The Project Gutenberg eBook ofAkra the SlaveThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: Akra the SlaveCreator: Wilfrid Wilson GibsonRelease date: February 8, 2013 [eBook #42051]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Al Haines*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AKRA THE SLAVE ***[image]CoverAKRA THE SLAVEBYWILFRID WILSON GIBSONLONDONELKIN MATHEWS, VIGO STREETMCMXSix years ago, I wrote this story down,While yet the light of Eastern skiesWas in my eyes,And still my heart, aglow with memoriesOf sun-enraptured seas,And that old sea-girt town.Where, down dark alleys of enchanted night,We stole, until we cameTo where the great dome glimmered white.And every minaret,A shaft of pearly flame,Beneath the cloudy moon...Six years ago!Ah! soon--too soon,Our tale, too, will be told:And yet, and yet,From this old Eastern tale we know,Love's story never can grow old,Till Love, himself, forget.AKRA THE SLAVEHe thought to see me trembleAnd totter as an oar-snapt reed,When he spake death to me--My courage, toppled in the dust,Even as the head of cactusThe camel-keeper slashesThat his beasts may browse, unscathed,The succulent, wounded green.He thought to have me, broken,And grovelling at his feet;Mouthing and mumbling to his sandal-ties,In stammering dread of death--Aye! even as a king,Who, having from death's hand,Received his crown and kingdom,For ever treads in terror of the hourWhen death shall jog his elbow,Twitch the purple from his shoulders,And claim again the borrowed crown.But, little need have I to fearThe crouching, lean camp-follower,Unto whose ever-gaping maw,Day after day, I flungThe spoils of bow and arrow,Ere I was taken captive--I, who have often, at my mother's breast,Awakened in the night-time,To see death leering on me from the cave-mouth,A gaunt and slinking shapeThat snuffed the dying embers,Blotting out the friendly stars--I, who, a scarce-weaned boy,Have toddled, gay and fearless,Down the narrow jungle-track,Through bodeful forest-darkness, panther-eyed;And have felt cold snakes uncoilingAnd gliding 'neath my naked sole,From clammy slumber startled;While, with sharp snap and crackle,Beast-trodden branches strained behind me,My father's hand scarce snatching meBefore the spring of crouching death!But, naught of this the King could know,He only knew that, on that far-off morning,When first I came before him, captive,Among my captive brothers,And, as he lightly held, in idle fingers,Above my unbowed head,In equal poiseDeath's freedomOr the servitude of life,I clutched at life:And cared but little that his lipsShould curl, to see me, broken,A slave among his slaves.Yet, never slave of his was I;Nor did I take my new life from his nod--I ... I who could have tornThe proud life out of him,Before his guards could stay me...Had she not sat beside him, on her throne.And he, who knew not then,Nor ever, till to-day,Has known me aught but slave,Remembering that time,Spake doom of death to me,Idly, as to a slave:And I await the end of night,And dawn of death,Even as a slave awaits...Nay! as the unvanquished veteranAwaits the hour of victory.In silence, wheels the night,Star-marshalled, over dreaming Babylon;And none in all the sleeping city stirs,Save the cloaked sentries on the outer wallsWho tread out patience 'twixt the gates of brass,Numb with scarce-baffled slumber,Or, maybe, some unsleeping priest of Bel,A lonely warder of eternity,Who watches on the temple's seventh stage,With the unslumbering gods.Yet, may not she, the Queen,Whose beauty, slaying my body,Brings my soul to immortal birth,Although she does not knowOf my last vigil on the peak of life--Yet, may not she awaken, troubledBy strange, bewildering dreams,With heart a little fearful of the dawnOf day, yet unrevealed?There is no sound at all,Save only the cool plashingOf fountains in the courtyardWithout my lonely cell:For fate has granted to meThis last, least consolation of sweet soundThough in the plains I perish,I shall hear the noise of waters,The noise of running waters,As I die.My earliest lullaby shall singMy heart again to slumber.And, even now, I hearStream-voices, long-forgotten, calling meBack to the hills of home;And, dreaming, I rememberThe little yellow brooksThat ever, day and night,Gush down the mountains singing,Singing by the caves:And hearkening unto them,Once more a tiny baby,A wee brown fist I dabbleIn the foaming cool,Frothing round my wrist,Spurting up my arm,Spraying my warm face;And then again I chuckle,As I see an empty gourd,Fallen in the swirling waters,Bobbing on the tawny eddies,Swiftly out of sight.And yet most clearly to remembrance comesThat far-off night, in early Spring,When, loud with melted snow from Northern peaks,The torrent roared and fretted;While, couched within the cavern,The clamour kept me wakeful;And, even when I slept,Tumbled, tumultuous, through my dreams,And seemed to surge about me,As the brawl of armèd men.And once I sprang from slumber,Hot and startled,Dreaming that I feltA warm breath on my cheek,As if a jackal nuzzled me;Or some dread, slinking foeMade certain of my sleepingBefore he plunged the steel.But nothing stirred within the glimmering cavern,Where, all around me, lay my sleeping kindred;And, when I stole without, with noiseless footsteps,To rouse the smouldering watchfire into flame,And cast fresh, crackling brushwood on the blaze,I caught no glint of arms betwixt the branches,Nor any sound or rumour, saveThe choral noise of cold hill-waters,Cold hill-waters singing,Singing to the stars.And so I turned me from the brooding night;And, couched again upon the leopard-skins,I slept, till dawn, in dream-untroubled sleep.I woke to see the cold sky kindling red,Beyond the mounded ash of the spent fire;And lay, a moment, watchingThe pearly light, caught, trembling,In dewy-beaded spiders' websAbout the cave-mouth woven.Then I arose;And left my kindred, slumbering--My mother, by my father,And, at her breast, her youngest babe,With dimpled fingers clutching at her bosom;And, all around them, lyingTheir sons and daughters, beautiful in sleep,With parted lips,And easy limbs outstretchedAlong the tumbled bedskins:And while they slumbered yet in shades of night,I sprang out nakedInto eager dawn.The sun had not yet scaled the eastern ridge:And still the vales were hidden from my eyesBy snowy wreaths of swathing mist:But, high upon a scarThat jutted sheer and stark,In cold grey light,There stood an antelope,With lifted muzzle snuffing the fresh day;When scenting me afar,He plunged into the mistWith one quick, startled bound:And, from the smoking vapour,Arose a gentle pattering,As, down the rocky trail,The unseen herd went trottingUpon their leader's heels.And from the clear horizonThe exultant sun sprang god-like:And on a little mound I stood,With eager arms outstretched,That, over my cold body,The first warm golden beamsOf his life-giving light might fall.And thus, awhile, I stood.In radiant adoration tranced,Until I caught the call of waters;And, running downwards to the stream,That plunged into a darkling pool,Where, in the rock was scooped a wide, deep basin;Upon the glassy brink,A moment, I hung, shivering,And gazing down through deeps of lucent shadow;And then I leapt headlong,And felt the cloven watersClosing, icy-cold, above me,And, again, with sobbing breath,Battled to the light and air:And I ran into the sunshine,Shaking from my tingling limbsShowers of scintillating dropsOver radiant, dewy bedsOf the snowy cyclamen,And dark-red anemone,Till my tawny body glowedWith warm, ruddy, pulsing life.And then again I sought the stream,And plunged; and now, more boldly,I crossed the pool, with easy stroke;And climbed the further crag;And, turning, plunged again.And so, I dived and swam,Till pangs of hunger prickedMy idle fancy homeward:And eagerly I climbed the hill;When, not a sling's throw from the cavern,Stooping to pluck a red anemone,To prank the wet, black tangle of my hair,I heard a shout;And looking up,I saw strange menWith lifted spearsBear down on me:And as I turned,A javelin sangAbove my shrinking shoulder,And bit the ground before me.But, swift as light I sped,Until I reached the pool,And leapt therein:And he who pressed most hotly on my heels,Fell stumbling after.Still I never slackened,Although I heard a floundering splash,And then the laughter of his comrades:And, as I swam for life,Betwixt my thrusting heels,Another spear that clove the crystal watersGlanced underneath my body,And in the stream-bed quivered bolt upright,Caught in a cleft of rock.With frantic arm I struckStraight as a snake across the pool,And climbed the further bank;And plunging through deep brake,Ran wildly onward,Startling as I wentA browsing herd of antelope,That, bounding, fled before me down the valleyAnd after them I raced,As though the hunter,Not the hunted,Until the chase sang in my blood,And braced my straining thews.I knew not if men followed,Yet, on I sped, impetuously,As speeds the fleet-foot onaga,That breasts the windy morning,With lifted head, and nostrils wide,Exultant in his youth.So, on and ever on,Scarce knowing why I ran--Enough for me to feelEarth beaten back behind my heels,And hear the loud air singingThe blood-song in my ears:Till, stumbling headlong overAn unseen, fallen branch,I rolled in a deep bed of withered leaves;And lay, full-length in shuddering ecstasyOf hot, tumultuous blood that riotedThrough every throbbing vein.But when again, I breathed more easily,And my wild, fluttering heart kept slower beat,Hot-foot, my thoughts ran, wondering, backward:And I arose and followed themWith swift and stealthy pace,Until I reached the stream.Along the bank I stole with wary step,Until I came to where the watersNarrowed, raging through a gorge,Nigh the threshold of my home:And across the thunderous flood,From crag to crag I leapt:And then I climbed a cedar,From whose close ambush I could watchWho came or went about the cavern-mouth.I lay along a level branch:And, through the thick, dark screen,I peered with eager eyes:But no one crossed my sight.The whole land lay before me, drowsingIn deepest noonday slumber:No twig stirred in the breathless blaze;And underneath the boughs no serpent rustled:And, in the earth and air,Naught waked, save one lone eagle, nigh the sun,With wings, unbaffled, beatingUp the blue, unclouded heavens.A dreamless, suave securitySeemed brooding o'er the valley's golden slumber,Whence rang or flashed no hint of lurking peril.I dropped to earth,And crouching low,I stole yet nearerThrough the brake:Till, drawing nigh the cavern-mouth,I heard the sound of half-hushed sobbing:And then I saw, within the gloom,My mother and my sisters clustering roundMy father's body, lying stark and dead,A spear-wound in his breast.And as I crept to them, they did not hear me,Nor ever lift their heads;But, shuddering, crouched together,With drooping breasts half-hid in falling hair,By that familiar formIn such strange slumber bound.Only the baby, on her shoulder slung,Saw me, and crowed me greeting,As I stooped down to touch my weeping mother,Who, turning suddenly,With wild tear-fevered eyes;Arose with whispered warning;But, even then, too late.Already, from behind,Around my throatAn arm was flung;And heavily I fell:Yet, with a desperate wrench,I slipped the clutch of my assailant:And picking up a slingstone that lay handy,I crashed it through his helm;And dead he dropped.And now upon me all his fellows thronged,Like hounds about an antelope;And gripped my naked limbs,And dragged me down,A struggling beast, among them:And desperately I fought,As fights the boar at bay,When all the yelling pack,With lathered lips, and white teeth gnashing,Is closing in upon him;And in his quivering flank, and gasping throat,He feels the fangs of death:Till, overcome at last,They bound me hand and foot,With knotted, leathern thongs;And dragged me out to where, beneath the trees,Trussed in like manner, with defiant eyes,My brothers lay, already, side by side.They laid me in the shade;And flicked my wincing spiritWith laughter and light words:"Now is the roe-buck taken!"Then another,On whose dark, sullen face there burned a livid weal"A buck in flight's a panther brought to bay!"And then his fellow:"True enough! and yet,For such young thews they give good gold--They give good gold in Babylon!"And, laughing thus, they left us,To lie through hours of aching silence,Until, at length, the cool of evening fell;When they returned from slumber;And loosed the ankle-cords that we might stand;And bade our mother feed us;And she, with tender fingers, heldThe milk-bowl to our parching lips;And thrust dried dates betwixt our teeth;And wept, to see us standing there,With helpless hands, before her.Then, bringing out their mules, they saddled them;And tied us to the girths on either hand.They drove my weeping sisters from the cavern;And sought to tear my mother from her home;But she escaped them;And they let her bideAmid the ruins of her life,Whose light had dropped, so suddenly,From out the highest heavens:And, when I turned to look on her,And win from her a last farewell,I saw her, sitting desolate betwixtHer silent husband and her wailing babe,With still, strange eyes,That stared upon the dead, unseeing,While her own children went from her,Scarce knowing that they left her, nevermoreTo look upon her face.Thus, we set out, as overThe darkening, Southern cragsThe new moon's keen, curved blade was thrust:My sisters trooping on before us,Like a drove of young gazelles,Which, in the dead of night,With pards in leash, and torches flaring,The hunters have encompassed.They moved with timid steps,And little runs;Stumbling, with stifled cries;And starting, panic-shot,From every lurking shadow--Behind them, terror's lifted lash:Before them, ever crouching,The horror of the unknown night--While, as they moved before us,The moonlight shivered off their shrinking shouldersAnd naked, glancing limbs,In shimmering, strange beauty.And closely on their heels,I, with my brothers, foremost in the file,Marched, tethered 'twixt the plodding beasts,Whose stolid riders sat,Each with his javelin on the pummel couched,In watchful silence, with dark eyes alert.And once, nigh driven crazyBy the tugging of the thongs,I sprang into the air,As down a rocky steep we scrambled;And strove to burst the galling bonds,Or hurl my guards on one another;But, all too sure of foot, the beasts,And too securely girths and cordsHeld me, and I stumbled.Instantly a thongStruck my wincing shoulders,Blow on thudding blow.I bit my lips; and strode on silently;Nor fought again for freedom.So on we journeyed through the night,And down familiar mountain-tracks,Through deep, dark forest,Ever down and down;Fording the streams, whose moon-bright waters flowed,In eddies of delicious, aching cool,About our weary thighs.And, once, when in mid-torrent,That swirled, girth-high about the plunging beasts,A startled otter, glancingBefore their very hoofs,Affrighted them; and, rearing,With blind and desperate floundering,They nearly dragged us down to death:And, ere we righted,With a fearful cry,My eldest sister from the bevy broke;And struck down-streamWith wild arm lashing desperately,Until the current caught her;And she sank, to rise no more.And on again we travelled,Down through the darkling woodlands:And once I saw green, burning eyes,Where, on a low-hung bough,A night-black panther crouched,As though to pounce upon my sisters;But, the sudden crack of whips,Startling him, he snarled;And turned with lashing tail,Crashing through dense brushwood.When, once, again we came unto a clearing,The night was near its noon:And all the vales that lay before usWere filled with moving, moonlit mists,That seemed phantasmal watersOf that enchanted world,Where we, in dreams, sail over still lagoons,Throughout eternal night,And under unknown stars.Still, on we fared, unresting,Until the low moon paled;When, halting on a mountain-spur,We first looked down on Babylon,Far in the dreaming West,A cluster of dim towers,Scarce visible to wearied eyes.We camped within a sheltering cedar-grove;And all the day, beneath the level boughs,Upon the agelong-bedded needles lay,Half-slumbering, with fleeting, fretful dreamsThat could not quite forget the chafing cords,That held our arms in aching numbness:But, ere the noon, in sounder sleep I sank,Dreaming I floated on a still, deep pool,Beneath dark, overhanging branches;And seemed to feel upon my cheekThe cool caress of waters;While, far above me, through the night of trees,Noon glimmered faintly as the glint of stars.As thus I lay, in indolent ecstasy,O'er me, suddenly, the watersCurved, and I was dragged,Down and down,Through gurgling deepsOf swirling, drowning darkness...When I awoke in terror;And strove to sit upright;But, tautly, with a jerk,The thongs that held me to my brothers,Dragged me back to earth.Awhile I lay, with staring eyes, awake,Watching a big, grey spider, crouched overhead,In ambush 'neath a twig, beside her web,Oft sallying out, to bind yet more securely,The half-entangled flies.And then, once more, I slumbered;And dreamed a face leant over me,More fair than any faceMy waking eyes had ever looked upon.Its beauty burned above me,Not dusky like my sisters' faces,But pale as the wan moon,Reflected in a floodOf darkly flowing waters,Or as the creaming froth,That, born amid the thunder of the fall,Floats on the river's bosom in the sunshine,Bubble after bubble,Perishing in air.So, a moment, over me,With frail and fleeting glimmerOf strange elusive, evanescent light,The holy vision hovered.And yet, whenever, with a fervent longing,I sought to look into the darkling eyes,The face would fade from me,As foam caught in an eddy:Until, at last, I wakened,And, wondering, saw a pale star gleamingBetwixt the cedar-branches.And soon our captors stirred:And we arose, to seeThe walls and towers of Babylon, darkAgainst the clear rose of the afterglow,Already in the surge of shadows caught,As night, beneath us, slowly Westward swept,Flooding the dreaming plain that lay before us,Vast, limitless, bewildering,And strange to mountain-eyes.As down the slope we went,And when, at last, we left behindThe hills and singing waters,A vague, oppressive fearOf those dim, silent leagues of level land,Fell on me; and I almost seemedTo bear upon my shouldersThe vaster dome of overwhelming night;And, trembling like a child,I looked askance at my two captors,As they rode on in heedless silence,Their swarthy faces sharpAgainst the lucent sky.And then, once more,The old, familiar watchfires of the starsBrought courage to my bosom;And the young moon's brilliant hornWas exalted in the sky:And soon, the glooming wildernessAwoke with glittering waters,As a friendly wind sang unto meAmong the swaying reeds:While, cloud on cloud,The snowy flocks of pelicanBefore our coming rose;And, as they swerved to Southward,The moonlight shivered off their flashing pinions.So, on we marched, till dawn, across the plain;And, on and on,Beneath the waxing moon,Each night we travelled Westward;Until, at last, we haltedBy the broad dull-gleaming floodOf mighty, roaring Tigris;And aroused from midnight slumberThe surly, grumbling ferrymen,And crossed the swollen watersUpon the great, skin rafts:Then on again we fared,Until the far, dim towers soared in the dawnlightAnd we encamped beside a stream,Beneath dry, rustling palms.And heavily I slumbered:And only wakened once, at noon,When, lifting up my head,I saw the towers of Babylon, burning blue,Far off, in the blind heat:And slept again, till sunset,When we took our Westward courseAlong the low bank of a broad canal,That glimmered wanly 'neath a moonless sky.Higher, and higher still,As we drew slowly nearer,Arose the vasty walls and serried towers,That seemed to thrust among the stars,And on embattled summits bear the night,Unbowed beneath their burden,As easily as, with unruffled brows,And limber, upright bodies,The village-daughters carryAt eve the brimming pitchers,Poised upon their heads.And when, above us, the wide-looming wallsShut out the Western stars;Beneath their shade, at midnight, we encamped,To await till dawn should openThe city gates for us.That night we did not sleep,But, crouched upon the ground,We watched the moon rise over Babylon,Till, far behind us, o'er the glittering waste,Was flung the wall's huge shadow,And the moving shades of sentries,Who, unseen above our heads,Paced through the night incessantly.Thus long we sat, hushed with awed expectation,And gazing o'er the plain that we had travelled,As, gradually, the climbing moon,Escaping from the clustering towers,Revealed far-gleaming waters,And the sharp, shrill cry of owls,Sweeping by on noiseless plumes,Assailed the vasty silence,Shivering off like dartsFrom some impenetrable shield.And, as we waited,Sometimes, fearfully,I gazed up those stupendous, soaring wallsOf that great, slumbering city, wonderingWhat doom behind the bastioned ramparts slept,What destiny, beneath the brooding night,Awaited me beyond the brazen gates.But, naught the blind, indifferent stars revealed,Though towards the long night's ending,Half-dazed with gazing up that aching height,A drowsiness fell over me,And in a restless waking-trance I lay,Dreaming that Life and Death before me stood.And, as each thrust towards me a shrouded cup,Implacable silence bade me choose and drink.But, as I stretched a blind, uncertain handTo take the cup of death,I wakened, and dawn trembled,At last, beyond the Eastern hills,And, star by star, night failed;And eagerly the sun leapt up the sky,And, as his flashing raysSmote kindling towers and flaming gates of brass,Across the reedy moatA clattering drawbridge fell,And wide the glittering portals slowly swung:And there came streaming out in slow processionA sleepy caravan of slouching camels,Groaning and grumbling as they strode alongBeneath their mountainous burdens,Upon whose swaying summits,Impassively, the blue-robed merchants sat.They passed us slowly by,And then we took the bridge,And, while our captors parleyed with the guards,Who stood, on either hand,With naked swords,I turned my head,And saw for the last time, far Eastward,The cold, snow-brilliant peaks,Beyond my dim, blue, native hills.And, as I looked, my thoughts flew homeward,And I, one dreaming moment,Stood by my mourning mother in the cavernOf desolation, looking on the dead.And then, between the brazen gate-posts,And underneath the brazen lintel,At last we entered Babylon.Before us, yet another wall arose,And, turning sharplyDown a narrow way,The living breath of heaven seemed shut from usAs though beneath the beetling cragsOf some deep mountain-gorge--By cliffs of wall, on either hand,That soared up to the narrow sky,Which with dim lustre litThe shimmering surface of enamelled brick,Whereon, through giant groves,Blue-coated hunters chased the boar,Or 'loosed red-tasselled falconAfter flying crane.But soon we reached another gate,Sword-guarded, and we entered,And plunged into the trafficOf clamorous merchantmen,Speeding their business ere the heat of day.And as we jostled, slowly,Through bewildering bazaars,The porters and the idler wayfarersAll turned to look upon our shame,With cold, unpitying eyes,And indolent, gaping mouths,Or jested with our captors,Until we left the busier thoroughfares,And walked through groves of cypress and of ilex,Where not a sound or rumour troubledThe silence of the dark-plumed boughsAnd glimmering deeps of peace,Save only the cool spurt of watersThat, from a myriad unseen jets,Fretted the crystal airs of morning,And fell in frolic showersOf twinkling, rainbow drops,That plashed in unseen basins;And through the blaze of almond-orchards,Tremulous with blossomThat flickered in a rosy, silken snowOf falling petals over us,And wreathed about our feetIn soft and scented drifts;Beneath pomegranate trees in young, green leaf,And through vast gardens, glowing with strange flowers,Such as no April kindled into bloomAmong the valleys of my native hills.We came unto a court of many fountains,Where, leaping off their jaded mules,Our captors loosed the thongs that held us,But left our wrists still bound.And one with great clay pitchers came,And over our hot bodies, travel-stained,Poured out cool, cleansing watersIn a gurgling, crystal stream,And flung coarse robes of indigoAbout our naked shoulders.And here we left behind usThe maidens and the younger boys,And passing through a gateway,Came out upon a busy wharf,Where, southward, midway through the city,The broad Euphrates flows,His dark flood thronged with merchant-dhows,And fishing-boats of reed and bitumen,Piled high with glistering barbel, freshly-caught;And foreign craft, with many-coloured sails,And laden deep with precious merchandise,That, over wide, bewildering waters,Across the perilous world,The adventurous, dark-bearded mariners,Who swear by unknown gods in alien tongues,Bring ever to the gates of Babylon.We crossed the drawbridge, round whose granite piersSwirled strong, Spring-swollen waters,Loud and tawny,And, through great brazen portals,Passed within the palace gates,When first I saw afar the hanging-gardens,Arch on arch,And tier on tier,Against a glowing sky.Two strapping Nubians, like young giantsHewn from blue-black marbleBy some immortal hand in immemorial ages,Led us slowly onward.The dappled pard-skins, slung across their shoulders,Scarcely hid the ox-like thews,Beneath the dark skin rippling,As they strode along before us.Through courts of alabaster,And painted corridors,
The Project Gutenberg eBook ofAkra the SlaveThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: Akra the SlaveCreator: Wilfrid Wilson GibsonRelease date: February 8, 2013 [eBook #42051]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Al Haines*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AKRA THE SLAVE ***
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
Title: Akra the SlaveCreator: Wilfrid Wilson GibsonRelease date: February 8, 2013 [eBook #42051]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Al Haines
Title: Akra the Slave
Creator: Wilfrid Wilson Gibson
Creator: Wilfrid Wilson Gibson
Release date: February 8, 2013 [eBook #42051]
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Al Haines
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AKRA THE SLAVE ***
[image]Cover
[image]Cover
[image]
[image]
Cover
AKRA THE SLAVEBYWILFRID WILSON GIBSONLONDONELKIN MATHEWS, VIGO STREETMCMX
AKRA THE SLAVE
BYWILFRID WILSON GIBSON
LONDONELKIN MATHEWS, VIGO STREETMCMX
Six years ago, I wrote this story down,While yet the light of Eastern skiesWas in my eyes,And still my heart, aglow with memoriesOf sun-enraptured seas,And that old sea-girt town.Where, down dark alleys of enchanted night,We stole, until we cameTo where the great dome glimmered white.And every minaret,A shaft of pearly flame,Beneath the cloudy moon...Six years ago!Ah! soon--too soon,Our tale, too, will be told:And yet, and yet,From this old Eastern tale we know,Love's story never can grow old,Till Love, himself, forget.
Six years ago, I wrote this story down,
While yet the light of Eastern skies
Was in my eyes,
And still my heart, aglow with memories
Of sun-enraptured seas,
And that old sea-girt town.
Where, down dark alleys of enchanted night,
We stole, until we came
To where the great dome glimmered white.
And every minaret,
A shaft of pearly flame,
Beneath the cloudy moon...
Six years ago!
Ah! soon--too soon,
Our tale, too, will be told:
And yet, and yet,
From this old Eastern tale we know,
Love's story never can grow old,
Till Love, himself, forget.
AKRA THE SLAVE
He thought to see me trembleAnd totter as an oar-snapt reed,When he spake death to me--My courage, toppled in the dust,Even as the head of cactusThe camel-keeper slashesThat his beasts may browse, unscathed,The succulent, wounded green.He thought to have me, broken,And grovelling at his feet;Mouthing and mumbling to his sandal-ties,In stammering dread of death--Aye! even as a king,Who, having from death's hand,Received his crown and kingdom,For ever treads in terror of the hourWhen death shall jog his elbow,Twitch the purple from his shoulders,And claim again the borrowed crown.But, little need have I to fearThe crouching, lean camp-follower,Unto whose ever-gaping maw,Day after day, I flungThe spoils of bow and arrow,Ere I was taken captive--I, who have often, at my mother's breast,Awakened in the night-time,To see death leering on me from the cave-mouth,A gaunt and slinking shapeThat snuffed the dying embers,Blotting out the friendly stars--I, who, a scarce-weaned boy,Have toddled, gay and fearless,Down the narrow jungle-track,Through bodeful forest-darkness, panther-eyed;And have felt cold snakes uncoilingAnd gliding 'neath my naked sole,From clammy slumber startled;While, with sharp snap and crackle,Beast-trodden branches strained behind me,My father's hand scarce snatching meBefore the spring of crouching death!But, naught of this the King could know,He only knew that, on that far-off morning,When first I came before him, captive,Among my captive brothers,And, as he lightly held, in idle fingers,Above my unbowed head,In equal poiseDeath's freedomOr the servitude of life,I clutched at life:And cared but little that his lipsShould curl, to see me, broken,A slave among his slaves.Yet, never slave of his was I;Nor did I take my new life from his nod--I ... I who could have tornThe proud life out of him,Before his guards could stay me...Had she not sat beside him, on her throne.
He thought to see me tremble
And totter as an oar-snapt reed,
When he spake death to me--
My courage, toppled in the dust,
Even as the head of cactus
The camel-keeper slashes
That his beasts may browse, unscathed,
The succulent, wounded green.
He thought to have me, broken,
And grovelling at his feet;
Mouthing and mumbling to his sandal-ties,
In stammering dread of death--
Aye! even as a king,
Who, having from death's hand,
Received his crown and kingdom,
For ever treads in terror of the hour
When death shall jog his elbow,
Twitch the purple from his shoulders,
And claim again the borrowed crown.
But, little need have I to fear
The crouching, lean camp-follower,
Unto whose ever-gaping maw,
Day after day, I flung
The spoils of bow and arrow,
Ere I was taken captive--
I, who have often, at my mother's breast,
Awakened in the night-time,
To see death leering on me from the cave-mouth,
A gaunt and slinking shape
That snuffed the dying embers,
Blotting out the friendly stars--
I, who, a scarce-weaned boy,
Have toddled, gay and fearless,
Down the narrow jungle-track,
Through bodeful forest-darkness, panther-eyed;
And have felt cold snakes uncoiling
And gliding 'neath my naked sole,
From clammy slumber startled;
While, with sharp snap and crackle,
Beast-trodden branches strained behind me,
My father's hand scarce snatching me
Before the spring of crouching death!
But, naught of this the King could know,
He only knew that, on that far-off morning,
When first I came before him, captive,
Among my captive brothers,
And, as he lightly held, in idle fingers,
Above my unbowed head,
In equal poise
Death's freedom
Or the servitude of life,
I clutched at life:
And cared but little that his lips
Should curl, to see me, broken,
A slave among his slaves.
Yet, never slave of his was I;
Nor did I take my new life from his nod--
I ... I who could have torn
The proud life out of him,
Before his guards could stay me...
Had she not sat beside him, on her throne.
And he, who knew not then,Nor ever, till to-day,Has known me aught but slave,Remembering that time,Spake doom of death to me,Idly, as to a slave:And I await the end of night,And dawn of death,Even as a slave awaits...Nay! as the unvanquished veteranAwaits the hour of victory.
And he, who knew not then,
Nor ever, till to-day,
Has known me aught but slave,
Remembering that time,
Spake doom of death to me,
Idly, as to a slave:
And I await the end of night,
And dawn of death,
Even as a slave awaits...
Nay! as the unvanquished veteran
Awaits the hour of victory.
In silence, wheels the night,Star-marshalled, over dreaming Babylon;And none in all the sleeping city stirs,Save the cloaked sentries on the outer wallsWho tread out patience 'twixt the gates of brass,Numb with scarce-baffled slumber,Or, maybe, some unsleeping priest of Bel,A lonely warder of eternity,Who watches on the temple's seventh stage,With the unslumbering gods.Yet, may not she, the Queen,Whose beauty, slaying my body,Brings my soul to immortal birth,Although she does not knowOf my last vigil on the peak of life--Yet, may not she awaken, troubledBy strange, bewildering dreams,With heart a little fearful of the dawnOf day, yet unrevealed?
In silence, wheels the night,
Star-marshalled, over dreaming Babylon;
And none in all the sleeping city stirs,
Save the cloaked sentries on the outer walls
Who tread out patience 'twixt the gates of brass,
Numb with scarce-baffled slumber,
Or, maybe, some unsleeping priest of Bel,
A lonely warder of eternity,
Who watches on the temple's seventh stage,
With the unslumbering gods.
Yet, may not she, the Queen,
Whose beauty, slaying my body,
Brings my soul to immortal birth,
Although she does not know
Of my last vigil on the peak of life--
Yet, may not she awaken, troubled
By strange, bewildering dreams,
With heart a little fearful of the dawn
Of day, yet unrevealed?
There is no sound at all,Save only the cool plashingOf fountains in the courtyardWithout my lonely cell:For fate has granted to meThis last, least consolation of sweet soundThough in the plains I perish,I shall hear the noise of waters,The noise of running waters,As I die.My earliest lullaby shall singMy heart again to slumber.And, even now, I hearStream-voices, long-forgotten, calling meBack to the hills of home;And, dreaming, I rememberThe little yellow brooksThat ever, day and night,Gush down the mountains singing,Singing by the caves:And hearkening unto them,Once more a tiny baby,A wee brown fist I dabbleIn the foaming cool,Frothing round my wrist,Spurting up my arm,Spraying my warm face;And then again I chuckle,As I see an empty gourd,Fallen in the swirling waters,Bobbing on the tawny eddies,Swiftly out of sight.
There is no sound at all,
Save only the cool plashing
Of fountains in the courtyard
Without my lonely cell:
For fate has granted to me
This last, least consolation of sweet sound
Though in the plains I perish,
I shall hear the noise of waters,
The noise of running waters,
As I die.
My earliest lullaby shall sing
My heart again to slumber.
And, even now, I hear
Stream-voices, long-forgotten, calling me
Back to the hills of home;
And, dreaming, I remember
The little yellow brooks
That ever, day and night,
Gush down the mountains singing,
Singing by the caves:
And hearkening unto them,
Once more a tiny baby,
A wee brown fist I dabble
In the foaming cool,
Frothing round my wrist,
Spurting up my arm,
Spraying my warm face;
And then again I chuckle,
As I see an empty gourd,
Fallen in the swirling waters,
Bobbing on the tawny eddies,
Swiftly out of sight.
And yet most clearly to remembrance comesThat far-off night, in early Spring,When, loud with melted snow from Northern peaks,The torrent roared and fretted;While, couched within the cavern,The clamour kept me wakeful;And, even when I slept,Tumbled, tumultuous, through my dreams,And seemed to surge about me,As the brawl of armèd men.And once I sprang from slumber,Hot and startled,Dreaming that I feltA warm breath on my cheek,As if a jackal nuzzled me;Or some dread, slinking foeMade certain of my sleepingBefore he plunged the steel.But nothing stirred within the glimmering cavern,Where, all around me, lay my sleeping kindred;And, when I stole without, with noiseless footsteps,To rouse the smouldering watchfire into flame,And cast fresh, crackling brushwood on the blaze,I caught no glint of arms betwixt the branches,Nor any sound or rumour, saveThe choral noise of cold hill-waters,Cold hill-waters singing,Singing to the stars.And so I turned me from the brooding night;And, couched again upon the leopard-skins,I slept, till dawn, in dream-untroubled sleep.
And yet most clearly to remembrance comes
That far-off night, in early Spring,
When, loud with melted snow from Northern peaks,
The torrent roared and fretted;
While, couched within the cavern,
The clamour kept me wakeful;
And, even when I slept,
Tumbled, tumultuous, through my dreams,
And seemed to surge about me,
As the brawl of armèd men.
And once I sprang from slumber,
Hot and startled,
Dreaming that I felt
A warm breath on my cheek,
As if a jackal nuzzled me;
Or some dread, slinking foe
Made certain of my sleeping
Before he plunged the steel.
But nothing stirred within the glimmering cavern,
Where, all around me, lay my sleeping kindred;
And, when I stole without, with noiseless footsteps,
To rouse the smouldering watchfire into flame,
And cast fresh, crackling brushwood on the blaze,
I caught no glint of arms betwixt the branches,
Nor any sound or rumour, save
The choral noise of cold hill-waters,
Cold hill-waters singing,
Singing to the stars.
And so I turned me from the brooding night;
And, couched again upon the leopard-skins,
I slept, till dawn, in dream-untroubled sleep.
I woke to see the cold sky kindling red,Beyond the mounded ash of the spent fire;And lay, a moment, watchingThe pearly light, caught, trembling,In dewy-beaded spiders' websAbout the cave-mouth woven.Then I arose;And left my kindred, slumbering--My mother, by my father,And, at her breast, her youngest babe,With dimpled fingers clutching at her bosom;And, all around them, lyingTheir sons and daughters, beautiful in sleep,With parted lips,And easy limbs outstretchedAlong the tumbled bedskins:And while they slumbered yet in shades of night,I sprang out nakedInto eager dawn.The sun had not yet scaled the eastern ridge:And still the vales were hidden from my eyesBy snowy wreaths of swathing mist:But, high upon a scarThat jutted sheer and stark,In cold grey light,There stood an antelope,With lifted muzzle snuffing the fresh day;When scenting me afar,He plunged into the mistWith one quick, startled bound:And, from the smoking vapour,Arose a gentle pattering,As, down the rocky trail,The unseen herd went trottingUpon their leader's heels.And from the clear horizonThe exultant sun sprang god-like:And on a little mound I stood,With eager arms outstretched,That, over my cold body,The first warm golden beamsOf his life-giving light might fall.And thus, awhile, I stood.In radiant adoration tranced,Until I caught the call of waters;And, running downwards to the stream,That plunged into a darkling pool,Where, in the rock was scooped a wide, deep basin;Upon the glassy brink,A moment, I hung, shivering,And gazing down through deeps of lucent shadow;And then I leapt headlong,And felt the cloven watersClosing, icy-cold, above me,And, again, with sobbing breath,Battled to the light and air:And I ran into the sunshine,Shaking from my tingling limbsShowers of scintillating dropsOver radiant, dewy bedsOf the snowy cyclamen,And dark-red anemone,Till my tawny body glowedWith warm, ruddy, pulsing life.And then again I sought the stream,And plunged; and now, more boldly,I crossed the pool, with easy stroke;And climbed the further crag;And, turning, plunged again.And so, I dived and swam,Till pangs of hunger prickedMy idle fancy homeward:And eagerly I climbed the hill;When, not a sling's throw from the cavern,Stooping to pluck a red anemone,To prank the wet, black tangle of my hair,I heard a shout;And looking up,I saw strange menWith lifted spearsBear down on me:And as I turned,A javelin sangAbove my shrinking shoulder,And bit the ground before me.But, swift as light I sped,Until I reached the pool,And leapt therein:And he who pressed most hotly on my heels,Fell stumbling after.Still I never slackened,Although I heard a floundering splash,And then the laughter of his comrades:And, as I swam for life,Betwixt my thrusting heels,Another spear that clove the crystal watersGlanced underneath my body,And in the stream-bed quivered bolt upright,Caught in a cleft of rock.With frantic arm I struckStraight as a snake across the pool,And climbed the further bank;And plunging through deep brake,Ran wildly onward,Startling as I wentA browsing herd of antelope,That, bounding, fled before me down the valleyAnd after them I raced,As though the hunter,Not the hunted,Until the chase sang in my blood,And braced my straining thews.I knew not if men followed,Yet, on I sped, impetuously,As speeds the fleet-foot onaga,That breasts the windy morning,With lifted head, and nostrils wide,Exultant in his youth.So, on and ever on,Scarce knowing why I ran--Enough for me to feelEarth beaten back behind my heels,And hear the loud air singingThe blood-song in my ears:Till, stumbling headlong overAn unseen, fallen branch,I rolled in a deep bed of withered leaves;And lay, full-length in shuddering ecstasyOf hot, tumultuous blood that riotedThrough every throbbing vein.But when again, I breathed more easily,And my wild, fluttering heart kept slower beat,Hot-foot, my thoughts ran, wondering, backward:And I arose and followed themWith swift and stealthy pace,Until I reached the stream.Along the bank I stole with wary step,Until I came to where the watersNarrowed, raging through a gorge,Nigh the threshold of my home:And across the thunderous flood,From crag to crag I leapt:And then I climbed a cedar,From whose close ambush I could watchWho came or went about the cavern-mouth.I lay along a level branch:And, through the thick, dark screen,I peered with eager eyes:But no one crossed my sight.The whole land lay before me, drowsingIn deepest noonday slumber:No twig stirred in the breathless blaze;And underneath the boughs no serpent rustled:And, in the earth and air,Naught waked, save one lone eagle, nigh the sun,With wings, unbaffled, beatingUp the blue, unclouded heavens.A dreamless, suave securitySeemed brooding o'er the valley's golden slumber,Whence rang or flashed no hint of lurking peril.I dropped to earth,And crouching low,I stole yet nearerThrough the brake:Till, drawing nigh the cavern-mouth,I heard the sound of half-hushed sobbing:And then I saw, within the gloom,My mother and my sisters clustering roundMy father's body, lying stark and dead,A spear-wound in his breast.And as I crept to them, they did not hear me,Nor ever lift their heads;But, shuddering, crouched together,With drooping breasts half-hid in falling hair,By that familiar formIn such strange slumber bound.Only the baby, on her shoulder slung,Saw me, and crowed me greeting,As I stooped down to touch my weeping mother,Who, turning suddenly,With wild tear-fevered eyes;Arose with whispered warning;But, even then, too late.Already, from behind,Around my throatAn arm was flung;And heavily I fell:Yet, with a desperate wrench,I slipped the clutch of my assailant:And picking up a slingstone that lay handy,I crashed it through his helm;And dead he dropped.And now upon me all his fellows thronged,Like hounds about an antelope;And gripped my naked limbs,And dragged me down,A struggling beast, among them:And desperately I fought,As fights the boar at bay,When all the yelling pack,With lathered lips, and white teeth gnashing,Is closing in upon him;And in his quivering flank, and gasping throat,He feels the fangs of death:Till, overcome at last,They bound me hand and foot,With knotted, leathern thongs;And dragged me out to where, beneath the trees,Trussed in like manner, with defiant eyes,My brothers lay, already, side by side.They laid me in the shade;And flicked my wincing spiritWith laughter and light words:"Now is the roe-buck taken!"Then another,On whose dark, sullen face there burned a livid weal"A buck in flight's a panther brought to bay!"And then his fellow:"True enough! and yet,For such young thews they give good gold--They give good gold in Babylon!"And, laughing thus, they left us,To lie through hours of aching silence,Until, at length, the cool of evening fell;When they returned from slumber;And loosed the ankle-cords that we might stand;And bade our mother feed us;And she, with tender fingers, heldThe milk-bowl to our parching lips;And thrust dried dates betwixt our teeth;And wept, to see us standing there,With helpless hands, before her.Then, bringing out their mules, they saddled them;And tied us to the girths on either hand.They drove my weeping sisters from the cavern;And sought to tear my mother from her home;But she escaped them;And they let her bideAmid the ruins of her life,Whose light had dropped, so suddenly,From out the highest heavens:And, when I turned to look on her,And win from her a last farewell,I saw her, sitting desolate betwixtHer silent husband and her wailing babe,With still, strange eyes,That stared upon the dead, unseeing,While her own children went from her,Scarce knowing that they left her, nevermoreTo look upon her face.
I woke to see the cold sky kindling red,
Beyond the mounded ash of the spent fire;
And lay, a moment, watching
The pearly light, caught, trembling,
In dewy-beaded spiders' webs
About the cave-mouth woven.
Then I arose;
And left my kindred, slumbering--
My mother, by my father,
And, at her breast, her youngest babe,
With dimpled fingers clutching at her bosom;
And, all around them, lying
Their sons and daughters, beautiful in sleep,
With parted lips,
And easy limbs outstretched
Along the tumbled bedskins:
And while they slumbered yet in shades of night,
I sprang out naked
Into eager dawn.
The sun had not yet scaled the eastern ridge:
And still the vales were hidden from my eyes
By snowy wreaths of swathing mist:
But, high upon a scar
That jutted sheer and stark,
In cold grey light,
There stood an antelope,
With lifted muzzle snuffing the fresh day;
When scenting me afar,
He plunged into the mist
With one quick, startled bound:
And, from the smoking vapour,
Arose a gentle pattering,
As, down the rocky trail,
The unseen herd went trotting
Upon their leader's heels.
And from the clear horizon
The exultant sun sprang god-like:
And on a little mound I stood,
With eager arms outstretched,
That, over my cold body,
The first warm golden beams
Of his life-giving light might fall.
And thus, awhile, I stood.
In radiant adoration tranced,
Until I caught the call of waters;
And, running downwards to the stream,
That plunged into a darkling pool,
Where, in the rock was scooped a wide, deep basin;
Upon the glassy brink,
A moment, I hung, shivering,
And gazing down through deeps of lucent shadow;
And then I leapt headlong,
And felt the cloven waters
Closing, icy-cold, above me,
And, again, with sobbing breath,
Battled to the light and air:
And I ran into the sunshine,
Shaking from my tingling limbs
Showers of scintillating drops
Over radiant, dewy beds
Of the snowy cyclamen,
And dark-red anemone,
Till my tawny body glowed
With warm, ruddy, pulsing life.
And then again I sought the stream,
And plunged; and now, more boldly,
I crossed the pool, with easy stroke;
And climbed the further crag;
And, turning, plunged again.
And so, I dived and swam,
Till pangs of hunger pricked
My idle fancy homeward:
And eagerly I climbed the hill;
When, not a sling's throw from the cavern,
Stooping to pluck a red anemone,
To prank the wet, black tangle of my hair,
I heard a shout;
And looking up,
I saw strange men
With lifted spears
Bear down on me:
And as I turned,
A javelin sang
Above my shrinking shoulder,
And bit the ground before me.
But, swift as light I sped,
Until I reached the pool,
And leapt therein:
And he who pressed most hotly on my heels,
Fell stumbling after.
Still I never slackened,
Although I heard a floundering splash,
And then the laughter of his comrades:
And, as I swam for life,
Betwixt my thrusting heels,
Another spear that clove the crystal waters
Glanced underneath my body,
And in the stream-bed quivered bolt upright,
Caught in a cleft of rock.
With frantic arm I struck
Straight as a snake across the pool,
And climbed the further bank;
And plunging through deep brake,
Ran wildly onward,
Startling as I went
A browsing herd of antelope,
That, bounding, fled before me down the valley
And after them I raced,
As though the hunter,
Not the hunted,
Until the chase sang in my blood,
And braced my straining thews.
I knew not if men followed,
Yet, on I sped, impetuously,
As speeds the fleet-foot onaga,
That breasts the windy morning,
With lifted head, and nostrils wide,
Exultant in his youth.
So, on and ever on,
Scarce knowing why I ran--
Enough for me to feel
Earth beaten back behind my heels,
And hear the loud air singing
The blood-song in my ears:
Till, stumbling headlong over
An unseen, fallen branch,
I rolled in a deep bed of withered leaves;
And lay, full-length in shuddering ecstasy
Of hot, tumultuous blood that rioted
Through every throbbing vein.
But when again, I breathed more easily,
And my wild, fluttering heart kept slower beat,
Hot-foot, my thoughts ran, wondering, backward:
And I arose and followed them
With swift and stealthy pace,
Until I reached the stream.
Along the bank I stole with wary step,
Until I came to where the waters
Narrowed, raging through a gorge,
Nigh the threshold of my home:
And across the thunderous flood,
From crag to crag I leapt:
And then I climbed a cedar,
From whose close ambush I could watch
Who came or went about the cavern-mouth.
I lay along a level branch:
And, through the thick, dark screen,
I peered with eager eyes:
But no one crossed my sight.
The whole land lay before me, drowsing
In deepest noonday slumber:
No twig stirred in the breathless blaze;
And underneath the boughs no serpent rustled:
And, in the earth and air,
Naught waked, save one lone eagle, nigh the sun,
With wings, unbaffled, beating
Up the blue, unclouded heavens.
A dreamless, suave security
Seemed brooding o'er the valley's golden slumber,
Whence rang or flashed no hint of lurking peril.
I dropped to earth,
And crouching low,
I stole yet nearer
Through the brake:
Till, drawing nigh the cavern-mouth,
I heard the sound of half-hushed sobbing:
And then I saw, within the gloom,
My mother and my sisters clustering round
My father's body, lying stark and dead,
A spear-wound in his breast.
And as I crept to them, they did not hear me,
Nor ever lift their heads;
But, shuddering, crouched together,
With drooping breasts half-hid in falling hair,
By that familiar form
In such strange slumber bound.
Only the baby, on her shoulder slung,
Saw me, and crowed me greeting,
As I stooped down to touch my weeping mother,
Who, turning suddenly,
With wild tear-fevered eyes;
Arose with whispered warning;
But, even then, too late.
Already, from behind,
Around my throat
An arm was flung;
And heavily I fell:
Yet, with a desperate wrench,
I slipped the clutch of my assailant:
And picking up a slingstone that lay handy,
I crashed it through his helm;
And dead he dropped.
And now upon me all his fellows thronged,
Like hounds about an antelope;
And gripped my naked limbs,
And dragged me down,
A struggling beast, among them:
And desperately I fought,
As fights the boar at bay,
When all the yelling pack,
With lathered lips, and white teeth gnashing,
Is closing in upon him;
And in his quivering flank, and gasping throat,
He feels the fangs of death:
Till, overcome at last,
They bound me hand and foot,
With knotted, leathern thongs;
And dragged me out to where, beneath the trees,
Trussed in like manner, with defiant eyes,
My brothers lay, already, side by side.
They laid me in the shade;
And flicked my wincing spirit
With laughter and light words:
"Now is the roe-buck taken!"
Then another,
On whose dark, sullen face there burned a livid weal
"A buck in flight's a panther brought to bay!"
And then his fellow:
"True enough! and yet,
For such young thews they give good gold--
They give good gold in Babylon!"
And, laughing thus, they left us,
To lie through hours of aching silence,
Until, at length, the cool of evening fell;
When they returned from slumber;
And loosed the ankle-cords that we might stand;
And bade our mother feed us;
And she, with tender fingers, held
The milk-bowl to our parching lips;
And thrust dried dates betwixt our teeth;
And wept, to see us standing there,
With helpless hands, before her.
Then, bringing out their mules, they saddled them;
And tied us to the girths on either hand.
They drove my weeping sisters from the cavern;
And sought to tear my mother from her home;
But she escaped them;
And they let her bide
Amid the ruins of her life,
Whose light had dropped, so suddenly,
From out the highest heavens:
And, when I turned to look on her,
And win from her a last farewell,
I saw her, sitting desolate betwixt
Her silent husband and her wailing babe,
With still, strange eyes,
That stared upon the dead, unseeing,
While her own children went from her,
Scarce knowing that they left her, nevermore
To look upon her face.
Thus, we set out, as overThe darkening, Southern cragsThe new moon's keen, curved blade was thrust:My sisters trooping on before us,Like a drove of young gazelles,Which, in the dead of night,With pards in leash, and torches flaring,The hunters have encompassed.They moved with timid steps,And little runs;Stumbling, with stifled cries;And starting, panic-shot,From every lurking shadow--Behind them, terror's lifted lash:Before them, ever crouching,The horror of the unknown night--While, as they moved before us,The moonlight shivered off their shrinking shouldersAnd naked, glancing limbs,In shimmering, strange beauty.And closely on their heels,I, with my brothers, foremost in the file,Marched, tethered 'twixt the plodding beasts,Whose stolid riders sat,Each with his javelin on the pummel couched,In watchful silence, with dark eyes alert.And once, nigh driven crazyBy the tugging of the thongs,I sprang into the air,As down a rocky steep we scrambled;And strove to burst the galling bonds,Or hurl my guards on one another;But, all too sure of foot, the beasts,And too securely girths and cordsHeld me, and I stumbled.Instantly a thongStruck my wincing shoulders,Blow on thudding blow.I bit my lips; and strode on silently;Nor fought again for freedom.So on we journeyed through the night,And down familiar mountain-tracks,Through deep, dark forest,Ever down and down;Fording the streams, whose moon-bright waters flowed,In eddies of delicious, aching cool,About our weary thighs.And, once, when in mid-torrent,That swirled, girth-high about the plunging beasts,A startled otter, glancingBefore their very hoofs,Affrighted them; and, rearing,With blind and desperate floundering,They nearly dragged us down to death:And, ere we righted,With a fearful cry,My eldest sister from the bevy broke;And struck down-streamWith wild arm lashing desperately,Until the current caught her;And she sank, to rise no more.And on again we travelled,Down through the darkling woodlands:And once I saw green, burning eyes,Where, on a low-hung bough,A night-black panther crouched,As though to pounce upon my sisters;But, the sudden crack of whips,Startling him, he snarled;And turned with lashing tail,Crashing through dense brushwood.
Thus, we set out, as over
The darkening, Southern crags
The new moon's keen, curved blade was thrust:
My sisters trooping on before us,
Like a drove of young gazelles,
Which, in the dead of night,
With pards in leash, and torches flaring,
The hunters have encompassed.
They moved with timid steps,
And little runs;
Stumbling, with stifled cries;
And starting, panic-shot,
From every lurking shadow--
Behind them, terror's lifted lash:
Before them, ever crouching,
The horror of the unknown night--
While, as they moved before us,
The moonlight shivered off their shrinking shoulders
And naked, glancing limbs,
In shimmering, strange beauty.
And closely on their heels,
I, with my brothers, foremost in the file,
Marched, tethered 'twixt the plodding beasts,
Whose stolid riders sat,
Each with his javelin on the pummel couched,
In watchful silence, with dark eyes alert.
And once, nigh driven crazy
By the tugging of the thongs,
I sprang into the air,
As down a rocky steep we scrambled;
And strove to burst the galling bonds,
Or hurl my guards on one another;
But, all too sure of foot, the beasts,
And too securely girths and cords
Held me, and I stumbled.
Instantly a thong
Struck my wincing shoulders,
Blow on thudding blow.
I bit my lips; and strode on silently;
Nor fought again for freedom.
So on we journeyed through the night,
And down familiar mountain-tracks,
Through deep, dark forest,
Ever down and down;
Fording the streams, whose moon-bright waters flowed,
In eddies of delicious, aching cool,
About our weary thighs.
And, once, when in mid-torrent,
That swirled, girth-high about the plunging beasts,
A startled otter, glancing
Before their very hoofs,
Affrighted them; and, rearing,
With blind and desperate floundering,
They nearly dragged us down to death:
And, ere we righted,
With a fearful cry,
My eldest sister from the bevy broke;
And struck down-stream
With wild arm lashing desperately,
Until the current caught her;
And she sank, to rise no more.
And on again we travelled,
Down through the darkling woodlands:
And once I saw green, burning eyes,
Where, on a low-hung bough,
A night-black panther crouched,
As though to pounce upon my sisters;
But, the sudden crack of whips,
Startling him, he snarled;
And turned with lashing tail,
Crashing through dense brushwood.
When, once, again we came unto a clearing,The night was near its noon:And all the vales that lay before usWere filled with moving, moonlit mists,That seemed phantasmal watersOf that enchanted world,Where we, in dreams, sail over still lagoons,Throughout eternal night,And under unknown stars.Still, on we fared, unresting,Until the low moon paled;When, halting on a mountain-spur,We first looked down on Babylon,Far in the dreaming West,A cluster of dim towers,Scarce visible to wearied eyes.We camped within a sheltering cedar-grove;And all the day, beneath the level boughs,Upon the agelong-bedded needles lay,Half-slumbering, with fleeting, fretful dreamsThat could not quite forget the chafing cords,That held our arms in aching numbness:But, ere the noon, in sounder sleep I sank,Dreaming I floated on a still, deep pool,Beneath dark, overhanging branches;And seemed to feel upon my cheekThe cool caress of waters;While, far above me, through the night of trees,Noon glimmered faintly as the glint of stars.As thus I lay, in indolent ecstasy,O'er me, suddenly, the watersCurved, and I was dragged,Down and down,Through gurgling deepsOf swirling, drowning darkness...When I awoke in terror;And strove to sit upright;But, tautly, with a jerk,The thongs that held me to my brothers,Dragged me back to earth.
When, once, again we came unto a clearing,
The night was near its noon:
And all the vales that lay before us
Were filled with moving, moonlit mists,
That seemed phantasmal waters
Of that enchanted world,
Where we, in dreams, sail over still lagoons,
Throughout eternal night,
And under unknown stars.
Still, on we fared, unresting,
Until the low moon paled;
When, halting on a mountain-spur,
We first looked down on Babylon,
Far in the dreaming West,
A cluster of dim towers,
Scarce visible to wearied eyes.
We camped within a sheltering cedar-grove;
And all the day, beneath the level boughs,
Upon the agelong-bedded needles lay,
Half-slumbering, with fleeting, fretful dreams
That could not quite forget the chafing cords,
That held our arms in aching numbness:
But, ere the noon, in sounder sleep I sank,
Dreaming I floated on a still, deep pool,
Beneath dark, overhanging branches;
And seemed to feel upon my cheek
The cool caress of waters;
While, far above me, through the night of trees,
Noon glimmered faintly as the glint of stars.
As thus I lay, in indolent ecstasy,
O'er me, suddenly, the waters
Curved, and I was dragged,
Down and down,
Through gurgling deeps
Of swirling, drowning darkness...
When I awoke in terror;
And strove to sit upright;
But, tautly, with a jerk,
The thongs that held me to my brothers,
Dragged me back to earth.
Awhile I lay, with staring eyes, awake,Watching a big, grey spider, crouched overhead,In ambush 'neath a twig, beside her web,Oft sallying out, to bind yet more securely,The half-entangled flies.And then, once more, I slumbered;And dreamed a face leant over me,More fair than any faceMy waking eyes had ever looked upon.Its beauty burned above me,Not dusky like my sisters' faces,But pale as the wan moon,Reflected in a floodOf darkly flowing waters,Or as the creaming froth,That, born amid the thunder of the fall,Floats on the river's bosom in the sunshine,Bubble after bubble,Perishing in air.So, a moment, over me,With frail and fleeting glimmerOf strange elusive, evanescent light,The holy vision hovered.And yet, whenever, with a fervent longing,I sought to look into the darkling eyes,The face would fade from me,As foam caught in an eddy:Until, at last, I wakened,And, wondering, saw a pale star gleamingBetwixt the cedar-branches.And soon our captors stirred:And we arose, to seeThe walls and towers of Babylon, darkAgainst the clear rose of the afterglow,Already in the surge of shadows caught,As night, beneath us, slowly Westward swept,Flooding the dreaming plain that lay before us,Vast, limitless, bewildering,And strange to mountain-eyes.As down the slope we went,And when, at last, we left behindThe hills and singing waters,A vague, oppressive fearOf those dim, silent leagues of level land,Fell on me; and I almost seemedTo bear upon my shouldersThe vaster dome of overwhelming night;And, trembling like a child,I looked askance at my two captors,As they rode on in heedless silence,Their swarthy faces sharpAgainst the lucent sky.And then, once more,The old, familiar watchfires of the starsBrought courage to my bosom;And the young moon's brilliant hornWas exalted in the sky:And soon, the glooming wildernessAwoke with glittering waters,As a friendly wind sang unto meAmong the swaying reeds:While, cloud on cloud,The snowy flocks of pelicanBefore our coming rose;And, as they swerved to Southward,The moonlight shivered off their flashing pinions.
Awhile I lay, with staring eyes, awake,
Watching a big, grey spider, crouched overhead,
In ambush 'neath a twig, beside her web,
Oft sallying out, to bind yet more securely,
The half-entangled flies.
And then, once more, I slumbered;
And dreamed a face leant over me,
More fair than any face
My waking eyes had ever looked upon.
Its beauty burned above me,
Not dusky like my sisters' faces,
But pale as the wan moon,
Reflected in a flood
Of darkly flowing waters,
Or as the creaming froth,
That, born amid the thunder of the fall,
Floats on the river's bosom in the sunshine,
Bubble after bubble,
Perishing in air.
So, a moment, over me,
With frail and fleeting glimmer
Of strange elusive, evanescent light,
The holy vision hovered.
And yet, whenever, with a fervent longing,
I sought to look into the darkling eyes,
The face would fade from me,
As foam caught in an eddy:
Until, at last, I wakened,
And, wondering, saw a pale star gleaming
Betwixt the cedar-branches.
And soon our captors stirred:
And we arose, to see
The walls and towers of Babylon, dark
Against the clear rose of the afterglow,
Already in the surge of shadows caught,
As night, beneath us, slowly Westward swept,
Flooding the dreaming plain that lay before us,
Vast, limitless, bewildering,
And strange to mountain-eyes.
As down the slope we went,
And when, at last, we left behind
The hills and singing waters,
A vague, oppressive fear
Of those dim, silent leagues of level land,
Fell on me; and I almost seemed
To bear upon my shoulders
The vaster dome of overwhelming night;
And, trembling like a child,
I looked askance at my two captors,
As they rode on in heedless silence,
Their swarthy faces sharp
Against the lucent sky.
And then, once more,
The old, familiar watchfires of the stars
Brought courage to my bosom;
And the young moon's brilliant horn
Was exalted in the sky:
And soon, the glooming wilderness
Awoke with glittering waters,
As a friendly wind sang unto me
Among the swaying reeds:
While, cloud on cloud,
The snowy flocks of pelican
Before our coming rose;
And, as they swerved to Southward,
The moonlight shivered off their flashing pinions.
So, on we marched, till dawn, across the plain;And, on and on,Beneath the waxing moon,Each night we travelled Westward;Until, at last, we haltedBy the broad dull-gleaming floodOf mighty, roaring Tigris;And aroused from midnight slumberThe surly, grumbling ferrymen,And crossed the swollen watersUpon the great, skin rafts:Then on again we fared,Until the far, dim towers soared in the dawnlightAnd we encamped beside a stream,Beneath dry, rustling palms.And heavily I slumbered:And only wakened once, at noon,When, lifting up my head,I saw the towers of Babylon, burning blue,Far off, in the blind heat:And slept again, till sunset,When we took our Westward courseAlong the low bank of a broad canal,That glimmered wanly 'neath a moonless sky.Higher, and higher still,As we drew slowly nearer,Arose the vasty walls and serried towers,That seemed to thrust among the stars,And on embattled summits bear the night,Unbowed beneath their burden,As easily as, with unruffled brows,And limber, upright bodies,The village-daughters carryAt eve the brimming pitchers,Poised upon their heads.And when, above us, the wide-looming wallsShut out the Western stars;Beneath their shade, at midnight, we encamped,To await till dawn should openThe city gates for us.That night we did not sleep,But, crouched upon the ground,We watched the moon rise over Babylon,Till, far behind us, o'er the glittering waste,Was flung the wall's huge shadow,And the moving shades of sentries,Who, unseen above our heads,Paced through the night incessantly.Thus long we sat, hushed with awed expectation,And gazing o'er the plain that we had travelled,As, gradually, the climbing moon,Escaping from the clustering towers,Revealed far-gleaming waters,And the sharp, shrill cry of owls,Sweeping by on noiseless plumes,Assailed the vasty silence,Shivering off like dartsFrom some impenetrable shield.And, as we waited,Sometimes, fearfully,I gazed up those stupendous, soaring wallsOf that great, slumbering city, wonderingWhat doom behind the bastioned ramparts slept,What destiny, beneath the brooding night,Awaited me beyond the brazen gates.But, naught the blind, indifferent stars revealed,Though towards the long night's ending,Half-dazed with gazing up that aching height,A drowsiness fell over me,And in a restless waking-trance I lay,Dreaming that Life and Death before me stood.And, as each thrust towards me a shrouded cup,Implacable silence bade me choose and drink.But, as I stretched a blind, uncertain handTo take the cup of death,I wakened, and dawn trembled,At last, beyond the Eastern hills,And, star by star, night failed;And eagerly the sun leapt up the sky,And, as his flashing raysSmote kindling towers and flaming gates of brass,Across the reedy moatA clattering drawbridge fell,And wide the glittering portals slowly swung:And there came streaming out in slow processionA sleepy caravan of slouching camels,Groaning and grumbling as they strode alongBeneath their mountainous burdens,Upon whose swaying summits,Impassively, the blue-robed merchants sat.They passed us slowly by,And then we took the bridge,And, while our captors parleyed with the guards,Who stood, on either hand,With naked swords,I turned my head,And saw for the last time, far Eastward,The cold, snow-brilliant peaks,Beyond my dim, blue, native hills.And, as I looked, my thoughts flew homeward,And I, one dreaming moment,Stood by my mourning mother in the cavernOf desolation, looking on the dead.And then, between the brazen gate-posts,And underneath the brazen lintel,At last we entered Babylon.Before us, yet another wall arose,And, turning sharplyDown a narrow way,The living breath of heaven seemed shut from usAs though beneath the beetling cragsOf some deep mountain-gorge--By cliffs of wall, on either hand,That soared up to the narrow sky,Which with dim lustre litThe shimmering surface of enamelled brick,Whereon, through giant groves,Blue-coated hunters chased the boar,Or 'loosed red-tasselled falconAfter flying crane.But soon we reached another gate,Sword-guarded, and we entered,And plunged into the trafficOf clamorous merchantmen,Speeding their business ere the heat of day.And as we jostled, slowly,Through bewildering bazaars,The porters and the idler wayfarersAll turned to look upon our shame,With cold, unpitying eyes,And indolent, gaping mouths,Or jested with our captors,Until we left the busier thoroughfares,And walked through groves of cypress and of ilex,Where not a sound or rumour troubledThe silence of the dark-plumed boughsAnd glimmering deeps of peace,Save only the cool spurt of watersThat, from a myriad unseen jets,Fretted the crystal airs of morning,And fell in frolic showersOf twinkling, rainbow drops,That plashed in unseen basins;And through the blaze of almond-orchards,Tremulous with blossomThat flickered in a rosy, silken snowOf falling petals over us,And wreathed about our feetIn soft and scented drifts;Beneath pomegranate trees in young, green leaf,And through vast gardens, glowing with strange flowers,Such as no April kindled into bloomAmong the valleys of my native hills.We came unto a court of many fountains,Where, leaping off their jaded mules,Our captors loosed the thongs that held us,But left our wrists still bound.And one with great clay pitchers came,And over our hot bodies, travel-stained,Poured out cool, cleansing watersIn a gurgling, crystal stream,And flung coarse robes of indigoAbout our naked shoulders.And here we left behind usThe maidens and the younger boys,And passing through a gateway,Came out upon a busy wharf,Where, southward, midway through the city,The broad Euphrates flows,His dark flood thronged with merchant-dhows,And fishing-boats of reed and bitumen,Piled high with glistering barbel, freshly-caught;And foreign craft, with many-coloured sails,And laden deep with precious merchandise,That, over wide, bewildering waters,Across the perilous world,The adventurous, dark-bearded mariners,Who swear by unknown gods in alien tongues,Bring ever to the gates of Babylon.We crossed the drawbridge, round whose granite piersSwirled strong, Spring-swollen waters,Loud and tawny,And, through great brazen portals,Passed within the palace gates,When first I saw afar the hanging-gardens,Arch on arch,And tier on tier,Against a glowing sky.Two strapping Nubians, like young giantsHewn from blue-black marbleBy some immortal hand in immemorial ages,Led us slowly onward.The dappled pard-skins, slung across their shoulders,Scarcely hid the ox-like thews,Beneath the dark skin rippling,As they strode along before us.Through courts of alabaster,And painted corridors,
So, on we marched, till dawn, across the plain;
And, on and on,
Beneath the waxing moon,
Each night we travelled Westward;
Until, at last, we halted
By the broad dull-gleaming flood
Of mighty, roaring Tigris;
And aroused from midnight slumber
The surly, grumbling ferrymen,
And crossed the swollen waters
Upon the great, skin rafts:
Then on again we fared,
Until the far, dim towers soared in the dawnlight
And we encamped beside a stream,
Beneath dry, rustling palms.
And heavily I slumbered:
And only wakened once, at noon,
When, lifting up my head,
I saw the towers of Babylon, burning blue,
Far off, in the blind heat:
And slept again, till sunset,
When we took our Westward course
Along the low bank of a broad canal,
That glimmered wanly 'neath a moonless sky.
Higher, and higher still,
As we drew slowly nearer,
Arose the vasty walls and serried towers,
That seemed to thrust among the stars,
And on embattled summits bear the night,
Unbowed beneath their burden,
As easily as, with unruffled brows,
And limber, upright bodies,
The village-daughters carry
At eve the brimming pitchers,
Poised upon their heads.
And when, above us, the wide-looming walls
Shut out the Western stars;
Beneath their shade, at midnight, we encamped,
To await till dawn should open
The city gates for us.
That night we did not sleep,
But, crouched upon the ground,
We watched the moon rise over Babylon,
Till, far behind us, o'er the glittering waste,
Was flung the wall's huge shadow,
And the moving shades of sentries,
Who, unseen above our heads,
Paced through the night incessantly.
Thus long we sat, hushed with awed expectation,
And gazing o'er the plain that we had travelled,
As, gradually, the climbing moon,
Escaping from the clustering towers,
Revealed far-gleaming waters,
And the sharp, shrill cry of owls,
Sweeping by on noiseless plumes,
Assailed the vasty silence,
Shivering off like darts
From some impenetrable shield.
And, as we waited,
Sometimes, fearfully,
I gazed up those stupendous, soaring walls
Of that great, slumbering city, wondering
What doom behind the bastioned ramparts slept,
What destiny, beneath the brooding night,
Awaited me beyond the brazen gates.
But, naught the blind, indifferent stars revealed,
Though towards the long night's ending,
Half-dazed with gazing up that aching height,
A drowsiness fell over me,
And in a restless waking-trance I lay,
Dreaming that Life and Death before me stood.
And, as each thrust towards me a shrouded cup,
Implacable silence bade me choose and drink.
But, as I stretched a blind, uncertain hand
To take the cup of death,
I wakened, and dawn trembled,
At last, beyond the Eastern hills,
And, star by star, night failed;
And eagerly the sun leapt up the sky,
And, as his flashing rays
Smote kindling towers and flaming gates of brass,
Across the reedy moat
A clattering drawbridge fell,
And wide the glittering portals slowly swung:
And there came streaming out in slow procession
A sleepy caravan of slouching camels,
Groaning and grumbling as they strode along
Beneath their mountainous burdens,
Upon whose swaying summits,
Impassively, the blue-robed merchants sat.
They passed us slowly by,
And then we took the bridge,
And, while our captors parleyed with the guards,
Who stood, on either hand,
With naked swords,
I turned my head,
And saw for the last time, far Eastward,
The cold, snow-brilliant peaks,
Beyond my dim, blue, native hills.
And, as I looked, my thoughts flew homeward,
And I, one dreaming moment,
Stood by my mourning mother in the cavern
Of desolation, looking on the dead.
And then, between the brazen gate-posts,
And underneath the brazen lintel,
At last we entered Babylon.
Before us, yet another wall arose,
And, turning sharply
Down a narrow way,
The living breath of heaven seemed shut from us
As though beneath the beetling crags
Of some deep mountain-gorge--
By cliffs of wall, on either hand,
That soared up to the narrow sky,
Which with dim lustre lit
The shimmering surface of enamelled brick,
Whereon, through giant groves,
Blue-coated hunters chased the boar,
Or 'loosed red-tasselled falcon
After flying crane.
But soon we reached another gate,
Sword-guarded, and we entered,
And plunged into the traffic
Of clamorous merchantmen,
Speeding their business ere the heat of day.
And as we jostled, slowly,
Through bewildering bazaars,
The porters and the idler wayfarers
All turned to look upon our shame,
With cold, unpitying eyes,
And indolent, gaping mouths,
Or jested with our captors,
Until we left the busier thoroughfares,
And walked through groves of cypress and of ilex,
Where not a sound or rumour troubled
The silence of the dark-plumed boughs
And glimmering deeps of peace,
Save only the cool spurt of waters
That, from a myriad unseen jets,
Fretted the crystal airs of morning,
And fell in frolic showers
Of twinkling, rainbow drops,
That plashed in unseen basins;
And through the blaze of almond-orchards,
Tremulous with blossom
That flickered in a rosy, silken snow
Of falling petals over us,
And wreathed about our feet
In soft and scented drifts;
Beneath pomegranate trees in young, green leaf,
And through vast gardens, glowing with strange flowers,
Such as no April kindled into bloom
Among the valleys of my native hills.
We came unto a court of many fountains,
Where, leaping off their jaded mules,
Our captors loosed the thongs that held us,
But left our wrists still bound.
And one with great clay pitchers came,
And over our hot bodies, travel-stained,
Poured out cool, cleansing waters
In a gurgling, crystal stream,
And flung coarse robes of indigo
About our naked shoulders.
And here we left behind us
The maidens and the younger boys,
And passing through a gateway,
Came out upon a busy wharf,
Where, southward, midway through the city,
The broad Euphrates flows,
His dark flood thronged with merchant-dhows,
And fishing-boats of reed and bitumen,
Piled high with glistering barbel, freshly-caught;
And foreign craft, with many-coloured sails,
And laden deep with precious merchandise,
That, over wide, bewildering waters,
Across the perilous world,
The adventurous, dark-bearded mariners,
Who swear by unknown gods in alien tongues,
Bring ever to the gates of Babylon.
We crossed the drawbridge, round whose granite piers
Swirled strong, Spring-swollen waters,
Loud and tawny,
And, through great brazen portals,
Passed within the palace gates,
When first I saw afar the hanging-gardens,
Arch on arch,
And tier on tier,
Against a glowing sky.
Two strapping Nubians, like young giants
Hewn from blue-black marble
By some immortal hand in immemorial ages,
Led us slowly onward.
The dappled pard-skins, slung across their shoulders,
Scarcely hid the ox-like thews,
Beneath the dark skin rippling,
As they strode along before us.
Through courts of alabaster,
And painted corridors,