 | American poems, selected and original |  |
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MESSAGE OF MORDECAI TO ESTHER.
From a Manuscript Poem.
By Timothy Dwight, D. D.
BOOK II,—THE CONCLUSION.
Thou know'st, O Esther! from thy infant years,
To rear thy form, to nurse thy opening mind,
To teach thee every virtue, every truth,
To form thee finish'd, lovely, great, and wise,
Was all my care supreme. Friendless, alone,
An orphan scarcely budded, well thou know'st
I found thee; as a darling flower (the rose,
That blooms in Sharon, or at Hermon's foot
The lilly of the vale) from midst the wild,
With every care remov'd thee to my field,
And saw thee rise, and bloom, and send abroad
A fragrance, richer than the Arabian gale.
Why all adorn'd with beauty's living bloom,
In form as some young Virtue of the skies,
Of tincture died in health's immortal stream,
Of eye resplendent, as the morning sun
Looks thro' the cloud's fair opening, and of grace,
Where heaven was pleas'd to move in mortal guise;
Why form'd with soul, superior to thy kind,
With thoughts expanding thro' the world's wide round,
And pinion'd to the skies; with hardy mind,
Patient and daring, as the hero stands
Upon the deadly and fierce flaming breach,
Serene while Death walks onward; yet more soft
Than the pleas'd infant smiles the savage dumb;
Why all accomplish'd, and why angel all,
I ponder'd long, and now from Heaven I learn.
This mighty hour the Eye Omniscient mark'd,
While fair, beneath his forming hand, uprose
Thy varied excellence. For this Heaven gave
Thy virtue, gift supreme, that virtue crown'd
With wisdom's power; that wisdoms cloth'd divine
With beauty's angel form, that form around
Diffus'd the light of Heaven; and all adorn'd
With grace and sweetness, dignity and love.
On that proud day, when, from an hundred realms
Summon'd, came many a lord, and chief, and king,
Magnificent, to grace the monarch's feast,
And all the pomp of Persia round him spread;
When Vashti's insolence, beyond all thought,
Her presence to the illustrious train refus'd;
When, taught by Memucan he wisely bade
The haughty fair one wear the crown no more;
Even then a field I saw, by Heaven outspread,
To give thy virtue scope, and rich reward.
Pondering, I brought thee to the eunuchs' Prince;
Amaz'd, amid all Persia's beauteous maids,
Thee, thee alone he gaz'd. Convinc'd, I knew
The crown reserv'd for thee. With no surprise,
I saw thee lifted to the world's great throne:
'Twas thus the Skies decreed. But, O bless'd fair!
Not for thyself the Heavens thy beauty gave,
Thy grace, thy wisdom; nor, for thee alone,
Did Mordecai uprear thy precious bloom.
Heaven's gifts are virtue's aids; for virtue us'd,
Are us'd aright; or else are given in vain.
On thy great power to bless, all Israel builds
A solemn claim. A voice, as thunder loud,
Awful, majestic, from thy nation sounds,
And bids thee rise to save. Their cause thou know'st
The cause of heaven. In them religion lives;
From them Messiah springs, by whose bless'd hand
All nations good, and life, and glory gain.
The world's great happiness on them suspends.
Creation's end, and Providence' great scope.
Go then, thy nation save. Should every ill,
Even death, betide; yet what is life, or death,
When Israel calls, when God demands our life.
And know, O fair! if thou thy voice withhold,
Yet to the ruling Heavens, whose piercing eye
All mortal things surveys, ten thousand paths,
From danger's deepest caves, lead up to day:
Paths, tho' by man unseen, yet strait, and plain,
To God's all-piercing view. Thro Death's dark vale,
Such paths shall Israel guide to life and peace.
Then from the skies indignant, while thy race
To peace and joy ascend, thy fairest day
Of duty, glory, lost, thy soul shall feel
The piercing anguish of a wounded heart,
And waste with keen remorse, and sad despair.
To rear thy form, to nurse thy opening mind,
To teach thee every virtue, every truth,
To form thee finish'd, lovely, great, and wise,
Was all my care supreme. Friendless, alone,
An orphan scarcely budded, well thou know'st
I found thee; as a darling flower (the rose,
That blooms in Sharon, or at Hermon's foot
The lilly of the vale) from midst the wild,
With every care remov'd thee to my field,
And saw thee rise, and bloom, and send abroad
A fragrance, richer than the Arabian gale.
Why all adorn'd with beauty's living bloom,
In form as some young Virtue of the skies,
Of tincture died in health's immortal stream,
Of eye resplendent, as the morning sun
Looks thro' the cloud's fair opening, and of grace,
Where heaven was pleas'd to move in mortal guise;
Why form'd with soul, superior to thy kind,
With thoughts expanding thro' the world's wide round,
And pinion'd to the skies; with hardy mind,
Patient and daring, as the hero stands
Upon the deadly and fierce flaming breach,
Serene while Death walks onward; yet more soft
300
Why all accomplish'd, and why angel all,
I ponder'd long, and now from Heaven I learn.
This mighty hour the Eye Omniscient mark'd,
While fair, beneath his forming hand, uprose
Thy varied excellence. For this Heaven gave
Thy virtue, gift supreme, that virtue crown'd
With wisdom's power; that wisdoms cloth'd divine
With beauty's angel form, that form around
Diffus'd the light of Heaven; and all adorn'd
With grace and sweetness, dignity and love.
On that proud day, when, from an hundred realms
Summon'd, came many a lord, and chief, and king,
Magnificent, to grace the monarch's feast,
And all the pomp of Persia round him spread;
When Vashti's insolence, beyond all thought,
Her presence to the illustrious train refus'd;
When, taught by Memucan he wisely bade
The haughty fair one wear the crown no more;
Even then a field I saw, by Heaven outspread,
To give thy virtue scope, and rich reward.
Pondering, I brought thee to the eunuchs' Prince;
Amaz'd, amid all Persia's beauteous maids,
Thee, thee alone he gaz'd. Convinc'd, I knew
The crown reserv'd for thee. With no surprise,
I saw thee lifted to the world's great throne:
'Twas thus the Skies decreed. But, O bless'd fair!
Not for thyself the Heavens thy beauty gave,
Thy grace, thy wisdom; nor, for thee alone,
Did Mordecai uprear thy precious bloom.
Heaven's gifts are virtue's aids; for virtue us'd,
Are us'd aright; or else are given in vain.
301
A solemn claim. A voice, as thunder loud,
Awful, majestic, from thy nation sounds,
And bids thee rise to save. Their cause thou know'st
The cause of heaven. In them religion lives;
From them Messiah springs, by whose bless'd hand
All nations good, and life, and glory gain.
The world's great happiness on them suspends.
Creation's end, and Providence' great scope.
Go then, thy nation save. Should every ill,
Even death, betide; yet what is life, or death,
When Israel calls, when God demands our life.
And know, O fair! if thou thy voice withhold,
Yet to the ruling Heavens, whose piercing eye
All mortal things surveys, ten thousand paths,
From danger's deepest caves, lead up to day:
Paths, tho' by man unseen, yet strait, and plain,
To God's all-piercing view. Thro Death's dark vale,
Such paths shall Israel guide to life and peace.
Then from the skies indignant, while thy race
To peace and joy ascend, thy fairest day
Of duty, glory, lost, thy soul shall feel
The piercing anguish of a wounded heart,
And waste with keen remorse, and sad despair.
Thus wrote the feeling Prince. Awhile, in deep
And solemn contemplation sat the fair,
Pondering the forceful message. Rouz'd at length
From off the sofa, all that softly sweet,
Angelic smile her face forsook; her eye,
Kindling with sacred fire, shot forth a ray
Of sunbright glory; high her bosom rose;
Her pulse beat high, and loftily she walk'd
The spacious room. Surpriz'd, her virgins stood,
While thus her faithful Hatach she address'd.
Go tell illustrious Mordecai, my soul
Is warm'd to this great deed. His daughter's heart
Shuns not for Israel, or for Heaven, to die.
Undone by me, no duty shall demand
Another's bosom; lost by me, no hour
Of real glory shall another crown
With fame, and life divine. Let Israel's race,
Thro' Shushan's walls, with prayers, and tears, and fasts,
Implore the Skies; and tho no bright'ning hope
Presents the king complacent; yet, to morrow,
My feet shall tempt the court of gloomy danger,
And if my life's exacted, let me die.
And solemn contemplation sat the fair,
Pondering the forceful message. Rouz'd at length
From off the sofa, all that softly sweet,
Angelic smile her face forsook; her eye,
Kindling with sacred fire, shot forth a ray
Of sunbright glory; high her bosom rose;
302
The spacious room. Surpriz'd, her virgins stood,
While thus her faithful Hatach she address'd.
Go tell illustrious Mordecai, my soul
Is warm'd to this great deed. His daughter's heart
Shuns not for Israel, or for Heaven, to die.
Undone by me, no duty shall demand
Another's bosom; lost by me, no hour
Of real glory shall another crown
With fame, and life divine. Let Israel's race,
Thro' Shushan's walls, with prayers, and tears, and fasts,
Implore the Skies; and tho no bright'ning hope
Presents the king complacent; yet, to morrow,
My feet shall tempt the court of gloomy danger,
And if my life's exacted, let me die.
End of book II.
Book III.—(The Beginning.)
From midst a shining cloud, whose borders fairA golden light upturn'd, look'd forth the sun.
As clear, as bright, uprose the Persian Queen,
In all the pride of beauty. Rob'd in pomp
Of Asian splendor, forth she slowly mov'd,
Attended by a royal train, that gave
New glory to the Fair. Strait to the throne
303
Before her open'd wide the ivory gates,
On golden hinges turning; where, in purple
And gems, and gold, attir'd, with pomp supreme,
With port august, and aspect sternly dread,
She saw the Monarch thron'd. Full on his eye
She dawn'd in all her beauty, rob'd in white
With silver intertwin'd, and flowers of gold.
Around her diadem, mid rows of pearls,
Twinkled unnumber'd stars. Two cupids fair
Beside her walk'd in blooming innocence;
And two her train supported. From their hands,
Flowers fell, and fragrance, that the palace wide
Breath'd living odours. Soft and sweet the air.
The lovely Queen assum'd; her large, black eyes,
Mildly refulgent, shone, two morning stars;
While o'er her cheek, with lambent beauty, play'd
Colours, which neither flowers, nor gems, nor clouds,
Nor rainbows ever shed. Full on the King
She cast a sweet, and soul-explaining smile
Of soft complacence; such as angels show,
To greet their fellows, when, from errand high
Return'd, they meet the sovereign euge bless'd.
The Monarch gaz'd; and, tho' his heart was fix'd
In all the sternness of Asiatic state;
Yet in the beams of beauty, soul inspir'd,
His softening bosom melted. Fairer far
He view'd her, than when brought to bless his arms
With virgin innocence. As in calm skies,
'Twixt two fair planets, walks in pride divine
The ascending Moon, o'er all the the immense of heaven
304
Softening the world to silence. With mild eye,
She looks her empire round, and sees the stars
With joy before her hide their little lamps,
And plains, and groves, and mountains in the beam,
Shadowy, ascend and brighten. Fair she smiles,
And triumphs in her beauty; while the bard
Eyes the bright queen, and wakes a thousand dreams,
And thinks her empress of the realms above
So rose in all her bloom the wondrous Fair,
And so the Monarch gaz'd. Spontaneous mov'd
His arm unbidden, and to greet the Queen,
Reach'd forth the golden sceptre. As the Fair,
Advancing, touch'd its starry point, he cried,
O Queen, what wishes in thy bosom rise?
What prayer begins thy voice? Even to the half
Of Persia's vast domain, that prayer is giv'n.—
| American poems, selected and original | |