my lover, with whom I rode sublime XXXVII. “We drank the Lybian Sun to sleep, and lit XXXVIII. "And the wild kiss, when fresh from war's alarms, XXXIX. "And there he died; and when I heard my name Sighed forth with life I would not brook my fear Of the other: with a worm I balked his fame. What else was left ?-look here!" XL. (With that she tore her robe apart, and half XLI. "I died a Queen. The Roman soldier found Me lying dead, my crown about my brows, A name forever!-lying robed and crowned, XLII. Her warbling voice, a lyre of widest range XLIII. When she made pause I knew not for delight; Because with sudden motion from the ground She raised her piercing orbs and filled with light The interval of sound. XLIV. Still with their fires Love tipt his keenest darts; XLV. Slowly my sense undazzled. Then I heard XLVI. "The torrent brooks of hallowed Israel. XLVII. "The balmy moon of blessed Israel Floods all the deep-blue gloom with beans All night the splintered crags that wall the dell XLVIII. As one that museth where broad sunshine laves XLIX. Within, and anthem sung, is charmed and tied To save her father's vow; L. The daughter of the warrior Gileadite, A maiden pure; as when she went along From Mizpeh's towered gate with welcome light, With timbrel and with song. LI. My words leapt forth: "Heaven heads the count of crimes With that wild oath." She rendered answer high: "Not so, nor once alone; a thousand times I would be born and die. LII. "Single I grew, like some green plant, whose root Creeps to the garden water-pipes beneath, Feeding the flower: but ere my flower to fruit Changed, I was ripe for death. LIII. “My God, my land, my father-these did move LIV. "And I went mourning, 'No fair Hebrew boy Shall smile away my maiden blame among The Hebrew mothers,'-emptied of all joy, Leaving the dance and song. 66 LV. Leaving the olive-gardens far below, Leaving the promise of my bridal bower, The valleys of grape-loaded vines that glow Beneath the battled tower. LVI. "The light white cloud swam over us. Anon We heard the lion roaring from his den; We saw the large white stars rise one by one, Or, from the darkened glen, LVII. "Saw God divide the night with flying flame, I heard Him, for He spake, and grief became LVIII. "When the next moon was rolled into the sky, Strength came to me that equalled my desire. How beautiful a thing it was to die For God and for my sire! LIX. "It comforts me in this one thought to dwell, LX. 66 Moreover, it is written that my race Hewed Ammon, hip and thigh, from Aroer On Arnon unto Minneth." Here her face 66 LXI. She locked her lips: she left me where I stood: Glory to God," she sang, and past afar, Thridding the sombre boskage of the wood, Toward the morning-star. LXII. Losing her carol I stood pensively, As one that from a casement leans his head, When midnight bells cease ringing suddenly, And the old year is dead. LXIII. "Alas! alas!" a low voice, full of care, Murmured beside me; "Turn and look on me: I am that Rosamond, whom men call fair, If what I was I be. LXIV. "Would I had been some maiden coarse and poor! LXV. She ceased in tears, fallen from hope and trust: LXVI. With that sharp sound the white dawn's creeping beams, Stolen to my brain, dissolved the mystery Of folded sleep. The captain of my dreams Ruled in the eastern sky. |