THE LOWEST ROOM.
109
"Crest-rearing kings with whistling spears;
But if these shivered in the shock
They wrenched up hundred-rooted trees,
Or hurled the effacing rock.
But if these shivered in the shock
They wrenched up hundred-rooted trees,
Or hurled the effacing rock.
"Then hand to hand, then foot to foot,
Stem to the death-grip grappling then,
Who ever thought of gunpowder
Amongst these men of men?
Stem to the death-grip grappling then,
Who ever thought of gunpowder
Amongst these men of men?
"They knew whose hand struck home the deaths
They knew who broke but would not bend,
Could venerate an equal foe
And scorn a laggard friend.
They knew who broke but would not bend,
Could venerate an equal foe
And scorn a laggard friend.
"Calm in the utmost stress of doom,
Devout toward adverse powers above,
They hated with intenser hate
And loved with fuller love.
Devout toward adverse powers above,
They hated with intenser hate
And loved with fuller love.
"Then heavenly beauty could allay
As heavenly beauty stirred the strife:
By them a slave was worshipped more
Than is by us a wife."
As heavenly beauty stirred the strife:
By them a slave was worshipped more
Than is by us a wife."
She laughed again, my sister laughed;
Made answer o'er the laboured cloth:
"I rather would be one of us
Than wife, or slave, or both."
Made answer o'er the laboured cloth:
"I rather would be one of us
Than wife, or slave, or both."
