BEFORE HIS LAST BATTLE. SAUL. WARRIORS and Chiefs! should the shaft or the sword Thou who art bearing my buckler and bow, Farewell to others, but never we part, THOU whose spell can raise the dead, Samuel, raise thy buried head! King, behold the phantom seer! >> Earth yawned; he stood the centre of a cloud: His hand was withered, and his veins were dry; His foot, in bony whiteness, glittered there, Bloodless are these limbs, and cold: << Such are mine; and such shall be Thine, to-morrow, when with me : «Ere the coming day is done, Such shalt thou be, such thy son. "Fare thee well, but for a day; " Then we mix our mouldering clay. Thou, thy race, lie pale and low, "Pierced by shafts of many a bow; « And the falchion by thy side «To thy heart, thy hand shall guide : Crownless, breathless, headless fall, " « Son and sire, the house of Saul! » BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON WE SAT DOWN AND WEPT. I. WE sate down and wept by the waters II. While sadly we gazed on the river On the willow that harp is suspended, And ne'er shall its soft tones be blended With the voice of the spoiler by me! THE WILD GAZELLE. THE wild Gazelle on Judah's hills A step as fleet, an eye more bright, The cedars wave on Lebanon, But Judah's statelier maids are gone! More blest each palm that shades those plains, Than Israel's scattered race; For, taking root, it there remains In solitary grace: It cannot quit its place of birth, It will not live in other earth. But we must wander witheringly, And where our fathers' ashes be, Our temple hath not left a stone, OH! SNATCHED. AWAY IN BEAUTY'S BLOOM. I. O! snatched away in beauty's bloom, Their leaves, the earliest of the year; II. And oft by yon blue gushing stream III. Away; we know that tears are vain, That Death nor heeds nor hears distress: Will this unteach us to complain? Or make one mourner weep the less? And thou-who tell'st me to forget, Thy looks are wan, thine eyes are wet. |