Page:Poems Sigourney 1827.pdf/165

Sought for his victim with suspicious air
Mid each bright circle, but he was not there.—
—Yet when the second day its revels woke
Restrain'd no more, the struggling tempest broke,
And thus the king, with stern inquiry spoke.—
"Where is the son of Jesse?—Doth he scorn
The sacred service of this hallow'd morn?
Casts he contempt upon our ancient feast?"
—The graceful prince replied,—"The absent guest
Is well excused. The weighty cause I know,
Earnest he sued,—I pray thee let me go,
Heaven's high decree thy servant's step detains,
And by my leave thus distant he remains."
Convulsive rage the monarch's brow deform'd
Wild as the whirlwind of the north he storm'd.
—"Rebellious offspring of a wretched sire,
Son of perverseness, and of folly dire!
How long wilt thou thy own confusion choose,
Pursue the evil, and the good refuse?
For while that son of Jesse loads the earth
Vain are thy honours and thy royal birth.
But thou, degenerate prince, wouldst yield thy sword
The dastard minion of a shepherd lord!
Go,—bring the usurper forth!—and let him meet
The doom he merits at his sovereign's feet."
—Then as he ceased, the glittering javelin sent,
Disclosed his madness, and his base intent.
Roused from his seat, with unaccustom'd ire,
The son partook the fury of the sire,
Friendship and grief, which late his soul had tost,
In wild surprise and sudden wrath were lost.