Page:Poems of Emma Lazarus vol 2.djvu/108

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THE DANCE TO DEATH.


He stops at Eisenach, begging of the Prince
The Jews' destruction.

SUSSEIKD (calmly),

Schnetzen is my foe,
I know it, but I know a talisman,
Which at a word transmutes his hate to love.
Liebhaid, my child, look cheerly. What is this ?
Harm dare not touch thee ; the oppressor's curse.
Melts into blessing at thy sight.

LIEBHAID.

Not fear
Plucks at my heart-strings, father, though the air
Thickens with portents; 'tis the thought of flight.
But no — I follow thee.

PRINCE WILLIAM.

Thou shalt not miss
The value of a hair from thy home treasures.
All that thou lovest, Liebhaid, goes with thee.
Knowest thou, Süsskind, Schnetzen's cause of hate?

SÜSSKIXD.

'T is rooted in an ancient error, born
During his feud with Landgrave Fritz the Bitten,
Your Highness' grandsire — ten years — twenty — back.