[BURPEE] CHARLES HEAVYSEGE 
45 
But Jephthah must face a more terrible ordeal than his wife’s 
anger. His daughter comes and pleads with him for her life—she, his 
only beloved child. 
Spare me, father, spare me ? 
Cut me not down or ere my harvest comes ; 
Oh, gather not the handful of my days 
In a thin sheaf of all unripened blades ! 
Imprison me in some sad cell, deep dungeon ; 
Witapemesinechains +. . . . 
but, Jephthah, not at once 
Demand my end; still let me live 
I will resign all pleasure, and accept 
Of pain .. . . lonely dwell, 
Beneath the fretted bars, 
That measure me a few blue feet of sky,— 
All I shall ever see 3 
No more upon the upland lingering, 
Behold the weary sun’s low, cloud-coifed head 
Droop in the drowsy west; nor twilight dim, 
Sickening through shadows of mysterious eve, 
Die midst the starry watches of the night. 
Jephthah replies: 
I dare not let thee live, yet would now dare, 
Yea, now do long to die for thee 
How shall I part from thee 
I have sworn, 
And cannot from my honoured oath go back, 
For by its answer has success been won. 
Then we hear the father’s heart-broken cry: 
Oh, hadst thou been less dutiful, less fair ! 
But thou hast been the sunshine of my years, 
The hope, the care, the solace of my heart. 
Jephthah’s daughter is not yet obedient to the sacrifice. 
pleads for her life. 
Jephthah desperately retorts: 
Oh, spare me, daughter, thesA most piteous pleadings ! 
Forbear, forbear : behold, I am as one 
Who walks, while in his sleep, upon the leads.! 
Again we hear the daughter’s cry: 
It is a bitter thing to die when young: 
To leave all things we loved, admired, most cherished, 
Forgot, perhaps forgetting. 

* Hardly in keeping with the period. 
She still 
