University of Virginia Library

ROYAL SONNETS

I
A KISS

The fury of a creature when it drips
Wet-fanged, and thirsty with the desert dust,
The clench in battle of a sword that must
Ravish the foe, the pang of finger-tips—
Joy of a captain in recovered ships,
Joy, verity of a long-buried lust
Delightsome to the flesh, is in the thrust
Toward Absalom of the king's tarried lips.
And, lo, beneath that awful benison,
A thief's face glittered, sniffing at the gems
Of the bent crown as they were cassia-stems;
While the young ears heard but the rolling on
Of chariots, and a tumult, broke amain
By rumour of an agèd monarch slain.

II
IN THE GATE

They mark how with a wizard's roving eye
He overlooketh them and doth not stir—
Broods he upon his fair son's murderer?
Will he take thought of Joab till he die?
Phantom the king remains as they pass by,
His gaze fixed as, of old, on Bathsheba,
And the clear night-time striking down on her.
How sweet her bathing! And the oak hard by
Thick in its bushes, tangling bushy locks—
He stares as one dead from all comforting.
But the long years flew past, years that are gone,
Tender, more tender years, till he looks on
A shepherd boy at peace among his flocks:
And turneth to the people as their king.

III
LITTLE GIANTS

Many are David's mighty men and tall,
And they go forth for him to victory
Against the six-toed giant race; for he
Faints back in battle; he is shrunk and small.
Sometimes it seems as he on God would call;
Sometimes he laughs a little mockingly—
“Seven sons of Saul are hanging on one tree,
Seven goodly sons, and I have slain them all.”
Only at shout “A champion doth arise
From Bethlehem; Goliath in his race
Is utterly cut off”—with curious face
He looks at those who boast, with eyes a-swim;
And to the little maid that tendeth him
Babbles of angels and of prophecies.