RAHAB

Rahab hath vermilion lips,

Breasts of ivory, and her hips

Taper down to little feet

That go dancing on the street.

Gossips call dear Rahab bold;

Say her love is bought for gold,

Barters kisses for a purse:

Well, some women have done worse!

Saw you ever Rahab's eyes —

All the blue of Canaan's skies

Smiles a moment, and you see

Beauty's best in Galilee.

Heard you ever Rahab's song,

You would murmur: “Surely wrong

Lives not in that lovely voice —

I with Rahab will rejoice!”

I came up the winding way

Through the vines at shut of day

Out of Orphir, bearing balms;

And I saw among the palms

Rahab wistful by the wall:

She was slender, she was tall,

And I trembled as her eyes

Turned on me in swift surprise.

Tyrian purple was her gown;

Gold her girdle; and a crown

Made of myrtle held her hair

Oval on her forehead fair;

Little sandals shod her feet.

Rahab, smiling, murmured: “Greet

You, my brother! Are you come,

Laden with sweet spice and gum,

“Out of Orphir?” and I said:

“Rahab!” All the evening shed

Light and perfume on her face

Turned to me, I paused a space,

Breathless. Nothing I could say

But her name. A dear dismay

Of her beauty made me mute,

Like a stringless harp or lute!

Then she laughed at me and flung

High her hands! She tipped her tongue

Saucily and danced along —

Feet in fellowship with song.

I pursued her through the vines

Growing where the bank confines

Jordan; followed her until

I forgot my master's will —

Master of the Caravan

Out of Orphir! As I ran,

Love arose and went with me

Through the grapes of Galilee!

Little leaves laughed as I sped

After Rahab. Overhead

Two white doves were on the wing,

And I heard a throstle sing.

Where my feet fell on the brown,

Furrowed vineyard, shaken down

By her body from the vine,

Grapes were crushed to make me wine!

Day was gazing from the west

On high Hermon with confessed

Love of her whose ample brow

Crimsoned; and from every bough

Twilight twitterings were heard.

How my pulses leaped and stirred —

Wild with longing for her lips,

Like two red pomegranate pips!

I stretched forth my hands and cried:

“Rahab!” and she turned aside

From the vineyard where a wood

Near a purple wine-press stood.

There she paused and looked on me,

Laughing: “Boy, what do you see

In my eyes, you tremble so?”

“Fate!” I answered. “Could you know,

“Rahab, what is in my heart,

You would pity, you would part

With one kiss and one caress

Here beside the purple press!”

“Boy,” she murmured, “gossips say

Rahab's poisoned lips will slay

Whom she kisses; that her breasts

Are two hidden adders’ nests!”

“Though I die upon your mouth,

Kiss me, Rahab! for the drouth

Of the desert makes my soul

Empty as an empty bowl.

“Dreary days of journeying

Where the sands go billowing

Miles and miles beneath the sun

Leave me broken and undone.

“All my youth was in the sere,

Dim the eye and deaf the ear

Unto beauty until now;

Rahab, harken to my vow:

“Give me vision, give me sense

Of lost beauty's immanence —

Give me these and I will pay,

Careless of what gossips say,

“All you ask in turn for this:

Soul of you within one Kiss!”

Rahab's eyes were suddenly

Misted over, and to me

Came her whisper: “O my Heart!

Take the minstrel's gift — his art —

With my lips on yours; the price

Be your spirit's sacrifice —

“Pain of vision! You shall know

Summits of eternal snow,

Depths of fire! You shall be torn,

Twixt the twilight and the morn,

“By strange dreams of angel-faces

Bending from their starry places,

Blent with devils out of hell!”

Rahab kissed me —! Lo, there fell

Veils of violet and gold

From the sunset — fold on fold —

Till the tangled vines were caught

And with mist the fields were fraught;

Notes that I had never heard

In the tall bulrushes stirred,

Trembled from the swaying trees,

Fluting strange, wild melodies.

Rahab's kiss and tender glance

Taught me earth's significance;

Opened wide eternal doors,

Where the flood of beauty pours

Out of heaven! out of God!

Quickening the stone and clod,

Leaf and shrub and bird and beast

For the artist — nature's priest,

Sleepless when her altar lights

Burn through balmy summer nights,

Wakeful when upon the day

Pours the pollen smoke alway!

Rahab kissed me by the press —

Bound me with dear Love's duress —

Laughed and clapped her hands in glee

Mid the grapes of Galilee.