Page:The Fall of the Alamo.djvu/32

 As oft to save a life by wounds imperiled A surgeon hazards some unusual cure, So also on the battle-field of Life A false position and a wayward course May oft be righted by a daring step Which in the eyes of men may meet with censure, But gains its palm before the eye of God. Withdraw from here a while, if still thy father Persists to be the tyrant's ready tool. And from the distance lure him on to thee By frequent proofs of unchanged filial love. He soon will feel the utter loneliness That yawns around him here, the aimlessness Of his career, and yearning to rejoin The only heart that on this earthly round Still beats for him, he will depart from here. The first step which he takes to reach the ship That carries him to thee, will disentangle The Gordian Knot of his embarrassment.

It cannot be! A sacred vow has chained My destiny forever to his lot. My mother, well foreseeing at her death The threat'ning crisis which must overtake him Inevitably as wrongs of heart or mind Draw after them remorse and punishment,— Exacted from my lips this oath, that never