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Show HAGAR. P. ' Uprose Aurora from the sleeping wave, "j T And blushed the while her face reflected theri? Nor wondered that all men should praise it so,. '. And lightly vaulting to her chariot &$ Swift sped her steed the fading- stars among' j. And a-; she went with rosy finger. plucked Night's sable veil aside and all the hills Of green-clad Palastine stood there revealed, jrflt In purpling glories. wi Now flamed the kindling lamp of day above ' '" t The dark West's lessening rim and gilded - - -lebron's hoar facades, and wrought with magic, Brush on minarets, and domes, and erstwhile Silent mosques, and rained a flood of light , Through her deserted streets. The sacerdotal j Chant of cinctured Priests wailed low and along ,, The sinuous aisles and through the vaulted Naves. The victim bound beside the smoking 'block Saw gyve and knife, and sacrificial fire, ' " And knew his hour avus come. Before his open tent on velvet turf "' i,( The ruminating herds of Abram fared, r z And midst the scene grief-stricken Hagar " Stood alone, save him whose bitter t'aunt Derided Israel's heir because of Sarah's . Envious hate. With scornful mien the haughty Hebrew bade her where the skies and mocking - Shadows met, and killed her with a word. ' f' Before her stretched Bcersheba's naked wastes!'- ' IOre her unwilling feet the shifting sands - ty Strode o'er, her ashen lips thus spake: ' ;C I "T was a virgin when my fresh young face --Peered --Peered from the hordes of Pharo's bondage race; The breast I nursed, defiled by slavish chains0" Imbrued the blood that courses through my veins. "The home-sick eagle in a gilded den. Cries io the bights beyond the human ken: He' beats the bars when calls the distant scream, From far off aeries where the lightning gleam- "The prisoned lark, God's own sweet child of 'glee", Sings though its heart is breaking to be free All that has life, and bred on Nature's plan, w Love Liberty, from worm to peerless man. j "I woke when life's small day, was just begun,' ' To have a glimpse of Freedom's liolv sun, ' The ray so brief was like a miser's dole. It only drove the iron deeper in my soul. "To deck thy throne, nor recked Ihe subject's scorn, Tou plucked'the rose but left the hurtful thorn; To cure an ache that whelms the heart with grief. You bind the fetters with a withered leaf. r "The whirlwind that I reap by you was sown The flower you gleaned was dead ere fully blown,; Thy false words cry from out Truth's sunless grave, And curse me with the shame that I'm a slave! ? . -A "0, Pitying God' Forbear the destined fate ; . That yokes my life with undeserving hate, f- 0. lctthesc tears, the contrite heart 1 bear, ; jLtfi Go up and plead thou wilt in mercy spare 1 , JM "Aud I must leave the dream of love behind, f -And pour my hapless wail upon the wind To bear it onward to some jungle lea, Jt, Where beasts, predaceous like yoursclT. arc frcSP' . "For this obedience in the will of God, .v My rccompence is his chastising rod ; The only balm for the envenomed smart. , Is to renounce the birthright of my heart 1 ?? "Rather than that I'd dare eternal death " ' I In gulfs surcharged of Shoel's fetid breath. l Aye, though the Furies, choked with vengeful wrath. Sowed hissing serpents in my wandering pathl "There is no passion equals mother love, Not even God's, nor anything above; " "S'' lore I'd forsake my child in heaven Io dwell, ,.- Rather mv bed with him in endless hell! 'k ; "Sweet Angel Hope farewell! By thee unblest. , . , I lay my cheek upon thy withered breast; . r Fad'ing 'thou art like driftwood from Ihc land H Fading like mists dissolving o'er the land! ' No more she said! Like some nomadic sprite .- She went an outcast to a hopeless night. And the coarse garb the Semite women wear rt But scarce concealed a form superbly fam On vagrant brambles hid along the;'way ; Oj In drifting sands that o'er the desert lay, I She toiled unmindful of the painful spur V v What in this hour is thorn-torn flesh to her!' Her face, tear-blistered of a nameless woe. " ' j Was set toward Shur. a journey long and slow, ' The sun her guide by day. the stars tiy night, And Ishmael sole companion of her flight, A.S. CONDON. |