Samson’s Final Revenge
—after Judges 16:23-30
Now when Philistine lords amass with zest
In festive adulation of their god—
“Praise Dagan! Samson cowers in arrest!”—
They bring him out and jovially applaud.
“Our god, Dagan, has now interned our foe
Who ravished our dear land and killed our spawn!”
Then in their tipsy tumult, all aglow,
They summon Samson, “Charm us! Bring it on!”
So Samson, out from prison, then enthralls
The masses all around—those frenzied hosts.
He faces his sentry, then he softly calls,
“Please let me lean against these central posts.”
Both men and women are huddled in the house
While all Philistine lords are gathered there
With thousands on the rooftop—man and spouse—
Who also gawk while Samson charms with flair.
Blind Samson summons Yahweh to entreat,
“My Master, God, remember! Hear my plea:
This once, O God, make my revenge complete
On those who wrested my two eyes from me!”
The captive grasps the pillars with his hands
And leans his weight thereon as he stands by,
With right and left hands on the pillar-stands,
And says, “Now with Philistines let me die!”
He presses hard and pushes with his might.
The buckled posts and house collapse straightway,
So those who fall at Samson’s final fight
Outnumber those he killed in his heyday.
Jeff Kemper has been a biology teacher, biblical studies instructor, editor, and painting contractor. He lives in York County, Pennsylvania.
I have enjoyed the story of Samson since I was a young child, and my mother read it to me from “Egermeier’s Bible Story Book.” Your wonderful poem rekindled those memories with perfect imagery and rhyme.
Thanks, Roy, I’m glad it brought back memories. I picture it in a much more gruesome way, now that I’m older.
I think the proper name for “pillar-stand” is “plinth,” but good luck finding a rhyme for that word! In the last stanza “straightway” is rhymed with “heyday,” which is a nice thing, because the final foot in each of the lines substitutes a spondee for an iamb, and we also have a double assonance. That’s a good way to do things when it comes to being a careful rhymer, in my opinion.
C. B. Plinth? That’s funny. I’ve the word before. Thanks for the memory-renewal. I once rhymed “mouth” with “spouth” with a footnote that it was an optional spelling for “spouse,” so severe is my condemnation of near-rhymes.
Great stuff, Jeff. You brought back the nostalgia of the 1949 Victor Mature Samson film that was occasionally on on a Saturday afternoon when I was a kid, and especially the scene you so deftly describe.
Thanks, Paul. I missed that film.
Happy to see God’s name in use!
Yes, I am a Christian. One of my joys it paraphrasing passages of Scripture as classical poetry.
Good punch with each line, Jeff. And clever word touches, for example, the Dagan worshippers in a jovial tipsy tumult, ready to be charmed by blind Samson’s final fight. What a way to say they don’t know what they’re about to see!
Thanks, Margaret, for your generous comments.
Great job! Like Roy, I heard the Samson story many times as a youth. I always believed that I would have been smart enough to not fall prey to Delilah’s charms which probably means that I wouldn’t have been smart enough at all. Great retelling of a story with many lessons for us all.
Thanks, Warren. I believe we modern Christians sometimes look back on these stories and wonder how Samson and others could be so weak. At my age I also would doubt that I am any better than OT saints/sinners, but by God’s grace alone.