The Poetry Corner

Genesis XXIV

By Arthur Hugh Clough

Who is this man that walketh in the field, O Eleazar, steward to my lord? And Eleazar answered her and said, Daughter of Bethuel, it is other none But my lord Isaac, son unto my lord, Who, as his wont is, walketh in the field, In the hour of evening, meditating there. Therefore Rebekah basted where she sat, And from her camel lighting to the earth, Sought for a veil and put it on her face. But Isaac also, walking in the field, Saw from afar a company that came, Camels, and a seat as where a woman sat; Wherefore he came and met them on the way. Whom, when Rebekah saw, she came before, Saying, Behold the handmaid of my lord; Who, for my lords sake, travel from my land. But he said, O thou blessed of our God, Come, for the tent is eager for thy face. Shall not thy husband, be unto thee more than Hundreds of kinsmen living in thy land? And Eleazar answered, Thus and thus, Even according as thy father bade, Did we; and thus and thus it came to pass: Lo! is not this Rebekah, Bethuels child. And, as he ended, Isaac spoke and said, Surely my heart went with you on the way, When with the beasts ye came unto the place. Truly, O child of Nahor, I was there, When to thy mother and thy mothers son Thou madest answer, saying, I will go. And Isaac brought her to his mothers tent.