Poems by Emma Lazarus

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The Choice

I saw in dream the spirits unbegot,

Veiled, floating phantoms, lost in twilight space;

For one the hour had struck, he paused; the place

Rang with an awful Voice:

"Soul, choose thy lot!

Two paths are offered; that, in velvet-flower,

Slopes easily to every earthly prize.

Follow the multitude and bind thine eyes,

by Emma Lazarus

A June Night

Ten o'clock: the broken moon

Hangs not yet a half hour high,

Yellow as a shield of brass,

In the dewy air of June,

Poised between the vaulted sky

And the ocean's liquid glass.

Earth lies in the shadow still;

Low black bushes, trees, and lawn

by Emma Lazarus

Exultation

BEHOLD, I walked abroad at early morning,

The fields of June were bathed in dew and lustre,

The hills were clad with light as with a garment.

The inexpressible auroral freshness,

The grave, immutable, aerial heavens,

The transient clouds above the quiet landscape,

The heavy odor of the passionate lilacs,

That hedged the road with sober-colored clusters,

by Emma Lazarus

Epochs

"The epochs of our life are not in the facts, but in the

silent thought by the wayside as we walk."—Emerson

I. Youth.

Sweet empty sky of June without a stain,

Faint, gray-blue dewy mists on far-off hills,

Warm, yellow sunlight flooding mead and plain,

That each dark copse and hollow overfills;

The rippling laugh of unseen, rain-fed rills,

by Emma Lazarus

Fra Pedro

Golden lights and lengthening shadows,

Flings the splendid sun declining,

O'er the monastery garden

Rich in flower, fruit and foliage.

Through the avenue of nut trees,

Pace two grave and ghostly friars,

Snowy white their gowns and girdles,

Black as night their cowls and mantles.

by Emma Lazarus

An Epistle

Master and Sage, greetings and health to thee,

From thy most meek disciple! Deign once more

Endure me at thy feet, enlighten me,

As when upon my boyish head of yore,

Midst the rapt circle gathered round thy knee

Thy sacred vials of learning thou didst pour.

By the large lustre of thy wisdom orbed

by Emma Lazarus

August Moon

Look! the round-cheeked moon floats high,

In the glowing August sky,

Quenching all her neighbor stars,

Save the steady flame of Mars.

White as silver shines the sea,

Far-off sails like phantoms be,

Gliding o'er that lake of light,

Vanishing in nether night.

by Emma Lazarus

Gifts

"O World-God, give me Wealth!" the Egyptian cried.

His prayer was granted. High as heaven, behold

Palace and Pyramid; the brimming tide

Of lavish Nile washed all his land with gold.

Armies of slaves toiled ant-wise at his feet,

World-circling traffic roared through mart and street,

His priests were gods, his spice-balmed kings enshrined,

Set death at naught in rock-ribbed charnels deep.

by Emma Lazarus

Don Pedrillo

Not a lad in Saragossa

Nobler-featured, haughtier-tempered,

Than the Alcalde's youthful grandson,

Donna Clara's boy Pedrillo.

Handsome as the Prince of Evil,

And devout as St. Ignatius.

Deft at fence, unmatched with zither,

Miniature of knightly virtues.

by Emma Lazarus

Age And Death

Come closer, kind, white, long-familiar friend,

Embrace me, fold me to thy broad, soft breast.

Life has grown strange and cold, but thou dost bend

Mild eyes of blessing wooing to my rest.

So often hast thou come, and from my side

So many hast thou lured, I only bide

Thy beck, to follow glad thy steps divine.

Thy world is peopled for me; this world's bare.

by Emma Lazarus

Fog

Light silken curtain, colorless and soft,

Dreamlike before me floating! what abides

Behind thy pearly veil's

Opaque, mysterious woof?

Where sleek red kine, and dappled, crunch day-long

Thick, luscious blades and purple clover-heads,

Nigh me I still can mark

Cool fields of beaded grass.

by Emma Lazarus

Don Rafael

"I would not have," he said,

"Tears, nor the black pall, nor the wormy grave,

Grief's hideous panoply I would not have

Round me when I am dead.

"Music and flowers and light,

And choric dances to guitar and flute,

Be these around me when my lips are mute,

Mine eyes are sealed from sight.

by Emma Lazarus