with peace and plenty;
Mutha shows thee her retreat,
And the desert licks thy feet,

"We have passed through our purgation,
Once again we are thy kin;
God, accept our expiation,
Maiden pure of mortal sin."

XIV

"Ha!" the king cried, smiling blandly;
"Ha!" the trumpets answered grandly.
Proudly priest whirled, knife on high,
While the maiden bowed--to die.

Sudden, through the ranks beside her,
Scattering men, like sparks of flint,
Burst a snow-white horse and rider,
Rapid as the lightning's glint.

One blow hurls Arch-priest to quiver
Headless, in his beloved river,
In the twinkling of an eye,
All the rest are dead, or fly.

XV

Iram, from _Pyropus_ sweeping,
As a mower swathes the rye,
Caught his love, in terror sleeping,
And her light form swings on high.

"Soul of Khons!" Sesostris shouted,
Striding down the planks blood-grouted--
Into his beard fell something light,
And he spat, and swooned with fright.

What hath made this great king stagger,
Reel, and shriek--"unclean, unclean!"
Thunderbolt, or flash of dagger?
Nay, 'twas but a garden bean.

XVI

Brave _Pyropus_, blood-bespattered,
Snorts at men and corpses scattered,
Throws his noble chest more wide,
Leaps into the leaping tide.

Vainly hiss a thousand arrows,
Launched at random through the foam;
Every stroke the distance narrows
Twixt him and his desert home.

Sorely tried, and passion-shaken,
Long amid her foes forsaken,
Now, in tumult of surprise,
Lita knows not where she lies.

[Illustration: 056.]

XVII

Till a bright wave breaks upon her,
And her clear perceptions wake--
All his valour, prowess, honour,
Scorn of life, for her poor sake!

Gently then her eyes she raises,
(Eyes, whence all the pure soul gazes)
Softly brings her lips to his--
Lips, wherein the whole heart is.

Let the furious waters welter,
Let the rough winds roar above;
Waves are warmth, and storms are shelter,
In the upper heaven of love.

XVIII

Fierce the flood, and wild the danger;
Yet the noble desert-ranger
Flinches not, nor flags, before
He hath brought them safe ashore.

Lives there man, who would