Classic Poem

On the hills of Mizpeh bloomed the mountain maid;
Blue the skies above her where she strayed;
As the light gazelle she scaled the rocky slope,
Adah, child of love and hope.

CHORUS .

Gone from the mountain, — lost to her home, —
Called in life's beauty to the tomb;
Wake the wild lamenting in the lonely glen,
She will never come again.

Glad was her uprising, when, with maiden mirth
And the merry timbrel, she came forth;
But, alas! the death march! day of utter gloom!
'Twas the signal of her doom.

O, the grand deliverance of the mountain maid!
" Keep the vow, my father, " — thus she said;
" Shall a Mason's daughter fear for truth to die?
There's a home beyond the sky! "

From the hills of Mizpeh let the story rise, —
" Death before dishonor, " — to the skies;
While the seasons blossom on the mountain tree,
Adah, we will weep for thee!

She will not die as thief or murderer dies,
Whose fate but expiates his horrid crime;
She will not veil her pure and loving eyes,
As fearing death, for hers is death sublime;
Lo, with determined heart and eye she stands,
Her face upturned toward Celestial lands!

See midst the multitude the Victim stands!
Dauntless, serene, though terror palsies them!
And she must die by her own father's hands!
And she must die, a sacrifice of shame!
Of shame? ah, no! she flings the veil abroad,
Once, twice, yea thrice; looks hopefully to God;
Fixes the noonday sun with earnest eyes,
Then crowned with innocence, the Maiden dies.

Lament for J EPHTHAH , ye who know his fate,
Weep and lament; " Broken the beautiful rod,
And the strong staff; Mizpeh is desolate! "
But for sweet A DAH weep not; let the word
Be: " Joy to the Captive, freed from earthly dust,
Joy for one witness more to woman's trust,
And lasting honor, Mizpeh, be the strain
To HER WHO DIED IN LIGHT without a stain! "