 | The Two Brothers, and other poems |  |
Musing thus his past, the captive on his watch nor slept nor stirr'd,
And the hours slid by unheeded, and the cock crew twice unheard:
And the dewy stars more faintly glimmer'd in the doubtful gloom,
And the bursts of mirth were fewer from the royal banquet room.
Thither Galilee had summon'd all her loveliness and state,
And her loveliest there seem'd lovelier, and her greatness there more great:
Flow'd the purple wine like water: Eden's perfumes fill'd the hall;
And the lamps through roseate colours shed a soften'd light on all.
Mirth and music hand in hand were floating through the fairy scene;
All were praising Herod's glory, all were lauding Herod's queen;
When at given sign was silence, and the guests reclined around,
And a lonely harper, waking from the chords a dreamlike sound,
Breathed delight and soft enchantment over ear and heart and soul:
None could choose but list, and listening, none their tenderest thoughts control:
When the young, the fair Salome, from her chamber gently slid,
Nor loose veil, nor golden tresses half her mantling blushes hid:
Young Salome, sixteen summers scarcely on her bloom had smiled;
Art was none, but artless beauty; Nature's simplest fondest child.
At the banquet's edge she linger'd, to her mother's side she press'd,
And assay'd to dance, and falter'd trembling; but again caress'd,
As those wild notes with a stronger witchery on her spirit fell,
Stole into the midst, and startled, timid as a young gazelle,
Trod the air with printless footsteps, as the breezes tread the sea,
Moved to every tone responsive, like embodied melody:
Till embolden'd, as she floated like a cloud of light along,
Mingled with melodious music gentler cadences of song,
And when every ear was ravish'd, every heart subdued with love,
Dropp'd at length, as drops the skylark from its azure home above,
Swiftly with an angel's swiftness, with a mortal's sweetness sweet,
Glowing, trembling, trusting, loving—dropp'd at length at Herod's feet.
And the hours slid by unheeded, and the cock crew twice unheard:
And the dewy stars more faintly glimmer'd in the doubtful gloom,
And the bursts of mirth were fewer from the royal banquet room.
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And her loveliest there seem'd lovelier, and her greatness there more great:
Flow'd the purple wine like water: Eden's perfumes fill'd the hall;
And the lamps through roseate colours shed a soften'd light on all.
Mirth and music hand in hand were floating through the fairy scene;
All were praising Herod's glory, all were lauding Herod's queen;
When at given sign was silence, and the guests reclined around,
And a lonely harper, waking from the chords a dreamlike sound,
Breathed delight and soft enchantment over ear and heart and soul:
None could choose but list, and listening, none their tenderest thoughts control:
When the young, the fair Salome, from her chamber gently slid,
Nor loose veil, nor golden tresses half her mantling blushes hid:
131
Art was none, but artless beauty; Nature's simplest fondest child.
At the banquet's edge she linger'd, to her mother's side she press'd,
And assay'd to dance, and falter'd trembling; but again caress'd,
As those wild notes with a stronger witchery on her spirit fell,
Stole into the midst, and startled, timid as a young gazelle,
Trod the air with printless footsteps, as the breezes tread the sea,
Moved to every tone responsive, like embodied melody:
Till embolden'd, as she floated like a cloud of light along,
Mingled with melodious music gentler cadences of song,
And when every ear was ravish'd, every heart subdued with love,
Dropp'd at length, as drops the skylark from its azure home above,
132
Glowing, trembling, trusting, loving—dropp'd at length at Herod's feet.
Heaven be witness, Herod grants her the petition she prefers:
Half his kingdom were mean dowry for a loveliness like hers.
Half his kingdom were mean dowry for a loveliness like hers.
To Herodias young Salome fondly turns, with grateful smiles:
Gold of Ophir, pearls of ocean, nard and spice of happier isles,—
What of choice and costly treasures, choicest, costliest, shall she claim?
Then a glare of fiendish triumph in that cruel cold eye came;
And the queen's heart heaved with vengeance; and she gasp'd with quicken'd breath
Brief words of envenom'd malice, warrant of the prophet's death.
Why that sudden ashy pallor? why that passionate caress?
Bends the sapling in the tempest: weakness yields to wickedness.
Gold of Ophir, pearls of ocean, nard and spice of happier isles,—
What of choice and costly treasures, choicest, costliest, shall she claim?
Then a glare of fiendish triumph in that cruel cold eye came;
And the queen's heart heaved with vengeance; and she gasp'd with quicken'd breath
Brief words of envenom'd malice, warrant of the prophet's death.
133
Bends the sapling in the tempest: weakness yields to wickedness.
| The Two Brothers, and other poems | |