MIRIAM'S SONG 91 30 MIRIAM'S SONG Exodus xv. 20-21 Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea! His chariots, his horsemen, all splendid and brave, How vain was their boast, for the Lord hath but spoken, And chariots and horsemen are sunk in the wave. Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea! Jehovah has triumphed-His people are free! Praise to the Conqueror! Praise to the Lord! Of those she sent forth in the hour of her pride? For the Lord hath looked out from His pillar of glory, And all her brave thousands are dashed in the tide. Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea! THOMAS MOORE 31 MOSES ON MOUNT SINAI Up a rough peak, that toward the stormy sky Now Moses named, ascended reverently Vague consciousness of some self-centered strength, me, Only a voice, a motion of the air, A thing invisible, impalpable, Leaving a void, an unreality, Within my heart? I would with every sense Let me at least behold Thee as Thou art; Hallow my vision by Thy glorious form, Thus spoke the Prophet, and the Voice replied, As in low thunders over distant seas, MOSES ON MOUNT SINAI 93 "Beneath the height to which thy feet have striven, A hollow trench divides the cliffs of sand, So Moses gazed across the rocky vale; Was changed at once into a sound-such sound Then Moses fell upon his face again, And prayed, "O pardon the presumptuous thought, LORD HOUGHTON (RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES) 32 THE ARMY OF ISRAEL AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT SINAI Their spears glittered bright in the beams of the sun; Their banners waved far, and their high helmets shone, And their dark plumes were tossed on the breast of the breeze, But the war-trumpet slumbered the slumber of peace. He came in His glory, He came in His might, His chariot the cloud, and His sceptre the light; 'Twas the great God of Israel, riding on high, Whose footstool is earth, and whose throne is the sky; He stood in His glory unseen and alone, And with letters of fire traced the tablets of stone. The eagle may soar to the sun in his might, O Israel, turn back from His glory, or die! The sun in its splendor, the fire in its might, Which devours and withers and wastes from the sight, Is dim to the glory which beams from His eye; Then, Israel, turn back-oh, return, or ye die! LUCRETIA DAVIDSON MOSES AND THE WORM 95 33 MOSES AND THE WORM The great Moses, man of God, came to his tent one day, And called his wife, Safurja, and his children from their play. O sweetest orphaned children! O dearest widowed wife! We meet, dear ones, no more on earth, for this day ends my life. Jehovah sent His angel down, and told me to prepare_❞ Then swooned Safurja on the ground; the children in despair Said, weeping, “Who will care for us, when you, dear father, go?" And Moses wept and sobbed aloud to see his children's woe. But then Jehovah spake from Heaven, " And dost thou fear to die? And dost thou love this world so well that thus I hear thee cry?" And Moses said: "I fear not death; I leave this world with joy; Yet cannot but compassionate this orphan girl and boy." "In whom, then, did thy mother trust, when in thy basket-boat, An infant on the Nile's broad stream, all helpless thou didst float? |