Classic Poem

So on the morrow when he early rose,
And went into his garden, there to walk,
All nature smiled, refreshed; its drought forgot;
Nor he remembering the prophets slain,
But sauntered through his garden's pleasant walks,
Careless, till he approached unto their bounds,
And there, conveniently contiguous,
Saw Naboth's vineyard. Many a time had he
Beheld it, but now saw it with new eyes.
Fairer it looked, although its hue was brown,
From long-borne drought; and many a gaping mouth
Yet opened in the soil, that, thirsty still,
Still called for drink. But birds were in the boughs,
And butterflies and bees abroad for flowers.
And Naboth, too, with thankful heart was there,
Anticipating the returning day
When he again should train and prune his vines;
Long blighted they, and, what was of them left,
Beat down and draggling from the recent storm.
So looked the vineyard, and the pleasant prospect
Each, in his reigning mood of reverie,
Saw; the possessor sweetly satisfied;
But Ahab the fair field viewed coveting;
And of its owner thus at length demands:

" Yield me thy vineyard, prithee, for it is
Convenient unto mine, and I will give thee
Another for it, better than is this;
Or, if thou wilt, its value thou shalt have
In shining shekels, so that thou mayst buy
Whate'er thy heart is set on, as now mine
Is set on these few acres."

Naboth heard,
And, hearing it, grew sad; for he was loth
To disappoint the king; yet still more loth
To part with that which his progenitors
Received when first was parcelled out the land;
Loth was, and thus, with faltering lips, and words
Firm, although few, the harsh request refused:

" Nay, king; request not what I cannot give:
I cannot yield thee that which is not mine,
But was my father's, and must be my son's.
Ask me not for it, then; yet beg aught else,
And I will give it thee; but God forbid
That I should yield thee mine inheritance."

And Ahab turned away, and went within: —
Sullen he went, with Naboth much displeased;
And lay upon his bed, and hid his face,
And took no food. As one with hidden grief,
From loss of wife, or child, or friend, or field; —
Or one, at friend's offence; or one who, by
The world offended, from the world withdraws;
Or he who, loving, has been love denied,
Henceforward shrinks from converse with his kind:
So Ahab in his house, offended, dwelt,
Self-exiled to his room, and on his bed
For Naboth's vineyard pined. Yet pined not long;
For Jezebel came to him and enquired
Why he was sad, and wherefore took no food.
Then he rehearsed to her what Naboth said;
And how he would not yield to him the vineyard.
Whereat the queen did utter a short laugh,
And toss her head in scorn, as if it were
An easy thing to get the vineyard; flippant
She tossed her head, as scorning let, and thus
Ahab retorts:

" Toss not thine head, thou proud one,
For he will not resign to me his birthright."

And now she did not laugh; but in her eyes
Upbeamed the lustre of an ill intent.
Within them seemed to burn, as beacon fires,
When on the summit of opposing hills
Flames glare, to summon the marauding tribes
To kill and plunder, and thuswise she spake: —
" Art thou not governor in Israel?"
She said, demanding with a deep disdain,
" Arise from off thy bed, and eat, for I
Will give to thee the vineyard."

Those her words:
And Ahab rose at once from off his bed;
And would have kissed her, but she turned away,
Rebukeful, and as if to punish him:
Forbidding him approach to her, as one
As yet not all deserving of her lips:
Lips to breed longing, — lips now shut as close,
In their red meeting, by her heart's resolve,
As dungeon doors; the light within her eyes
Like to the lamp that gleams behind those doors
Whereinto pity enters not, nor hope.

So Ahab went his way, and ate and drank:
And she her thoughts set straightway unto work
To obtain for him the vineyard. Thus she did:
Letters she wrote in Ahab's name, and sealed
Them with his seal; directed them to certain
Elders and nobles that near Naboth dwelt;
Their contents these: " Proclaim a fast, and set
Naboth on high amongst the people. Also set
Two men of Bellal before him, two;
And let each swear they heard him late blaspheme
God and the king. Condemn him quickly; then
Let him be hurried forth into the field,
And there be stoned to death." These letters she
Dispatched; the cruel queen! and, having thus
Dispatched them, kept herself from Ahab meaning
To give him, with possession of herself,
Possession of the vineyard: — half in pride,
And half in love she acted thus; for though
She much despised, yet more she loved the king.

Not long she waited; — soon suborned were men
To swear — for few dared disobey the queen
(Whose word was law, even unto the king);
Two perjured witnesses proclaimed the late
So prosperous Naboth one who had blasphemed
God and the king; the doom for each crime, death;
And death soon fell upon him, for forthwith
With shower of stones they smote him till he died.

Then, with consistent haste, to Jezebel
The news was sent, that Naboth lived no more.
When to her husband with the news she hies,
And, meeting him upon the lonely terrace,
She with a lofty and yet careless air,
As though she threw some slight gift at his feet;
Even as one who largess of vast worth
Giving, bestoweth it as if 'twere nought;
Or one should throw a bone unto a dog, —
So she, as though thus casting somewhat, said:

" Begone, and take possession of the vineyard:
What was refused for money comes for nought.
Naboth is dead."

And Ahab stood amazed.
And yet but briefly was his soul amazed;
He knew whatever Jezebel desired,
Unscrupulous, she compassed. Yet divined
He not the mode wherein his spouse had wrought,
To give to him the vineyard: — but 'twas his,
The vineyard his, a forfeit to the king.
And to the vineyard straightway he proceeds;
Soon 'midst it stood, and felt a feeble joy;
A joy diluted with remorse and pity
For the departed, foully dispossessed; —
A feeble joy he felt; — he felt no more.
Around he casts unsatisfied his eyes,
Like a starved gazer on a painted feast.
What he had coveted with strong desire,
Like that which future mothers ofttimes feel,
Now, when acquired, he only loathes, as oft
Loathes the sick man the dish which late he craved.
There while he stood, as if within a waste,
Wretched, and poor, and destitute, amidst
Bounty so ill-bestowed, so foully gained,
Sudden appears that which he fears and hates, —
Elijah's figure. At the sight he starts,
Then strove to frown. But the stern frown he gave
Met frown more stern, and eyes that, on him fixed,
Were filled with doom. He would have turned away,
But was unable, and he there stood dumb;
Held by the glamour from the prophet's eye.
As might a culprit, caught red-handed, stand
And hear his sentence, so now Ahab stood
And heard these words pronounced: —

" Thus saith the Lord,
Hast thou then killed, and hast thou ta'en possession?
There, in the place where dogs licked Naboth's blood,
Shall dogs lick thy blood!"
And the caitiff king
Trembled, despite his pride; despite his rage;
Despite his sinking heart and quivering knee,
At length demanded:

" Hast thou found me, O
Mine enemy?"
" I have," replied Elijah:
" Behold, because thou hast resigned thyself
To working evil, evil shall befall
Thee and thy children; none of whom shall live:
For I will make thine house like Jeroboam's,
And Baasha's, will I make it in my wrath;
So much hast thou provoked me, and hast made
Israel to sin. Away, and tell thy wife:
The dogs shall eat the form of Jezebel
By Jezreel's wall; and whoso of thy sons
Within the city dies the dogs shall eat;
And those that perish on the open field,
The hovering, hungry vultures shall devour."

And, lo! the prophet left him as he came,
And Ahab in the vineyard stood alone;
There stood, as might a scarecrow in a field:
Then ran unto his house, and in the hall
Met Jezebel, all unattended, sole.
As once Iscariot distracted rushed
Into the presence of the Sanhedrim,
And there threw down the dread, accursed price
For which he sold the Saviour of the world; —
So Ahab stood in presence of his wife,
And to her thus distractedly appealed,
With look of horror and extended palms: —

" Take back thy gift, take back thy bloody vineyard,
And give me Naboth as he stood in life.
What hast thou done? Woman, what hast thou done?
The blood of Naboth is demanded of us!
Give me back Naboth, living, every limb
Fair as each was before the cruel stones
Rained on him ruin. Woman, bring him back;
Heal all his bruises, bathe his hideous wounds;
Stanch, stanch the blood that trickles from his brows. —
Behold, it gushes still! the greedy dogs
Lick it lithe-tongued, — and with it mingles mine, —
Mine that the dogs shall lick; and thee, — oh, horror!
The dogs shall thee devour by Jezreel's wall,
The belly of the dogs shall be thy tomb!
Fetch Naboth back, then, from the stony tomb;
Bring back his soul, or may thine own soul sit
Sad, solitary, fainting, and forlorn,
Like to an owl upon his tomb, and there
Hoot at thine hideous self; — to death's domain
Fly, and return with him; — or stay and crouch
For ever down in Hades, like a dog,
And howl in horror at the grinning ghost
Of this black deed."
Thus cried he to the queen;
Who coolly stood and answered half in scorn:

" What means this rage? what dog hath bitten you?
What tarantula that makes dance thy tongue?
Capricious man, was it for this I strove,
And compassed how to get for thee the vineyard?
Worse than the child! if thou dislikst the toy
That I have given thee, return it me:
Mine is the vineyard; mine, unmettled man."

But while she spoke her husband paced the stones,
And wrung his hands, and called on Naboth's name;
And when she ceased, he still cried, " Naboth, come;
Come back to life;" and still he wrung his hands;
And yet he cried, " Come, Naboth, back to life;
Take back thy vineyard, — Ah, I would thou couldst!"

" Cease, coward; wouldst thou, then, alarm the house?"
She hoarsely asks; and reckless he replied:

" Oh, be the house alarmed; call here all souls,
To seek for Naboth's soul and bring it back:
Be all the household summoned to assist,
All summoned here to pray: — Oh God, oh God!
Why hast thou this permitted? Punish her: —
Punish the terrible Zidonian.
Murderess, avaunt! How canst thou stand unmoved;
Who shouldst make all the house resound with shrieks,
The welkin stand astonished at thy cries?

To which returned the self-collected Queen:
" Thou dost alarm thyself with thine own noise,
And thinkst thou hearst a ghost denouncing thee, —
The words from whose imaginary tongue
Are but the utterance of thy crazy thoughts.
Thou art the very idiot of the hour.
Thou dost astonish me, and I do scorn
To call thee husband, and to call thee King!
What hast thou done? Thou hast not murdered Naboth, —
Nor I, — what is the life of any man
Who calls himself our subject? If we rule
To keep him in possession, we for once
May rule to put him out of it; or even,
If needful, put him out o'th' world. Come on;
Come on;" she said: and took him by the arm,
And dragged him stoutly with her, but he still
Bemoaned himself, and called on Naboth's soul;
And thus she dragged, half bore, him up the stairs
Unto a turret high, and far removed
From ears of prying servants or courtiers; —
There left him to grow calm, and let time dull
His terror, and remorse, and scorching shame.