Page:The Statues in the Block and Other Poems (1881).djvu/36

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30
MULEY MALEK, THE KING.

Smelting their souls with his courage, he rides before his soldiers!
They bend from his face like the sun—their eyes are blind with shame—
They thrill as a stricken tiger thrills, gathering his limbs from a blow;
They raise their faces, and watch him, sworded and mailed and strong;
They watch him, and shout his name fiercely "Muley, the King!"

Grimly they close their ranks, drinking his face like wine;
Strength to the arm and wrath to the soul, and power—
Fuel and fire he was—and the battle roared like a crater!

Back to the litter, his face turned from the lines, and fixed
In a stare like the faces in granite, the King