Page:The poems of Emma Lazarus volume 1.djvu/135

I part aside, and hold communion free
Beneath the empty sky of noon, with naught
Between my nothingness and thy high heavens—
Spirit with spirit. O, have mercy, God!
Cleanse me from lust and bitterness and pride,
Have mercy in accordance with my faith."
Long time he lay upon the scorching grass,
"With his face buried in the tangled weeds.
Ah ! who can tell the struggles of his soul
Against its demons in that sacred hour,
The solitude, the anguish, the remorse?
When shadows long and thin lay on the ground,
Shivering with fever, helpless he arose,
But with a face divine, ineffable,
Such as we dream the face of Israel,
When the Lord s wrestling angel, at gray dawn,
Blessed him, and disappeared.
Upon the marsh,
All night, he wandered, striving to emerge
From the wild, pathless plain,—now limitless
And colorless beneath the risen moon;
Outstretching like a sea, with landmarks none,
Save broken aqueducts and parapets,
And ruined columns glinting neath the moon.
His dress was dank and clinging with the dew;
A thousand insects fluttered o er his head,
"With buzz and drone ; unseen cicadas chirped
Among the long, rank grass, and far and near
The fire-flies flickered through the summer air.