Selected
Poems
by
Frederick George Scott
JEHORAM
(2 Chron. xxi.)
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Not
in kings’ chambers
Make his last bed,
Not with his fathers
Lay ye the dead:
Reeking from murders,
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5 |
Leprous
and foul,
Give him for mourners
Vulture and owl.
God set the crown on,
God made him man,
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10 |
He
coaxed the brute up,
Breaking God’s plan,
Married to murder
Lusting for lust,
Out went the life-spark
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15 |
Leaving
mere dust.
Through the rich vineyards
Blows the hot breeze,
Laden with rose-breath
Noisy with bees;
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20 |
Here
where his footsteps
Blasted the earth,
Justice shall triumph,
Freedom have birth. [Page
60]
Cleanse ye the throne-room,
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25 |
Wash
the stained crown,
Make straight the scepter,
Throw the gods down;
From the rich pavements
Rub each dark blot,
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30 |
Those
wildly-staring
Eyes see you not.
Throw wide the palace,
Let the sun in,
Let the wind fill it,
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35 |
Purge
out the sin,
Ghosts and all shadows
Drive far away,
Fill it with bird-songs,
Flood it with day.
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40 |
Burn the soft couches,
Throw out the wine,
These turned to devil
What was divine.
Silence that laughter
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45 |
Born
of the tomb,
It is the death-knell
Tolling man’s doom.
Rise, slumbering people,
Cast out the dead,
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50 |
Darkness
shall shroud him,
Earth be his bed,
Till the lean wolf-dogs
Make him their feast,
Who, though God crowned him,
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55 |
| Chose
to be beast. [Page 61] |
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