Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BETH-EL, by LOUIS ALBERT LAMB


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BETH-EL, by                    
First Line: Loinwise upgirded, with a leathern clout
Last Line: All valhall's virtue waxed a thousandfold.
Subject(s): Victory


LOINWISE upgirded, with a leathern clout,
All stript and weaponless, behold him go
Over the barrier, vaulting, fit for his foe,
A Man, unartificed, wide-stanced, and stout.

He breathes him, for the Champion's coming out:
Shrill sounds the signal: Springs he like a bow
Scorning the arrow: See, his hold is low:
Like Death his sinews grip: His is the bout!

Thus, every man must do his fall with Fate —
Naked, unarmed, unchampioned, alone,
The odds unweighed, the issue unforetold:
Only for him doth Victory's paean wait,
Who, in that day, shall marshal as his own
All Valhall's virtue waxed a thousandfold.





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