The poetical works of Robert Stephen Hawker Edited from the original manuscripts and annotated copies together with a prefatory notice and bibliography by Alfred Wallis |
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BAAL ZEPHON.
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 | The poetical works of Robert Stephen Hawker |  |
BAAL ZEPHON.
Was it the shout of storms that rent the sky?
The rush of many a whirlwind from its lair?
Or be the fierce Maozzim loose on high?—
The old Gods of the North: the Demons of the Air!
The rush of many a whirlwind from its lair?
Or be the fierce Maozzim loose on high?—
The old Gods of the North: the Demons of the Air!
143
Those Tartar hills! billowy with writhing men;
That yelling Euxine! throttled with her dead:
The quivering air, as thick with ghosts as when
The severed souls of Syrian
armies fled!
That yelling Euxine! throttled with her dead:
The quivering air, as thick with ghosts as when
The severed souls of Syrian
armies fled!
Ah fatal field! Ah doomed and deadly sea!
Where be the hosts of God?—that ancient band;
Michael the Prince! and Uriel!—where
are ye,
That once did valiantly for English land?
Where be the hosts of God?—that ancient band;
Michael the Prince! and Uriel!—where
are ye,
That once did valiantly for English land?
Shun ye the flaunting Crescent's baleful sign;
The circumcisèd hordes of vile Mahound:
Or is the Red-Cross banner loath to shine
Where Scythian fiends beset the shuddering ground?
The circumcisèd hordes of vile Mahound:
Or is the Red-Cross banner loath to shine
Where Scythian fiends beset the shuddering ground?
Lords of the vassal air, the lightning-tongue,
The harnessed fires, with footsteps like the storm!
Where is your vaunt, and what your strength among
Those riders of the cloud, with battle warm?
The harnessed fires, with footsteps like the storm!
Where is your vaunt, and what your strength among
Those riders of the cloud, with battle warm?
Sound the stern signal! summon sea and shore;
Clothe many a steed with thunder for the war!—
An angel, standing at a cottage door
To guard a peasant's child, is mightier far!
Clothe many a steed with thunder for the war!—
An angel, standing at a cottage door
To guard a peasant's child, is mightier far!
Oh for the Sigil! or the chanted spell!
The pentacle that Demons know and dread!—
So should Maozzim flee, with baffled yell,
And the lulled Euxine smooth its billowy bed.
The pentacle that Demons know and dread!—
So should Maozzim flee, with baffled yell,
And the lulled Euxine smooth its billowy bed.
144
Arise O Lord! stretch forth Thy red right hand!
Smite the strong Dragon and his Scythian lair!
God visible! among the nations stand
And bid the traitor Russ thy banished Name declare!
Smite the strong Dragon and his Scythian lair!
God visible! among the nations stand
And bid the traitor Russ thy banished Name declare!
1854.
| The poetical works of Robert Stephen Hawker | |