In answer to his question, "Is the
young man safe?" he hears reply that pierces his heart like a
dagger. Up to his chamber over the gate the king slowly passed
weeping and bent with grief, and as he went he said, "O my son
Absalom! my son, my son Absalom! Would God I had died for thee, O
Absalom, my son, my son!"
A poet's conception of David's great grief on hearing of the death
of his son is portrayed in the following lines of N. P. Willis:
Alas! my noble boy! that thou shouldst die!
Thou, who wert made so beautifully fair!
That Death should settle in thy glorious eye,
And leave his stillness in thy clustering hair!
How could he mark thee for the silent tomb?
My proud boy, Absalom!
Cold is thy brow, my son! and I am chill,
As to my bosom I have tried to press thee
How was I wont to feel my pulses thrill,
Like a rich harp-string, yearning to caress thee,
And hear thy sweet "MY FATHER!" from these dumb
And cold lips, Absalom!
But death is on thee. I shall hear the gush
Of music, and the voices of the young;
And life will pass me in the mantling blush,
And the dark tresses to the soft winds flung;
But thou no more, with thy sweet voice, shalt come
To meet me, Absalom!
