SAMSON
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Plunged
in night, I sit alone
Eyeless on this dungeon stone,
Naked, shaggy and unkempt,
Dreaming dreams no soul hath dreamt.
Rats and vermin round my feet
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5 |
Play
unharmed, companions sweet;
Spiders weave me overhead
Silken curtains for my bed.
Day by day the mould I smell
Of this fungus-blistered cell;
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10 |
Nightly
in my haunted sleep
O’er my face the lizards creep.
Gyves of iron scrape and burn
Wrists and ankles when I turn,
And my collared neck is raw
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15 |
| With
the teeth of brass that gnaw.
God of Israel, canst Thou see
All my fierce captivity?
Do Thy sinews fell my pains?
Hearest Thou the clanking chains?
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20 |
Thou who madest me so fair,
Strong and buoyant as the air,
Tall and noble as a tree,
With the passions of the sea,
Swift as horse upon my feet,
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25 |
Fierce
as lion in my heat,
Rending, like a wisp of hay,
All that dared withstand my way,
Canst Thou see me through the gloom
Of this subterranean tomb,—
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30 |
Blinded
tiger in his den,
Once the lord and prince of men?
Clay was I; the potter Thou
With Thy thumb-nail smooth’dst my brow,
Roll’dst the spittle-moistened sands
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35 |
Into
limbs between Thy hands.
Thou didst pour into my blood
Fury of the fire and flood,
And upon the boundless skies
Thou didst first unclose my eyes.
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40 |
And my breath of life was flame,
God-like from the source it came,
Whirling round like furious wind,
Thoughts upgathered in the mind.
Strong Thou mad’st me, till at length
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45 |
All
my weakness was my strength;
Tortured am I, blind and wrecked,
For a faulty architect.
From the woman at my side,
Was I woman-like to hide
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50 |
What
she asked me, as if fear
Could my iron heart come near?
Nay, I scorned and scorn again
Cowards who their tongues restrain;
Cared I no more for Thy laws
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55 |
| Than
a wind of scattered straws.
When the earth quaked at my name
And my blood was all aflame,
Who was I to lie, and cheat
Her who clung about my feet?
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60 |
From Thy open nostrils blow
Wind and tempest, rain and snow;
Dost Thou curse them on their course,
For the fury of their force?
Tortured am I, wracked and bowed,
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65 |
But
the soul within is proud;
Dungeon fetters cannot still
Forces of the tameless will.
Israel’s God, come down and see
All my fierce captivity;
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70 |
Let
Thy sinews feel my pains,
With Thy fingers lift my chains.
Then, with thunder loud and wild,
Comfort Thou Thy rebel child,
And with lightning split in twain
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75 |
| Loveless
heart and sightless brain.
Give me splendour in my death—
Not this sickening dungeon breath,
Creeping down my blood like slime,
Till it wastes me in my prime.
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80 |
Give me back for one blind hour,
Half my former rage and power,
And some giant crisis send,
Meet to prove a hero’s end.
Then, O God, Thy mercy show—
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85 |
Crush
him in the overthrow
At whose life they scorn and point,
By its greatness out of joint.
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