Rachel III

Rachel III by Matthew Arnold

   Sprung from the blood of Israel's scatter'd race,
   At a mean inn in German Aarau born,
   To forms from antique Greece and Rome uptorn,
   Trick'd out with a Parisian speech and face,

   Imparting life renew'd, old classic grace;
   Then, soothing with thy Christian strain forlorn,
   A-Kempis! her departing soul outworn,
   While by her bedside Hebrew rites have place--

   Ah, not the radiant spirit of Greece alone
   She had--one power, which made her breast its home!
   In her, like us, there clash'd, contending powers,
   Germany, France, Christ, Moses, Athens, Rome.
   The strife, the mixture in her soul, are ours;
   Her genius and her glory are her own.

This work published before January 1, 1923 is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.