The dark look of his mother, and the seed
Of a stern nation had been breathed upon.

The morning pass'd, and Asia's sun rode up
In the clear heaven, and every beam was heat.
The cattle of the hills were in the shade,
And the bright plumage of the Orient lay
On beating bosoms in her spicy trees.
It was an hour of rest! but Hagar found

No shelter in the wilderness, and on

She kept her weary way, until the boy
Hung down his head, and open'd his parch'd lips

For water; but she could not give it him.
She laid him down beneath the sultry sky,—

For it was better than the close, hot breath
Of the thick pines,—and tried to comfort him;
But he was sore athirst, and his blue eyes

Were dim and blood-shot, and he could not know
Why God denied him water in the wild.
She sat a little longer, and he grew
Ghastly and faint, as if he would have died.
It was too much for her. She lifted him,
And bore him further on, and laid his head
Beneath the shadow of a desert shrub;

And, shrouding up her face, she went away,
And sat to watch, where he could see her not,

Till he should die; and, watching him, she mourn'd:

"God stay thee in thine agony, my boy!

I cannot see thee die; I cannot brook
Upon thy brow to look,

And see death settle on my cradle joy.
How have I drunk the light of thy blue eye!
And could I see thee die?

"I did not dream of this when thou wast straying,
Like an unbound gazelle, among the flowers;
Or wiling the soft hours,

By the rich gush of water-sources playing,
Then sinking weary to thy smiling sleep,
So beautiful and deep.

"Oh no! and when I watch'd by thee the while, And saw thy bright lip curling in thy dream, And thought of the dark stream

In my own land of Egypt, the far Nile,

How pray'd I that my father's land might be
A heritage for thee!

"And now the grave for its cold breast hath won thee! And thy white, delicate limbs the earth will press; And oh my last caress

Must feel thee cold, for a chill hand is on thee.

How can I leave my boy, so pillow'd there
Upon his clustering hair!"