University of Virginia Library

THE DEATH OF MOSES.

Now Moses knew his hour of death was nigh;
For the Most High commanded Sammael
To fetch His servant's soul to Paradise—
Sammael, who, clothed in anger, grasped his sword
To slay him, and would have slain, but for the light
Wherewith his face shone, while his hand went on
Writing the Incommunicable Name.
“What ails thee, Moses? Why art thou so pale?
What evil hath befallen us?” Zipporah asked.
And Moses said: “My hour of death is come!”
“What! must a man who hath spoken with God die thus?
Thou, like a common man?” “I must, all must,
The angels Michael, Gabriel, Israfel,
God only is eternal, and dies not.
Where are my children?” “They are put to sleep.”
“Wake them; for I must say farewell to them.”
Beside the children's bed she wept and moaned;
“Wake, rise, and bid your father now farewell,
Orphans! for this is his last day on earth!”
They woke in terror. “Who will pity us
When we are fatherless?” “Who will pity them
When they are fatherless?” And Moses wept
Then God spake to him: “Dost thou fear to die?
Or dost thou leave this earth reluctantly?”
And Moses said: “I do not fear to die,
Nor do I leave this earth reluctantly.
But I lament these children of mine age,
Who have their grandsire and their uncle lost,
And who will lose their father, if I die.”
“In whom did she, thy mother, then confide,
When thou by her wast in the bulrush ark
Committed to the Nile?” “In Thee, O Lord!”
“Who hardened Pharaoh's heart, and gave thee power
Before him and his gods, and to thy hand
A staff to part the waters?” “Thou, O Lord!”
“And fearest to trust thy children unto Me,
Who am the Father of the Fatherless?
Go; take thy staff and over the sea once more
Extend it, and thou shalt behold a sign
To strengthen thy weak faith.” And he obeyed.
He took the rod of God, and, going down
To the desolate sea-beach, he stretched it there.
The sea divided, as when clouds are driven
Along the path of a whirlwind, and he saw
A black rock in it, whereunto he went;
And reaching soon the rock, a voice cried, “Smite!”
He smote; it clave asunder, and therein,
At its foundation was a little cleft,
And in that cleft, with a green leaf in its mouth,
A worm, which lifting up its voice, cried thrice,
“Praise be to God, who hath not forgotten me,
Worm that I am, in holy darkness here!
Praise be to Him, who cherishes even me!”
When the low voice was silent, heard of all
The angels in the pauses of their hymn,
For they ceased singing to behold that sign
Of God's exceeding love—He spake again:
“Thou seest that I consider and provide
Not for man only, but for a little worm,
In a rock whereof men know not, in the waves,
Far in the dark depths of the barren sea.
Shall I forget thy children who know Me?”
Then Moses, so instructed of the Lord,
Comforted his children and his sorrowing wife;
And, leaning on his staff, went forth alone,
To climb the mountain where he was to die;
And where, when he had closed his weary eyes,
And pressed his hand upon his pulseless heart,
God kissed His servant, and he was with Him.