34
VASHTI'S SCROLL
A murmur ran throughout the startled crowd,
Swelling at last to plaudits long and loud.
Maddened with wine, they knew not what they said.
Ahasuerus bent his haughty head,
And for an instant o'er his face there swept
A look his courtiers in their memory kept
For many a day—a look of doubt and pain,
They scarcely caught ere it had passed again.
"My word is pledged," he said. Then to the seven
Lord chamberlains to whom the keys were given:
"Haste ye, and to this noble presence bring
Vashti, the Queen, with royal crown and ring;
That all my lords may see the matchless charms
Kind Heaven has sent to bless my kingly arms."
Swelling at last to plaudits long and loud.
Maddened with wine, they knew not what they said.
Ahasuerus bent his haughty head,
And for an instant o'er his face there swept
A look his courtiers in their memory kept
For many a day—a look of doubt and pain,
They scarcely caught ere it had passed again.
"My word is pledged," he said. Then to the seven
Lord chamberlains to whom the keys were given:
"Haste ye, and to this noble presence bring
Vashti, the Queen, with royal crown and ring;
That all my lords may see the matchless charms
Kind Heaven has sent to bless my kingly arms."
They did their errand, those old, gray-haired men,
Who should have braved the lion in his den,
Or ere they bore such message to their queen,
Or took such words their aged lips between.
What! I, the daughter of a royal race,
Step down, unblushing, from my lofty place,
And, like a common dancing-girl, who wears
Her beauty unconcealed, and, shameless, bares
Her brow to every gazer, boldly go
To those wild revellers my face to show?
I—who had kept my beauty pure and bright
Only because 'twas precious in his sight,
Guarding it ever as a holy thing,
Sacred to him, my lover, lord, and king,—
Could I unveil it to the curious eyes
Of the mad rabble that with drunken cries
Were shouting "Vashti! Vashti?"—Sooner far,
Beyond the rays of sun, or moon, or star,
I would have buried it in endless night!
Pale and dismayed, in wonder and affright,
Who should have braved the lion in his den,
Or ere they bore such message to their queen,
Or took such words their aged lips between.
What! I, the daughter of a royal race,
Step down, unblushing, from my lofty place,
And, like a common dancing-girl, who wears
Her beauty unconcealed, and, shameless, bares
Her brow to every gazer, boldly go
To those wild revellers my face to show?
I—who had kept my beauty pure and bright
Only because 'twas precious in his sight,
Guarding it ever as a holy thing,
Sacred to him, my lover, lord, and king,—
Could I unveil it to the curious eyes
Of the mad rabble that with drunken cries
Were shouting "Vashti! Vashti?"—Sooner far,
Beyond the rays of sun, or moon, or star,
I would have buried it in endless night!
Pale and dismayed, in wonder and affright,
