In sudden sight from black concealment rose, "Then down we slipped, And in the shadow by the breach's edge away To sloping ground, with faces set, and hands Fast clutching weapon hilts, we stood in wait. We dared not leave the breach. The robber band Once in the town, would spread through sinuous lanes And sow destruction; and the first to fall Beneath their ruthless power might be the ones In one close mass they rushed upon the breach, Like some huge wave that, when the seas are fierce, Rolls on the ruined battlements of Tyre, Clutches their base, and reaches clinging arms, To clasp the loftiest stone. "Then from its sheath, Where like a coiled serpent round my waist A deadly circle did we flash in air, And on that human wave fell vengefully. Twice, thrice we smote, and while, unharmed, I clove A fourth black-turbaned crown, I saw two fiends Leap at Ibraim. As he slew the first The other seized him in his demon grasp, And, like one frenzied, sprang through middle space Upon the writhing throng. "Along the street The tardy rescuers surged. I cried them on; "I raised Ibraim's head: his heavy lids Black clouds had gulfed the stars. A bodeful moan The livid lightning rent the breast of night; CLINTON SCOLLARD. WHAT MISS EDITH SAW FROM HER WINDOW. OUR window's not much—though it fronts on the street, There's a fly on the pane that gets nothin' to eat; For me to look out of the window. Why, when company comes, and they're all speaking low, With their chairs drawn together, then some one says, "O Edith, dear! that's a good child; now run, love, and go And amuse yourself there at the window!" Or Bob-that's my brother-comes in with his chun And they whisper and chuckle-the same words wi come And it's "Edith, look here!—O I say! what a rum Lot of things you can see from that window !" And yet, as I told you, there's only that fly And yet, I've been thinking I'd so like to see How we'd watch when the parcels were hid in the drawer, Or things taken out that we never see more; And that night when the stranger came home with our Jane I might see what I heard then-that sounded sc plain Like when my wet fingers I rub on the pane— (Which they won't let me do on my window.) And I'd know why papa shut the door with a slam, And said something funny that sounded like jam, And said, "Edith, where are you?" I said, "Here I am." "Ah! that's right, dear-look out of the window." They say when I'm grown up these things wil appear More plain than they do when I look at them here; What things? Oh! things that I make up, you know, Out of stories I've read-and they all pass belowAli Baba, the Forty Thieves, all in a row, Go by as I look from my window. That's only at church time; other days there's no crowd Don't laugh! See that big man who looked up and bowed; That's our butcher-I call him the Sultan Mahoud When he nods to me here at the window! And that man-he's our neighbor-just gone for a ride, Has three wives in the church-yard that lie side by side. So I call him old "Blue Beard" in search of his bride, While I'm "Sister Ann," at the window? And what do I call you? Well, here's what I do: |