Page:Bells And Pomegranates Second Series (IA in.ernet.dli.2015.123086).pdf/181

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Dramatic Romances and Lyrics.
 
And buttress an arch
Nought can break . . who shall harm them, our brothers?
Then, the chorus intoned
As the Levites go up to the altar
In glory enthroned—
But I stopped here-for here, in the darkness,
Saul groaned:

And I paused, held my breath in such silence!
And listened apart―
And the tent shook, for mighty Saul shuddered,—
And sparkles 'gan dart
From the jewels that woke in his turban
—At once with a start
All the lordly male-sapphires, and rubies
Courageous at heart;
So the head, but the body still moved not,—
Still hung there erect.
And I bent once again to my playing,
Pursued it unchecked,
As I sang, "Oh, our manhood's prime vigour!
"—No spirit feels waste,
"No muscle is stopped in its playing
"No sinew unbraced,
"And the wild joys of living! The leaping
"From rock up to rock
"The rending their boughs from the palm-trees,—
"The cool silver shock
"Of a plunge in the pool's living water—
"The hunt of the bear,
"And the sultriness showing the lion

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