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SHE stood before her fathers gorgeous tent, | |
To listen for his coming. Her loose hair | |
Was resting on her shoulders, like a cloud | |
Floating around a statue, and the wind, | |
Just swaying her light robe, revealed a shape | 5 |
Praxiteles might worship. She had clasped | |
Her hands upon her bosom, and had raised | |
Her beautiful, dark Jewish eyes to heaven, | |
Till the long lashes lay upon her brow. | |
Her lip was slightly parted, like the cleft | 10 |
Of a pomegranate blossom; and her neck, | |
Just where the cheek was melting to its curve | |
With the unearthly beauty sometimes there, | |
Was shaded, as if light had fallen off, | |
Its surface was so polished. She was stilling | 15 |
Her light, quick breath, to hear; and the white rose | |
Scarce moved upon her bosom, as it swelled, | |
Like nothing but a lovely wave of light, | |
To meet the arching of her queenly neck. | |
Her countenance was radiant with love. | 20 |
She looked like one to die for it,a being | |
Whose whole existence was the pouring out | |
Of rich and deep affections. I have thought | |
A brothers and a sisters love were much; | |
I know a brothers is, for I have been | 25 |
A sisters idol, and I know how full | |
The heart may be of tenderness to her! | |
But the affection of a delicate child | |
For a fond father, gushing as it does | |
With the sweet springs of life, and pouring on, | 30 |
Through all earths changes, like a rivers course, | |
Chastened with reverence, and made more pure | |
By the worlds discipline of light and shade, | |
T is deeper, holier.
The wind bore on | |
The leaden tramp of thousands. Clarion notes | 35 |
Rang sharply on the ear at intervals; | |
And the low, mingled din of mighty hosts | |
Returning from the battle poured from far, | |
Like the deep murmur of a restless sea. | |
They came, as earthly conquerors always come, | 40 |
With blood and splendor, revelry and woe. | |
The stately horse treads proudly,he hath trod | |
The brow of death as well. The chariot-wheels | |
Of warriors roll magnificently on | |
Their weight hath crushed the fallen. Man is there, | 45 |
Majestic, lordly man,with his sublime | |
And elevated brow, and godlike frame; | |
Lifting his crest in triumph, for his heel | |
Hath trod the dying like a winepress down! | |
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The mighty Jephtha led his warriors on | 50 |
Through Mizpehs streets. His helm was proudly set, | |
And his stern lip curled slightly, as if praise | |
Were for the heros scorn. His step was firm, | |
But free as Indias leopard; and his mail, | |
Whose shekels none in Israel might bear, | 55 |
Was like a cedars tassel on his frame. | |
His crest was Judahs kingliest; and the look | |
Of his dark, lofty eye, and bended brow, | |
Might quell the lion. He led on; but thoughts | |
Seemed gathering round which troubled him. The veins | 60 |
Grew visible upon his swarthy brow, | |
And his proud lip was pressed as if with pain. | |
He trod less firmly; and his restless eye | |
Glanced forward frequently, as if some ill | |
He dared not meet were there. His home was near; | 65 |
And men were thronging, with that strange delight | |
They have in human passions, to observe | |
The struggle of his feelings with his pride. | |
He gazed intensely forward. The tall firs | |
Before his tent were motionless. The leaves | 70 |
Of the sweet aloe, and the clustering vines | |
Which half concealed his threshold, met his eye, | |
Unchanged and beautiful; and one by one | |
The balsam, with its sweet-distilling stems, | |
And the Circassian rose, and all the crowd | 75 |
Of silent and familiar things stole up, | |
Like the recovered passages of dreams. | |
He strode on rapidly. A moment more, | |
And he had reached his home; when lo! there sprang | |
One with a bounding footstep, and a brow | 80 |
Of light, to meet him. O, how beautiful! | |
Her dark eye flashing like a sunlit gem, | |
And her luxuriant hair!t was like the sweep | |
Of a swift wing in visions. He stood still, | |
As if the sight had withered him. She threw | 85 |
Her arms about his neck,he heeded not. | |
She called him father,but he answered not. | |
She stood and gazed upon him. Was he wroth? | |
There was no anger in that bloodshot eye. | |
Had sickness seized him? She unclasped his helm, | 90 |
And laid her white hand gently on his brow, | |
And the large veins felt stiff and hard, like cords. | |
The touch aroused him. He raised up his hands, | |
And spoke the name of God, in agony. | |
She knew that he was stricken then, and rushed | 95 |
Again into his arms; and, with a flood | |
Of tears she could not bridle, sobbed a prayer | |
That he would breathe his agony in words. | |
He told her,and a momentary flush | |
Shot oer her countenance; and then the soul | 100 |
Of Jephthas daughter wakened; and she stood | |
Calmly and nobly up, and said t was well, | |
And she would die. * * * * * The sun had wellnigh set. | |
The fire was on the altar; and the priest | |
Of the High God was there. A pallid man | 105 |
Was stretching out his trembling hands to heaven, | |
As if he would have prayed, but had no words. | |
And she who was to die, the calmest one | |
In Israel at that hour, stood up alone, | |
And waited for the sun to set. Her face | 110 |
Was pale, but very beautiful,her lip | |
Had a more delicate outline, and the tint | |
Was deeper; but her countenance was like | |
The majesty of angels.
The sun set, | |
And she was dead,but not by violence. | 115 |
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