Poem by Lucretia Maria Davidson

David and Jonathan

(Written in her fifteenth year.)

On the brow of Gilboa is war's bloody stain,
The pride and the beauty of Israel is slain;
O publish it not in proud Askelon's street,
Nor tell it in Gath, lest in triumph they meet,
For how are the mighty fallen!

O mount of Gilboa, no dew shalt thou see,
Save the blood of the Philistine fall upon thee;
For the strong-pinioned eagle of Israel is dead,
Thy brow is his pillow, thy bosom his bed!
O how are the mighty fallen!

Weep, daughters of Israel, weep o'er his grave!
What breast will now pity, what arm will now save?
O my brother! my brother! this heart bleeds for thee,
For thou weft a friend and a brother to me!
Ah, how are the mighty fallen!

1. The Yellow Fever
2. The Parting of Decourcy and Wilhelmine
3. On the Birth of a Sister
4. Modesty
5. To a Departing Friend

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