 | The Literary Works of James Smetham |  |
ON A GREAT DELIVERANCE
On thundered Pharaoh gaunt and fierce,
With withered heart and empty hand,
Whose trumpets nevermore shall pierce
The silence of his stricken land.
With withered heart and empty hand,
Whose trumpets nevermore shall pierce
The silence of his stricken land.
He heard the boom of ocean-foam,
He heard the hum of Israel;
Nor counted that his doom had come
On that cloud-darkness as it fell.
He heard the hum of Israel;
Nor counted that his doom had come
On that cloud-darkness as it fell.
Their cloud becomes a glittering screen:
The sea uplifts its monstrous flow;
Its sands gleam white, and on, between
Those stately bounds, God's people go.
The sea uplifts its monstrous flow;
Its sands gleam white, and on, between
Those stately bounds, God's people go.
278
Cold, silent rose the glacier-wall
With lilied crest impending o'er,
Whence no foam-blossom dared to fall
Till their last hoof had gained the shore.
With lilied crest impending o'er,
Whence no foam-blossom dared to fall
Till their last hoof had gained the shore.
Ah, who could think that God would leave
Them shuddering by that stormy brim,
And then the incumbent waters cleave
To lead them forth from Egypt dim!
Them shuddering by that stormy brim,
And then the incumbent waters cleave
To lead them forth from Egypt dim!
1854.
| The Literary Works of James Smetham | |