Page:A New Zealand verse (1906).pdf/273
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Jael.
237
Came one alone and defenceless, fleeing away to the mountains,
Beating with fugitive feet the parched white dust of the roadway.
Stirred was my heart with womanly pity, and words of compassion
Leaped to my lips. “Behold the tent of a friend is before thee;
Faint are thy footsteps and weary; here rest, and be safe from pursuing.”
Gladly he turned at my voice, and I knew as I looked on his features,
Sisera, leader and captain of those who had troubled my people!
Beating with fugitive feet the parched white dust of the roadway.
Stirred was my heart with womanly pity, and words of compassion
Leaped to my lips. “Behold the tent of a friend is before thee;
Faint are thy footsteps and weary; here rest, and be safe from pursuing.”
Gladly he turned at my voice, and I knew as I looked on his features,
Sisera, leader and captain of those who had troubled my people!
Yet did I lead him within, refreshed him with milk at his asking,
Hid him in safety and watched, while he sank in the sleep of the weary.
Then while I gazed on the helpless and fugitive captain of thousands,
Vanquished and overthrown by Jehovah’s victorious armies,
Came a stern thought to my mind, “Is it meet that, of all the most guilty,
This man escape from the slaughter, and flee to his master in safety?
Meet he find shelter and rest in the tent of an Israelite woman?
Here hath he come without fear, for my lord is at peace with his people—
Peace, saith my heart, what is peace, ’twixt a foe and a daughter of Israel!
Were not my kindred afar this hour might be slain the oppressor—
Had not this hammer and nail sufficed in the hand of a woman?”
Hid him in safety and watched, while he sank in the sleep of the weary.
Then while I gazed on the helpless and fugitive captain of thousands,
Vanquished and overthrown by Jehovah’s victorious armies,
Came a stern thought to my mind, “Is it meet that, of all the most guilty,
This man escape from the slaughter, and flee to his master in safety?
Meet he find shelter and rest in the tent of an Israelite woman?
Here hath he come without fear, for my lord is at peace with his people—
Peace, saith my heart, what is peace, ’twixt a foe and a daughter of Israel!
Were not my kindred afar this hour might be slain the oppressor—
Had not this hammer and nail sufficed in the hand of a woman?”