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Vachel Lindsay - Darling Daughter Of Babylon
Work rating: Low

Too soon you wearied of our tears.
And then you danced with spangled feet,
Leading Belshazzar`s chattering court
A-tinkling through the shadowy street.
With mead they came, with chants of shame.
DESIRE`S red flag before them flew.
And Istar`s music moved your mouth
And Baal`s deep shames rewoke in you.

Now you could drive the royal car;
Forget our Nation`s breaking load:
Now you could sleep on silver beds.—
(Bitter and dark was our abode.)
And so, for many a night you laughed,
And knew not of my hopeless prayer,
Till God`s own spirit whipped you forth
From Istar`s shrine, from Istar`s stair.

Darling daughter of Babylon—
Rose by the black Euphrates flood—
Again your beauty grew more dear
Than my slave`s bread, than my heart`s blood.
We sang of Zion, good to know,
Where righteousness and peace abide. . . .
What of your second sacrilege
Carousing at Belshazzar`s side?

Once, by a stream, we clasped tired hands—
Your paint and henna washed away.
Your place, you said, was with the slaves
Who sewed the thick cloth, night and day.
You were a pale and holy maid
Toil-bound with us. One night you said:—
"Your God shall be my God until
I slumber with the patriarch dead."

Pardon, daughter of Babylon,
If, on this night remembering
Our lover walks under the walls
Of hanging gardens in the spring,
A venom comes from broken hope,
From memories of your comrade-song
Until I curse your painted eyes
And do your flower-mouth too much wrong.
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