 | Complete Poems of Frances E. W. Harper |  |
RETRIBUTION
Judgment slumbered. God in mercy
Stayed his strong avenging hand;
Sent them priests and sent them prophets,
But they would not understand.
Stayed his strong avenging hand;
Sent them priests and sent them prophets,
But they would not understand.
109
Judgment lingered; men, grown bolder,
Gloried in their shame and guilt;
And the blood of God's poor children
Was as water freely spilt.
Gloried in their shame and guilt;
And the blood of God's poor children
Was as water freely spilt.
Then arose a cry to heaven,
Deep and startling, sad and wild,
Sadder than the wail of Egypt,
Mourning for the first-born child.
Deep and startling, sad and wild,
Sadder than the wail of Egypt,
Mourning for the first-born child.
For the sighing of the needy
God at length did bare his hand,
And the footsteps of his judgments
Echoed through the guilty land.
God at length did bare his hand,
And the footsteps of his judgments
Echoed through the guilty land.
Oh! the terror, grief and anguish;
Oh! the bitter, fearful strife,
When the judgments of Jehovah
Pressed upon the nation's life.
Oh! the bitter, fearful strife,
When the judgments of Jehovah
Pressed upon the nation's life.
And the land did reel and tremble
'Neath the terror of his frown,
For its guilt lay heavy on it,
Pressing like an iron crown.
'Neath the terror of his frown,
For its guilt lay heavy on it,
Pressing like an iron crown.
As a warning to the nations,
Bathed in blood and swathed in fire,
Lay the once oppressing nation,
Smitten by God's fearful ire.
Bathed in blood and swathed in fire,
Lay the once oppressing nation,
Smitten by God's fearful ire.
| Complete Poems of Frances E. W. Harper | |