And right athwart the shadow of the cave
A spider's web was spread;
The creature hung upon her web at watch;
Unbroken was each thread;
"By Thammuz' blood," the unbelievers cried,
"Our toil and time are lost;
Where doves hatch, and the spider spins her snare,
No foot of man hath crossed!"
Thus did a desert bird and spider guard
The blessed Prophet then;
For all things serve their maker and their God
Better than thankless men.
Pearls of the Faith.
THE YOUNG DOVES.
There came before our Lord a certain one
Who said, "O Prophet! as I passed the wood
I heard the voice of youngling doves which cried,
While near the nest their pearl-necked mother cooed.
"Then in my cloth I tied those fledglings twain,
But all the way the mother fluttered nigh;
See! she hath followed hither." Spake our Lord:
"Open thy knotted cloth, and stand thou by."
But when she spied her nestlings, from the palm
Down flew the dove, of peril unafeared,
So she might succor these. "Seest thou not,"
Our Lord said, "how the heart of this poor bird