Classic Poem

" ENTREAT me not to leave thee, but convert me to the truth; "
So spake in sorrow and in tears, the gently-chiding Ruth.
" Entreat me not to leave thee, nor unclasp thy loosening hand,
I'll follow thee, my mother, to the far Judean land. "
But turning still in grief away, from her young, pleading face,
And sadly putting back the arms, so fondly that embrace,
" My daughter, " thus Naomi said, in measured tones and deep,
" We have our Sabbaths in that land, and holy days to keep,
And there's a bound we can not pass, upon that day, you know; "
But Ruth said, " Only where thou goest, mother, will I go. "
Still spake Naomi, " Turn again — thy home is not with me;
For Judah's children must not with the outcast Gentile be; "
Ruth answered, " In that stranger land, with thee, oh, let me stay,
And where thou lodgest, I will lodge — I can not go away "
And then again Naomi, " We have precepts to observe,
And from our father's worship, are commanded ne'er to twerve; "
Ruth answered with religious zeal, " I bow to Judah's Lord,
Thy people shall my people be, — thy God shall be my God. "
And now the mother's love burst forth, and rose in accents wild;
" Turn back, beloved, oh, turn back, for think you, Ruth, my child,
Your fainting heart could ever bear the woes I number now?
They must not dim those gentle eyes, nor darken o'er that brow;
For though thy mother yield to them, yet, dearest daughter mine,
It were not meet that they should fall, on such a head as thine. "
Then Ruth, with sudden brightness in her mild and loving eye,
" However hard thy death may be — thus only will I die. "
But yet once more Naomi spake, " My daughter, for the dead
We have a house of burial; " but Ruth, still answering, said,
" And there will I be buried; and the Lord deal thus by me,
If aught my mother, on the earth, but death, part thee and me. "