Narcissus and Other Poems By E. Carpenter |
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THE COMPLAINT OF JOB.
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 | Narcissus and Other Poems |  |
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THE COMPLAINT OF JOB.
O perish the day I was born, and the night when my mother conceived;
Let that day be darkness, let God regard it no more from on high;
Let fear fright it back to the gloom, and let it no more be reprieved
From the shadowy challenge of death and clouds that about it lie.
Let that day be darkness, let God regard it no more from on high;
Let fear fright it back to the gloom, and let it no more be reprieved
From the shadowy challenge of death and clouds that about it lie.
O let it no more rejoice with the light-footed days of the year,
Let the pale moon know it no more, let it not be reckoned as one;
O curse it all ye that curse the day! let that night be dear
To them that pray to the Dragon that preys on the light of the Sun.
Let the pale moon know it no more, let it not be reckoned as one;
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To them that pray to the Dragon that preys on the light of the Sun.
Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it long for the day,
And know it not, nor behold the fragrant eyelids of morn,
Since it shut not the doors of the womb when my mother in travail lay,
Nor hid mine eyes from the dawning light of sorrow and scorn.
And know it not, nor behold the fragrant eyelids of morn,
Since it shut not the doors of the womb when my mother in travail lay,
Nor hid mine eyes from the dawning light of sorrow and scorn.
Why died I not from the womb, nor gave life back to the deep?
O why was I nursed on the knee, and suckled so well at the breast?
For now should I long have lain in quiet and folded in sleep,
And gathered of old to the great assembly of them that rest:
O why was I nursed on the knee, and suckled so well at the breast?
For now should I long have lain in quiet and folded in sleep,
And gathered of old to the great assembly of them that rest:
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With judges and kings of earth in their pyramid-sepulchres lone,
With mighty princes that stuffed their tombs with treasures of worth;
So had I not been; so had I sweet peace and nothingness known,
As infants that never saw light, as a hidden untimely birth.
With mighty princes that stuffed their tombs with treasures of worth;
So had I not been; so had I sweet peace and nothingness known,
As infants that never saw light, as a hidden untimely birth.
Ah! there do the wicked cease from troubling, the weary rest;
The prisoners rest together, they hear not the tyrant's word.
Both small and great are there, the oppressor with the opprest;
But the small man hath not fear, the servant is free from his lord.
The prisoners rest together, they hear not the tyrant's word.
Both small and great are there, the oppressor with the opprest;
But the small man hath not fear, the servant is free from his lord.
O wherefore is sweet life given to a soul in bitterness clad?
And wherefore light unto him whom sorrow and darkness hold?
Who waiteth for death all day, and seeing the grave is glad;
But finds it not though he dig for it more than hid treasures of gold.
And wherefore light unto him whom sorrow and darkness hold?
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But finds it not though he dig for it more than hid treasures of gold.
O wherefore light unto him whose way is wasted with gloom,
Whom God hath girt with a hedge, that he cannot or see or think?
O wherefore light unto me, or meat for my life, to whom
Sighing comes sooner than bread and weeping quicker than drink?
Whom God hath girt with a hedge, that he cannot or see or think?
O wherefore light unto me, or meat for my life, to whom
Sighing comes sooner than bread and weeping quicker than drink?
For even all things that I feared have alighted on me from the air:
I have nought of rest, or peace or quiet, but trouble is there.
I have nought of rest, or peace or quiet, but trouble is there.
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