Page:Felicia Hemans in The Literary Souvenir 1826.pdf/16



"But be our faith by thy lips professed,    The faith of Mecca's shrine, Cast down the red-cross that marks thy vest,     And life shall yet be thine."

"I have seen the flow of my bosom's blood,    And gazed with undaunted eye; I have borne the bright cross through fire and flood,     And think'st thou I fear to die?

"I have stood where thousands, by Salem's towers,    Have fall'n for the name divine; And the faith that cheered their closing hours     Shall be the light of mine."

"Thus wilt thou die in the pride of health,    And the glow of youth's fresh bloom? Thou art offered life, and pomp, and wealth,     Or torture and the tomb."

"I have been where the crown of thorns was twined    For a dying Saviour's brow; He spurned the treasures that lure mankind,    And I reject them now!"

"Art thou the son of a noble line    In a land that is fair and blest? And doth not thy spirit, proud captive! pine,     Again on its shores to rest?