 | The bard, and minor poems |  |
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SONG OF MIRIAM.
“And Miriam the Prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her
hand; and all the women went after her, with timbrels and dances.”
Exodus, x. 20.
Come daughters of Israel, the bright and the fair,
Come forth from your tents, (all unbraided their hair,
Their dark eyes wild flashing, their arms waving high,)
And beat the loud timbrel with dances of joy.
Come forth from your tents, (all unbraided their hair,
Their dark eyes wild flashing, their arms waving high,)
And beat the loud timbrel with dances of joy.
Then rush'd the proud damsel in gladness along,
And sung to the people the festival song;
O none of the children of Judah like her,
With the sackbut, and timbrel, and sweet dulcimer.
And sung to the people the festival song;
O none of the children of Judah like her,
With the sackbut, and timbrel, and sweet dulcimer.
“Hark! people of Israel, and prophets of God,
Behold where your cohorts and legions have trod!
Those waves that roll slow in the beams of the sun,
O'er the bones of ten thousand brave warriors run.
Behold where your cohorts and legions have trod!
Those waves that roll slow in the beams of the sun,
O'er the bones of ten thousand brave warriors run.
“Ye trod them as victors—they knelt when ye came—
And crouch'd like young fawns at the sound of His name;
But the heathen swept onward in darkness and gloom,
The weed is their laurel, their harvest the tomb!
And crouch'd like young fawns at the sound of His name;
But the heathen swept onward in darkness and gloom,
The weed is their laurel, their harvest the tomb!
“Louder still strike the timbrel!—again and again—
Let the shout of your triumph be heard o'er the plain;
The mountains shall echo your strains of delight,
And the rivers and forests in chorus unite.
Let the shout of your triumph be heard o'er the plain;
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And the rivers and forests in chorus unite.
“Praise, praise for the Giver, and praise for the brave,
The God of our fathers, the chosen to save:
He smote the Egyptian,—He spake—we were free—
He guided our legions o'er mountain and sea.
The God of our fathers, the chosen to save:
He smote the Egyptian,—He spake—we were free—
He guided our legions o'er mountain and sea.
“Like tempests of winter, like billows unbound,
The armies of Egypt encompass'd us round;
But the voice of the Lord like a trumpet was heard,
And the waves stood abash'd and acknowledged His word.
The armies of Egypt encompass'd us round;
But the voice of the Lord like a trumpet was heard,
And the waves stood abash'd and acknowledged His word.
“Woe, woe to the sleeper, the rock is his bed,
The cliffs of the ocean now pillow his head;
The arm that was strong in the press of the fight,
And the breast all undaunted, are quench'd in their might.
The cliffs of the ocean now pillow his head;
The arm that was strong in the press of the fight,
And the breast all undaunted, are quench'd in their might.
“Woe, woe for the temples and summits of stone!
Woe, woe for the mighty, the monarch, the throne!
The bright and the lovely shall mourn for the hour,
When Pharaoh encompass'd our tents in his power.
Woe, woe for the mighty, the monarch, the throne!
The bright and the lovely shall mourn for the hour,
When Pharaoh encompass'd our tents in his power.
“But Israel shall sing whilst the night and the day
With sunbeams and starlight in radiance lay;
And the God of our people shall hear us afar,
To shield us in quiet, and guard us in war.”
With sunbeams and starlight in radiance lay;
And the God of our people shall hear us afar,
To shield us in quiet, and guard us in war.”
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