ETHIOPIA
Dark was her brow, and darker
The depths of her liquid eyes
And her hair was dark as the blackness
Of the moonless midnight skies,
Her robe was the gorgeous colors
Of the Tropic's brazen shield
And costliest incense smoldered
In its Isis folds concealed,
Dawn, noontide and evening together wove
The fabric she loved to wear
And fashioned the rainbow crescent
That shone in her midnight hair,
As she clasped in her hot embraces
And bore through the jungle wild
To her tents in the tangled forest
The cursed and homeless child.
The depths of her liquid eyes
And her hair was dark as the blackness
Of the moonless midnight skies,
Her robe was the gorgeous colors
Of the Tropic's brazen shield
And costliest incense smoldered
In its Isis folds concealed,
Dawn, noontide and evening together wove
The fabric she loved to wear
And fashioned the rainbow crescent
That shone in her midnight hair,
As she clasped in her hot embraces
And bore through the jungle wild
To her tents in the tangled forest
The cursed and homeless child.
Darker then grew her visage
And fiercer her deep eyes shone
As the smoke from her pagan altars
Curled over her ivory throne,
And the nations quailed before her
And trembled beneath her frown
Nor dared to enter her empire
Or gaze on her crescent crown,
'Till desolate, feared, forgotten,
She reigned in her realm alone
With the cursed and homeless Canaan
'Till they called her, the Great Unknown.
Once the sweet singer of Israel
Linked with his melody
Of the pagan queen in her darkness
A golden prophecy
And fiercer her deep eyes shone
As the smoke from her pagan altars
Curled over her ivory throne,
And the nations quailed before her
And trembled beneath her frown
Nor dared to enter her empire
Or gaze on her crescent crown,
'Till desolate, feared, forgotten,
She reigned in her realm alone
With the cursed and homeless Canaan
'Till they called her, the Great Unknown.
Once the sweet singer of Israel
Linked with his melody
Of the pagan queen in her darkness
A golden prophecy
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