Page:A New Zealand verse (1906).pdf/274
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Jael.
Sternly I bent o’er his slumber; when, restless as warned of a danger,
Dreaming of battle, he stirred, and moved as if to awaken;
And in the sudden dismay, the horror and fear of his waking—
Waking to read in my face the thought that had whitened my forehead—
Swift the dark thought had become, in a moment, the deed it foreshadowed.
Dreaming of battle, he stirred, and moved as if to awaken;
And in the sudden dismay, the horror and fear of his waking—
Waking to read in my face the thought that had whitened my forehead—
Swift the dark thought had become, in a moment, the deed it foreshadowed.
******
Was it long that I stood, alone, while the sun in its sinking
Shone like a blood-red sign, afar in the west, and the sunshine
Changed to a crimson stain alike on the earth and the heaven?
Darker the shadowy finger lay stretched away to the eastward;
Motionless, silent I stood, and watched where it pointed, and waited;
Watched till he came whom Jehovah had named to deliver his people.
Then did I stay him with words strange spoken as words of a vision,
“He whom thou seekest is here; and Israel has rest from her burden.”
Shone like a blood-red sign, afar in the west, and the sunshine
Changed to a crimson stain alike on the earth and the heaven?
Darker the shadowy finger lay stretched away to the eastward;
Motionless, silent I stood, and watched where it pointed, and waited;
Watched till he came whom Jehovah had named to deliver his people.
Then did I stay him with words strange spoken as words of a vision,
“He whom thou seekest is here; and Israel has rest from her burden.”
Listen! A voice in the meadows. The prophetess Deborah singing;
Leading the chorus of maids who exult in the triumph of Israel.
Hark, now they near us, and higher in triumph are lifting their voices—
“Blessed for ever be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite!”
Leading the chorus of maids who exult in the triumph of Israel.
Hark, now they near us, and higher in triumph are lifting their voices—
“Blessed for ever be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite!”