Scenes from Scripture with Other Poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

“My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill. “And he planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it; and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. “And now go to. I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge thereof. “And I will lay it waste: there shall come up briars and thorns. “The harp and the viol and wine are in their feasts, but they regard not the work of the Lord. “Therefore Hell hath opened her mouth, and their glory shall descend into it. “Woe unto those who call evil good, and put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. “Therefore is the anger of the Lord turned against His people. “And He will lift up an ensign to the nations from afar. “None shall be weary nor stumble among them.

157

“Their horses' hoofs shall be like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind. “Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar and lay hold of the prey, and none shall deliver it.”— Isaiah V,1.

Israel, thou wert once a Vine,
Never clusters dropped such wine;
Round its beauty wreathed a bower,
O'er it watched a guardian tower;
But the dark Idolater,
Son of Sin and Spoil, was there,
And my vineyard was defiled,
All its glorious fruitage—wild!

But, a cloud shall blight thy bower,
But, a blast shall shake thy tower;
Branching stem, and sheltering hedge,
All, shall feel the axe's edge.
Then shall be the Curse fulfilled,
Thou shalt lie a Land untilled;
Anguish-ploughed, and famine-worn,
Buried in the weed and thorn;

158

All thy beauty, swamp and sand—
Of all Lands, the loneliest Land!

Hark! I hear the dancers bound;
Hark! the maddening cups go round.
On the midnight revel swim
Frantic song and Idol-hymn.
Day and night, still sin on sin,
Adding to the weight within,
Scarcely rescued from the chain,
Ripening for its links again!

Hell is longing for thy tread,
Living, yet already dead!
Now it opes its jaws of flame
For the remnant of thy name.
Idly wise, and weakly great,
Hourly tampering with thy fate,
Palace, cottage, temple, wall,
Mean or mighty, thou shalt fall!

159

Israel, where are now thy wise?
Woe to those who live by lies,
Calling (all their souls deceit)
Evil good, and bitter sweet,
Selling justice, pampering crime,
But revenge shall bide its time!
Like the chaff before the gale,
Like the harvest in the hail,
Like the stubble in the blaze,
Like the cluster that decays,
Ere 'tis ripened on the tree—
Israel, thou and thine shall be!
Think'st thou that My wrath shall sleep,
When I see the Orphan weep!
When I see thy revels fed
With the lonely widow's bread!
Now, the shaft is on the string,
That shall strike thy haughty wing.

Listen, where in more than gloom,
Rush the fillers of the tomb;

160

Come from regions fierce and far,
Come with more than mortal war.
Swift as eagles' wings they sweep,
None shall stumble, none shall sleep:
Strange their accents on thine ear;
All before them, flight and fear,
Flint their horses' hoofs, their wheel
Making all thy mountains reel;
Roaring, like the lion's roar,
Till their thirst is gorged with gore!