Page:Poems of Emma Lazarus vol 2.djvu/113

Rh A blasphemy against my father's grief, My people's agony. I dare be happy — So happy ! in the instant's lull betwixt The dazzle and the crash o£ doom.

You read The omen falsely ; rather is your joy The thrilling harbinger of general dawn. Did you not tell me ecarce a month agone, When I chanced in on you at feast and prayer, The holy time's bright legend ? of the queen, Strong, beautiful, resolute, who denied her race To save ber race, who cast upon the die Of her divine and simple Her life, her sou!, — and so redeemed her tribe, You are my Esther — but I, no second tyrant, Worship whom yon adore, love whom you love ! If I must die with mom, I thank my God, And thee, my king, that I have lived this night.

Here is the cheet, sestled with my signet-ring, A mystery and a treasure lies within, Whose worth is faintly symboled by these gems, Starring the case. Deliver it unopened,