ESTHER by ANGELICO CHAVEZ

My Lady Esther, beautiful
With beauty indescribable,
Of guileless grace and modest mien,
With much of handmaid and of queen,
Nor less of mother than of maid,
Dared stand in awe, yet unafraid
Of all the pains that death might bring,
Before the presence of her King.

Where no man dared approach, alone
She came and pleaded for her own,
Sure that her beauty would be heard
For me, whose life lay on his word.
Oh, never beamed a star so fair
As did my Lady Esther there;
For Heaven's eyes, if lightning clear,
Still lack the sparkle of a tear.

And that great King of mind unknown
By love was fixed fast to his throne,
Transformed by joy to know that here
Was one whose love surpassed her fear.
Well might have Sheba's queen foregone
Not only all of Solomon,
But the whole world and everything
For just one smile from such a King.

How much that smile did mean to me
My Lady Esther knows, for she
Of guileless grace and modest mien,
As much a handmaid as a queen,
Nor less a mother than a maid,
Dared stand alone and unafraid
Before her King, who smiled upon
Her tears and said: "Behold, thy son."

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