The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-08-31
I'M THE LITERARY W0RLD-

| bia reigned, his hearts true queen" So
our poetess reflects on misdirected love:
IT'S sweet to love and know 1t not
Sweeter to give the heart away;
But sharp the pang when woman finds
Unsought her love has gone astray.
And there are hearts-true, loyal hearts
Which to be given will not wait,
But give themselves most treach rously
Nor know the gift until too late:
Too late the tendrils of their love
With gentle touches to untwine,
And they must wrench the branches from
The living body of the vine;
Break every tie, however strong,
Sever each clinging link so frail,
And tear the vine from its support,
Though in the dust it's branches trail.
From his prison overlooking the court
Maeonius beheld 1.-The speaking look"
with which Clytie received the sapphire
ring from the monarch. He saw it's
meaning and
1t set his Arab blood on fire
With deadly jealousy and ire.
This leads our writer to give a fine
paragraph on jealousy:
The deadliest passion of the heart
At once may into being start,
And jealousy be born of Love,
AS from the teeming brain of Jove
Minerva sprang in all her might
Full grown and ready armed for fight.
Anger with tenderest love is felt,
Though into sorrow soon twill MELT
But jealousy can know no trust,
Is never generous, never just.
Hatred man turns against his foes,
But in his Jealous rage he throws
His keenest, swiftest, deadliest dart
Against the idol of his heart;
But if in woman's breast it burns
Her wrath against her rival turns.
The prisoner determines upon revenge
and invokes the aid of a traitorous priest
They determine that on tomorrow when
the King is in the Temple he shall fall
by the hand of Maeonius, who shall then
ascend the throne of Palmyra and, said
he, "Clytie, too will be my own"
The evening comes and the court gilt
tiers with an unwonted splendor. Prior
to the dance Maeonius appears before
! King Odenatus to receive his lance. The
King said it was Clyties right to again
arm her lover.
To her, sir captive, you belong,
She won your freedom with a song,
And lips that neer can sue in Vain
Have broken with word your chain.
OF course the singing lips were those
of Queen Zenobia, not those of the song
full Clytie But the jealous Maeonius
understood the latter and "again his
iuui5 fro I'm no N
the moment he could not wait for the
executing of the plot to kill on the NOR
row. Like a tiger, he leaped upon the
King, sheathed the murderous dagger in
the royal heart, and just as Clytie sprang
between them the dead King sank down
from his throne Then the murderer de-
signed to slay the Queen, but was held
back by two of her courtiers. With re-
markable presence of mind she declared
the King only wounded, summoned her
subjects to her aid, and demanded the
instant death of the traitor. But when
Maeonius beheld Clytie grief-stricken on
her knees by the side of the dead King,
his heart was wrung with fierest rage
To see her kneeling PROSTATE there
Abandoned unto loves despair.
Iucu IL was (udI hOQO Nl1iilh AAio
bosom died. and he welcomed death, de-
claring: mo pang for me so sharp as
life" Catching up the fatal dagger, he
plunged it in his own side and fell dead
at Clytie's feet. With Zenobia's over
mastering grief and the death of the
traitorous priest, the tragic scene closed
that night. But with a strong heart and
steady hand she reigned for many years
the Queen of the East"
Inscribed her name on hstory's page,
And shone, the woman of her age.
Alas, for poor Clytie! Love was essen
tial to her existence; so when her loved
and lover were both gone at the point
of the same dagger "she dropped from
that fearful, fatal hour" They thought
her dead at the time, but she survived
the shock only to yield up her life ere a
month had passed. And with this last
scene of Clyties funeral our poem closes
as the fearful maidens are round the
bier.
Singing, in voices sweet and low,
solemn dirge of wailing woe.
HIGHT c. MOORE.