 | Israel in Egypt |  |
Gayly as captive from his prison loosed,
Bounded away the mule. In loving arms
Of parents, soon the loving child was locked;
And all the wonders she had witnessed, told:
How Moses she had lost; how, by a Power
Angelic, surely, she had been brought forth;
And how even yet, perchance, o'er all the land
'Twixt Zoan and their Goshen, darkness lay,
Like a deep pitch-black lake.
Bounded away the mule. In loving arms
Of parents, soon the loving child was locked;
And all the wonders she had witnessed, told:
How Moses she had lost; how, by a Power
Angelic, surely, she had been brought forth;
And how even yet, perchance, o'er all the land
'Twixt Zoan and their Goshen, darkness lay,
Like a deep pitch-black lake.
Ecstatic joy
Filled the repentant Spirit, when he saw
The chosen virgin, in the light of day
Secure, and homeward speeding: for a sense
Obscure he long had felt, of hostile Power,
Beyond compare his mightier, not far off;
And dreaded lest, with interruption sharp,
He should be stopped; and all his good intent
For her, made vain; while on himself should fall
Anger, and hate, and bitter punishment.
Faintly, and trembling, then, a thought he breathed:
Filled the repentant Spirit, when he saw
The chosen virgin, in the light of day
Secure, and homeward speeding: for a sense
Obscure he long had felt, of hostile Power,
Beyond compare his mightier, not far off;
And dreaded lest, with interruption sharp,
He should be stopped; and all his good intent
For her, made vain; while on himself should fall
Anger, and hate, and bitter punishment.
Faintly, and trembling, then, a thought he breathed:
| Israel in Egypt | |