Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AHAB AND JEZEBEL, by EDWARD COLLINS DOWNING


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AHAB AND JEZEBEL, by                    
First Line: Whence came the greed of men, the war of strife
Last Line: The human heart and love shall find release?


Whence came the greed of men, the war of strife,
That grow to murder when their fruit is ripe?
From Paradise or from the damning stripe
Of blood that flowed when Cain upraised the knife?
From Jezebel, who envied Naboth's life,
Or Ahab, coveter, whose hand would gripe
Another's vineyard? Time will never wipe
Away the blot of Ahab and his wife.

Above old Bethlehem a lone bright star
Proclaimed the coming of the Prince of Peace
And hosts of angels flung their song afar,
That selfishness and red, red war might cease.
How long? How long till hate shall never mar
The human heart and love shall find release?





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