ead and buried deep
By Jerusholayim's walls!

Corpse-like is thy sleep by day
In thy marble coffin laid,
But at midnight dost thou wake
To the crack of whips! hurrah!

With Abunda, Dian, too,
Dost thou join the headlong plunge
And the blithesome hunter rout
Fleeing from all cross and care.

What companions rare and blithe!
Might but I, Herodias,
Ride at night through forests dark,
I would gallop at thy side!

For of all I love thee most!
More than any goddess Grecian,
More than any northern fay,
Do I love thee, Jewess dead!

Yea, I love thee most! 'Tis true,
By the trembling of my soul!
Love me too and be my sweet,--
Loveliest Herodias!

Love me too and be my love!
Fling that gory block-head far
With its trencher. Sweeter dishes
I shall give thee to enjoy.

Am not I thy proper knight
Whom thou seekest? What care I
If perchance thou'rt dead and damned--
Prejudices I have none!

Is my own salvation not
In a parlous state? And oft
Do I question if my life
Still be linked with human lives.

Take me, take me as thy knight,
Thine own _cavalier servente_;
I will bear thy silken robe
And each wayward mood of thine.

Every night beside thee, love,
With this crazy horde I'll ride,
And we'll kiss and thou shalt laugh
At my quips and merry pranks.

I will help thee speed the hours
Of the night. And yet by day
All my joy shall pass;--in tears
I shall sit upon thy grave.

Aye, by day will I sit down
In the dust of kingly vaults,
At the grave of my beloved
By Jerusholayim's walls!

Then the grey Jews passing by
Will imagine that I mourn
The destruction of thy temple
And thy gates, Jerusholayim.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

CANTO XXI

Shipless Argonauts are we,
Foot loose in the mighty hills,
But instead of golden fleece
We seek Bruin's shaggy hide.

Naught but sorry devils twain,
Heroes of a modern cut,
And no classic bard will ever
Make us live within his song!

Even though we suffered dire
Hardships! What torrential rains
Fell upon us at the peak
Where was neither tree nor cab!

Cloudbursts! Heaven's dykes were down!
And in buc