III. Thy name, our charging hosts along, Thy fall, the theme of choral song To weep would do thy glory wrong; IT IS THE HOUR. IT IS THE HOUR when from the boughs Seem sweet in every whispered word; Each flower the dews have lightly wet, And in the sky the stars are met; And on the wave is deeper blue, And on the leaf a browner hue; And in the Heaven that clear obscure, That follows the decline of day As twilight melts beneath the moon away. SONG OF SAUL BEFORE HIS LAST I. WARRIORS and Chiefs! should the shaft or the sword Pierce me in leading the host of the Lord, Heed not the corse, though a king's, in your path: Bury your steel in the bosoms of Gath! II. Thou who art bearing my buckler and bow, Should the soldiers of Saul look away from the foe, Stretch me that moment in blood at thy feet! Mine be the doom which they dared not to meet. III. Farewell to others, but never we part, SAUL I. THOU whose spell can raise the dead, "Samuel, raise thy buried head! King, behold the phantom seer!" Earth yawn'd; he stood the centre of a cloud : His hand was withered, and his veins were dry; |