and one above her heart,
But when the ruby afterglow crept up and stained the sand
She turned and gazed toward Goshen, where Israel dwelt apart.

* * * * *

Nine plagues had wasted Egypt with their tortures grim and slow;
The earth was desolated, and scarred by hail and fire;
Still even yet her Lord refused to let his bondsmen go
To worship in the wilderness, the God of their desire.

The yellow Nile had turned to blood before her watching eyes--
It was branded into memory--a haunting death-strewn sight;--
The very dust upon the street the rod had made to rise
In a living moving horror, of atoms, leprous-white.

The frogs had come as things bewitched; an army without fear
They had broken through the rushes their upward way to take;
And each one followed steadily a voice no man could hear--
While poisoned wind and pestilence came swiftly in their wake.

Then oh, the little flies that swarmed from out the earth and air!
And the murrain of the camels, and cattle in the field!
She prayed the king for love of her to hear the people's prayer
And send the slaves far hither;--but for love he would not yield.

His face was like the carven face upon the basalt door;--
Her beauty could not charm him, her voice had lost its power;
So she wrapped a veil about her and entreated him no more
But sat alone and watched, from out her window in the tower.

She saw the Hebrew leader with uncovered silvery hair
Come with the priest at daybreak to the outer palace gate,
And the rod of woe and wonder they carried with them there,--
Yet Pharaoh bid them enter--for he dared not bid them wait.

But naught prevailed, for sore disease had scourged the low and high,
And the hail of God had fallen and crushed the growing grain,
And a fire no hand had kindled in searing wrath swept by--
Such fire as none had seen before--as none would see again.

Then came the pirate locusts, with a sea-song free and bold;--
The spent and broken people lacked the strength to force them back,
But watched them take the last green blades that never would be gold--
And shut their doors against the foe that turned the meadows black.

Then Pharaoh wavered--more--he called the Hebrews in his haste
Imploring respite--pleading his repentance bitterly--
For there was death on every side, and all the land was waste;--
So the western wind of God blew the locusts out to sea.

Yet not enough. Once more the k