THE SHEPHERDS OF JUDEA.
87
And if perchance they ever heard
Of pompous king or glittering court,
Or felt the passing interest stirred
By pageantry of armed cohort—
Contented, peaceful sons of Earth!—
They wondered, when the crests were gone,
How life the living could be worth
So diametric to their own.
Of pompous king or glittering court,
Or felt the passing interest stirred
By pageantry of armed cohort—
Contented, peaceful sons of Earth!—
They wondered, when the crests were gone,
How life the living could be worth
So diametric to their own.
Perchance on some celestial night
Delicious, clear, though wanting stars,
When moonbeams poured their mellow light
Though olive-boughs in silver bars,
Recounted one in sympathy
How briers held some bleating lamb
Till his the hand that set it free,
Restored it to its frantic dam.
Delicious, clear, though wanting stars,
When moonbeams poured their mellow light
Though olive-boughs in silver bars,
Recounted one in sympathy
How briers held some bleating lamb
Till his the hand that set it free,
Restored it to its frantic dam.
Or of a hungry lion bold
That overleaped the rugged wall
And seized the firstling of the fold,
The choicest jewel 'mong them all;
When to the rescue swiftly came
Those ever-faithful servitors
Which, though a pedigree might claim,
Appeared but gaunt and savage curs.
That overleaped the rugged wall
And seized the firstling of the fold,
The choicest jewel 'mong them all;
When to the rescue swiftly came
Those ever-faithful servitors
Which, though a pedigree might claim,
Appeared but gaunt and savage curs.
