The Rape of Dinah

The Rape of Dinah Creator (c. 1700) by Sebastiano Ricci

As a lamb in the forest the damsel did stray

Where the wolf Shechem sunk rotten fangs in his prey

And tore at pure flesh till the smell of blood and lust

Choked the air thick in which bleating fell like wet dust.

Haggard she limped to the camp of her kindred

And bore her naked shame before Jacob’s head.

From the twelve, two rose as mountains come to life

And shook the earth with the rage of Heaven’s strife.

The wolf returned and spake peace through jaws yet red,

Slavering terms blind to black clouds overhead;

And Jacob slipped a noose round him and Hamor

And made the pack to sever their vile fore.

Three days more Dinah’s honor would suffer in tent,

Before the Canaan soil on which it stood was rent;

Three days the Shechemites blood was in presage drawn

To whet the keen blades of Levi and Simeon.

At last the Angel of Death was loosed on the men,

The righteous cup of the Lord boiled over den;

And sword held in knuckle white pierced the beast untame,

Only then the land of Shalem earned its rightful name.