Israel in Egypt :: :: University of Virginia Library

“Thou dreamëst, Moses; stir thy senses up,
And look about on firm realities,
Not on mist-visions,” said the great, deep voice,
Each word as 'twere a blow,—“How knowëst thou,
How can'st thou know God's purpose! Hidden deep
As the earth's centre, evermore from man
Are all His counsels kept. The crazy brain
Alone, affects the invisible to see;
The blind alone, sees not the visible,
Glaring before the eye. Crazed, then, thou art,—
Thin air for substance taking; or, else, blind,—
The mountain piled before thee seeing not.
That which thou call'st God's purpose, is thy dream;
Less than a shadow; for a shadow still
From substance comes; yet, solid as the earth
Thou seem'st to hold it; while this mighty strength
Of men, and arms, and steeds, invincible,—
Real, substantial as the eternal rocks,—
Either thine eye beholds not, or thy sense
For shadow taketh; else impossible
The thought, that of its purpose it can fail.
Say,—art thou wakened now? Wilt thou the head
To this vast body be? or, traitor-like,
Aid Pharaoh to hold Israel yet his slave?
Answer at once: but yet the alternate weigh:
For, as toward us, or Egypt, thou shalt lean,
So, on thyself, and Israel, wilt thou bring
Good, or worse evil.”

“Choice is left me none,”
Firmly him Moses answered. “All I see,
All hear, with absolute voice declares aloud
Egypt must fall before thee. Yet, best vouch
Of eye, ear, reason, light as shadow is,
Poised 'gainst the words of God, which to my soul
On Horeb's mount were spoken. Nought of thee,
Amosis; nought of this o'erwhelming power
On Egypt coming, spake the awful Voice:
But of a hand Almighty, to be stretched
O'er Pharaoh and his people; smiting them
With plagues unheard of; till, with one acclaim,

They should cry out on Israel to depart.
Such, then, God's means, thy purpose is as nought;
In nought will end. Like dew-drops in the sun,
Thy myriads may exhale; like rain-drops, sink
In thirsty earth; like corn unreaped, may fall,
And rot upon the ground; like clouds may pass,
And fire and thunder pour on other lands,—
But, for this Pharaoh, this Egyptian race,
No power of thine may touch them. Useless, then,
My aid to give; nay, sinful, knowing well,
That in far other fashion am I called,
From bondage to take Israel. So assured,—
Power, kingdom, riches, beauty,—all combined
To lure me in thy service,—light would be
My heart to bend, as feather from dove's wing,
To bow the oak it drops on.”

“Thou art fixed,
Plainly I see; but madness fixed,” exclaimed
The phantom monarch; fury in his looks,
His voice like tempest: “take, then, thine own course
But, mark the end. Dream not that, hence to go,
And, fool-like, to your tyrant Pharaoh take
News of our coming, I shall leave thee free.
Us if thou aid not, him thou shalt not aid;
Nor Israel; though ten thousand gods like thine
Had sworn the promise to thee. Yet, once more
I bid thee think. The moment now is come
When life, with honor, or immediate death,
Must be thy choice. I waste no longer words
On madness, or perverseness iron-hard.”