Lamentations
Then flutter to his feet,
A guiltless penitent,
And kneel to him for pardon, praise, and punishment.
A guiltless penitent,
And kneel to him for pardon, praise, and punishment.
"Rebellious and reviled,
Or crouching and caressed,
A goddess or a child,
But still a slave confessed,
Caged in the jealous East, toy-sceptred in the West;
Or crouching and caressed,
A goddess or a child,
But still a slave confessed,
Caged in the jealous East, toy-sceptred in the West;
"Alike the tale hath been
To-day and long of yore;
The dazzling Eastern queen,
Bending her lord before,
With rubies all a-tremble, and forehead to the floor,
To-day and long of yore;
The dazzling Eastern queen,
Bending her lord before,
With rubies all a-tremble, and forehead to the floor,
"Still mirrors in old story
My nobler daughter, taught
To bow down all her glory
Of free-born will and thought
Before a spectral terror, conjured out of naught.
My nobler daughter, taught
To bow down all her glory
Of free-born will and thought
Before a spectral terror, conjured out of naught.
"Thou claim'st to be her god,
To rule her inmost shrine
To rule her inmost shrine
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