Hebrew Melodies (Byron, 1815)/Saul
SAUL.
I.Thou whose spell can raise the dead,Bid the prophet's form appear."Samuel, raise thy buried head!"King, behold the phantom seer!"Earth yawn'd; he stood the centre of a cloud:Light changed its hue, retiring from his shroud.Death stood all glassy in his fixed eye;His hand was withered, and his veins were dry;His foot, in bony whiteness, glittered there,Shrunken and sinewless, and ghastly bare:From lips that moved not and unbreathing frame,Like cavern'd winds, the hollow accents came.Saul saw, and fell to earth, as falls the oak,At once, and blasted by the thunder-stroke.
II."Why is my sleep disquieted?"Who is he that calls the dead?"Is it thou, Oh King? Behold"Bloodless are these limbs, and cold:"Such are mine: and such shall be"Thine, to-morrow, when with me:"Ere the coming day is done,"Such shalt thou be, such thy son."Fare thee well, but for a day;"Then we mix our mouldering clay."Thou, thy race, lie pale and low,"Pierced by shafts of many a bow;"And the falchion by thy side,"To thy heart, thy hand shall guide:"Crownless, breathless, headless fall,"Son and sire, the house of Saul!"