The bard, and minor poems By John Walker Ord ... Collected and edited by John Lodge |
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| THE BELIEVER AND THE SOCIALIST.
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 | The bard, and minor poems |  |
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THE BELIEVER AND THE SOCIALIST.
A DIALOGUE.
SOCIALIST.There is no God! God is a monster God!
Hatred and curses 'tend your idol's nod.
God is a tyrant king, a king of blood,
Who damns alike the wicked and the good.
BELIEVER.
There is no God? What impious slave art thou,
That thus to heaven darest lift thy mocking brow?
Say, rude blasphemer, who, but God the wise,
The great, the good, lit up yon azure skies?
Who framed yon sun, so glorious and so bright,
To bless the nations with his genial light?
Who spread yon fleecy clouds, sustains yon arch,
Through which the storms, heaven's fierce battalions, march?
Who lit yon myriad eyes that watch the earth?
Who gave the thunders and the lightnings birth?
That thus to heaven darest lift thy mocking brow?
Say, rude blasphemer, who, but God the wise,
The great, the good, lit up yon azure skies?
Who framed yon sun, so glorious and so bright,
To bless the nations with his genial light?
Who spread yon fleecy clouds, sustains yon arch,
Through which the storms, heaven's fierce battalions, march?
Who lit yon myriad eyes that watch the earth?
Who gave the thunders and the lightnings birth?
There is no God? The humblest woodland bower
Proclaims Almighty gentleness and power.
The wild-bird's note, the rapid eagle's flight,
The wild-deer rushing like a flash of light,
The torrent whirling in a cloud of spray,
The stormy ocean, and the inland bay,
Even that small insect, glittering in the sun,
Tells of a First Great Cause—a mighty One;
Earth, ocean, air, morn, night, alike proclaim
God, the beginning, God the primal name!
Proclaims Almighty gentleness and power.
The wild-bird's note, the rapid eagle's flight,
The wild-deer rushing like a flash of light,
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The stormy ocean, and the inland bay,
Even that small insect, glittering in the sun,
Tells of a First Great Cause—a mighty One;
Earth, ocean, air, morn, night, alike proclaim
God, the beginning, God the primal name!
“God is a monster God?” A monster thou,
To brave high heaven with this unseemly vow!
Who gave thee sight—that strangely curious power—
One narrow circle for its priceless dower?
That sweeps the realms of ether's boundless space
And clasps broad nature in its wide embrace.
Who tuned the harmonious shell that o'er thy brain
Breathes music sweeter than young Orpheus' strain;
And through the sinuous caverns of thine ears
Pours notes more wondrous than the fabled spheres?
Who shaped that fleshy tube, that so the air
Might steep thy soul in fragrance rich and rare—
That wings sweet odours on the balmy west,
Borne from each vale, each wild-flower's virgin breast?
Who, with nice sense, robed every mortal part,
Attuned each pulse that swells thy beating heart?
Braced every muscle, 'stablish'd nature's reign,
Strung every nerve that thrills along thy brain?
Who? All mankind obey His sovereign nod,
The great, the just, the omnipresent God!
To brave high heaven with this unseemly vow!
Who gave thee sight—that strangely curious power—
One narrow circle for its priceless dower?
That sweeps the realms of ether's boundless space
And clasps broad nature in its wide embrace.
Who tuned the harmonious shell that o'er thy brain
Breathes music sweeter than young Orpheus' strain;
And through the sinuous caverns of thine ears
Pours notes more wondrous than the fabled spheres?
Who shaped that fleshy tube, that so the air
Might steep thy soul in fragrance rich and rare—
That wings sweet odours on the balmy west,
Borne from each vale, each wild-flower's virgin breast?
Who, with nice sense, robed every mortal part,
Attuned each pulse that swells thy beating heart?
Braced every muscle, 'stablish'd nature's reign,
Strung every nerve that thrills along thy brain?
Who? All mankind obey His sovereign nod,
The great, the just, the omnipresent God!
SOCIALIST.
Prate on vain babbler! In such strain hath man
Worshipp'd a Phantom, since the world began.
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Each in their turns have ruled the realms above!
Think'st thou I heed the dogmas of thy schools,
The rage of pedants, and the gaud of fools?
Thou kneel'st! So doth the senseless Pagan pray
To stocks and stones, to things of wood and clay.
Thou kneel'st! What seest thou? Aught but idle air?
Go, chase the clouds—to echo give thy prayer.
If God there be—lo! let thy God come down:
I spurn his mandates and defy his frown!
BELIEVER.
Peace, rude blasphemer! Madman, fear'st thou not
Heaven's fires will scorch thee and earth's mildews rot?
Fear'st thou not Him who stay'd the ocean's wave,
Ere roll'd its billows o'er proud Pharoah's grave?
Who sent grim Azrael to the Assyrian king,
And swept his hosts with death's destroying wing!
Tamed the fierce lions, curb'd Belshazzar's will,
Made heaven's majestic orb—the sun, stand still.
Poor crawling worm, the God thou darest to scorn,
May crush thee, doom thee, ere to-morrow's morn:
For what art thou? A rain-drop in the sea,
A moment's space to all eternity!
Heaven's fires will scorch thee and earth's mildews rot?
Fear'st thou not Him who stay'd the ocean's wave,
Ere roll'd its billows o'er proud Pharoah's grave?
Who sent grim Azrael to the Assyrian king,
And swept his hosts with death's destroying wing!
Tamed the fierce lions, curb'd Belshazzar's will,
Made heaven's majestic orb—the sun, stand still.
Poor crawling worm, the God thou darest to scorn,
May crush thee, doom thee, ere to-morrow's morn:
For what art thou? A rain-drop in the sea,
A moment's space to all eternity!
Sun, moon, or stars—Thoth, Woden, Vishnou, Jove,
Though different names the self-same Godhead prove.
Since Chaos first his shadows roll'd away,
Since first the sun-god spread his cheering ray,
Since first fair verdure robed the fruitful sod,
The nations still have hail'd the self-same God.
“God, God the Father!” was the shepherd's song,
As o'er the earth's fresh hills he roam'd along;
The earliest mother praised the unknown power
That bore her harmless through dark sorrow's hour;
The aged patriarch, with his latest sigh,
Stretched forth his wither'd palms unto the sky!
And laughing children shrunk with sudden awe
When heaven obey'd the mighty monarch's law—
When thunders roll'd, or stormy winds might blow
Though different names the self-same Godhead prove.
Since Chaos first his shadows roll'd away,
Since first the sun-god spread his cheering ray,
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The nations still have hail'd the self-same God.
“God, God the Father!” was the shepherd's song,
As o'er the earth's fresh hills he roam'd along;
The earliest mother praised the unknown power
That bore her harmless through dark sorrow's hour;
The aged patriarch, with his latest sigh,
Stretched forth his wither'd palms unto the sky!
And laughing children shrunk with sudden awe
When heaven obey'd the mighty monarch's law—
When thunders roll'd, or stormy winds might blow
CONCLUSION.
Hail, hail, ye nations! Hail the mighty king!Creeds, empires, races, to his glory sing!
Thou, tawny son of Afric, hear his word,
And thou, dwarf'd son of Lapland, praise the Lord!
From India's centre to the frozen pole
Arise and glorify the God of all!
Obey Him winds—waves, tempests, stay your wrath,
Thunders and earthquakes tread not in His path;
And you, ye fiery meteors that disturb
The midnight stillness of yon starry orb;
And you, dim shapes, that eclipse and deform—
The heralds of the tempest and the storm:
And you, volcanoes, that in fiery crowds
Shoot forth your lurid lightnings to the clouds,—
Praise, praise the great Omnipotent above
Who guides your terrors with the hand of love.
| The bard, and minor poems | |