Classic Poem

SAUL AND DAVID .

Deep was the furrow in the royal brow,
When David's hand, lightly as vernal gales
Rippling the brook of Kedron, skimm'd the lyre:
He sung of Jacob's youngest born, the child
Of his old age, sold to the Ishmaelite;
His exaltation to the second power
In Pharaoh's realm; his brethren thither sent;
Suppliant they stood before his face, well known,
Unknowing, till Joseph fell upon the neck
Of Benjamin, his mother's son, and wept.
Unconsciously the warlike shepherd paused;
But when he saw, down the yet-quivering string,
The tear-drop trembling glide, abash'd, he check'd,
Indignant at himself, the bursting flood,
And, with a sweep impetuous, struck the chords;
From side to side his hands transversely glance,
Like lightning thwart a stormy sea; his voice
Arises 'mid the clang, and straightway calms
The harmonious tempest to a solemn swell,
Majestical, triumphant; for he sings
Of Arad's mighty host by Israel's arm
Subdued; of Israel through the desert led
He sings; of him who was their leader, call'd
By God himself from keeping Jethro's flock,
To be a ruler o'er the chosen race
Kindles the eye of Saul; his arm is poised;
Harmless the javelin quivers in the wall.