Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.
The Scarlet ThreadCharles Hamilton Musgrove
W
That Israel’s hosts might know
Where dwelt the harlot, Rahab, on
The walls of Jericho.
The ram’s horn blew a blast,
And o’er the fallen parapets
The tribes exultant passed.
Their red swords drank its blood;
But when they passed the harlot’s house
They looked and understood.
Her roof and flaxen bed,
And fire and sword passed by the house
Where hung the scarlet thread.
Your outcast daughters go,
With lives to sell like yours upon
The walls of Jericho.
As mother, maid or wife,
Their scarlet threads shall cling for aye
Unto the House of Life.