Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1872-02-17
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From "The Dipinc Tragedy" jy Lonafsllor.
THE TOWER OF uAGDALA.
MARY MAGpALESE.

Companioness, unsntsHed, forlorp,
ait here in this lonely tower. and look
Upon the the lake below me, and the hills
That swoon with heat, and sec as in vision
All my past life unro itself before me.
The princes and the merchants come to me,
Merchants of Tyre and Princes OF Damascus,
And pass, and Disappear, and ere no more
But leave behind their merchandise aud jewels,
Their perfumes, and their gold, and their dis
grst.
loathe them, and the very memory OF them
Is unto me, as thought of food to one
Cloyed with the luscious figs Of Damanu,ha!
What If hereafter, In the long hereafter
OF endless joy or pain, or JOY In pain,
1t were my punishment to be with them
GroUn hideous and decrepit in their sint,
And hear them say Thou that hast brought us
here,
Be unto us as thou has been of old
look upon this raiment that wear,
These silks, and these embroideres, and they
seem
Only us ccrcments wrapped around my limbs
] look upon these rings thick set with pearls,
And emerald and amethyst and Jasper.
And they are burning Goals upon my feSh
This serpent on my wrist becomes alive!
Away, thou viper ard away, ye garlands,
Whose odors bring the swift remembrance back
or the unhallowed revcls in these chambers
But yesterday,-an6 yet 1t secms to me
Something remote. like pathetic song
Sung long ago by minstrels in the Streets
But yesterday, as from this tower nzcd,
over the olive and the walnut trees
Upon the lake and the white ships, and wondered
Whittier and whence they stecred, and who was
with them,
a fishers boat drew near the landing place
Under the oleanders, and the people
Came up from it, and passed beneath the tower,
Close under me- In front Of them, as leader,
Walked one Of royal aspect, clothed in white,
Who lifted up his eyes, and looked at me,
\ nd all he mir ed filled mud liSinn
With a mysterious power, that streamed from
him,
And overlowed me with an atmosphere
Or light and love. As one entrauced | stood,
And when woke again, 10 he was gone;
So that | said Perhaps It is dream.
But from that very hour the seven demons
That had their hnhitation in this body
Which men call beautiful. departed from me
This morning when the first gleam OF the dawn
Made Lebanon glory in the air,
Aud all hollow was darkness, | behe,d
An angel, or spirit glorited,
With wiud-tossed garments walking on the lake
The face / could not see, but distinguished
The attitude and gesture, and / knew
IT was he that healed me. And the gusty wind
Brought TO mine ears voice, which seemed tC
say:
Be of good cheer! It is I Be not afraid
And from the darkness, scarcely heard, the
answer;
Upon the water And the Voice said Come
And then heard cry of fear Lord, save me
Az OF drowning man. And then the voice:
Why didst thou doubt, o thou of little faith
At this all vanished, and the wind WAS hushei
And the great sun came up above the hills,
And the swiit-fying yapors hid themselves
In caperns among the rocks Oh muat find
him
And follow him, and be with him foreyerl
Thou box Of alabaster, in whose walls
The souls OF flowers lie pent, the precious balm
And spikcnsrd Of Arabian farms, the spirits
or aromatic herbs, ethereal natures
Nursed by the sun and dew, not all unworthy
To bItha his cousecultcd feet, whose step
Makes every threshold holy that he crosses:
Let US go forth upon our pilgrimage,
Thou and | only Let US search for him
Unit we hud him, and pour out our souls
before his feet, till all that's left of us
Shall be broken caskcts, that once held us