32 THE ARMY OF ISRAEL AT THE FOOT OF MOUNT SINAI Their spears glittered bright in the beams of the sun; Their banners waved far, and their high helmets shone, And their dark plumes were tossed on the breast of the breeze, But the war-trumpet slumbered the slumber of peace. He came in His glory, He came in His might, His chariot the cloud, and His sceptre the light; The sound of His coming was heard from afar, Like the roar of a nation when rushing to war. 'Twas the great God of Israel, riding on high, Whose footstool is earth, and whose throne is the sky; He stood in His glory unseen and alone, And with letters of fire traced the tablets of stone. The eagle may soar to the sun in his might, O Israel, turn back from His glory, or die! The sun in its splendor, the fire in its might, Which devours and withers and wastes from the sight, Is dim to the glory which beams from His eye; Then, Israel, turn back-oh, return, or ye die! LUCRETIA DAVIDSON 33 MOSES AND THE WORM The great Moses, man of God, came to his tent one day, And called his wife, Safurja, and his children from their play. "O sweetest orphaned children! O dearest widowed wife! We meet, dear ones, no more on earth, for this day ends my life. Jehovah sent His angel down, and told me to prepare " Then swooned Safurja on the ground; the children in despair Said, weeping, "Who will care for us, when you, dear father, go? And Moses wept and sobbed aloud to see his children's woe. But then Jehovah spake from Heaven, “And dost thou fear to die? And dost thou love this world so well that thus I hear thee cry?" And Moses said: "I fear not death; I leave this world with joy; Yet cannot but compassionate this orphan girl and 'boy." "In whom, then, did thy mother trust, when in thy basket-boat, An infant on the Nile's broad stream, all helpless thou didst float? In whom didst thou thyself confide when by the raging sea The host of Pharaoh came in sight?" Then Moses said, "In Thee! In Thee, O Lord, I now confide, as I confided then." And God replied, "Go to the shore; lift up thy staff again." Then Moses lifted up his rod; the sea rolled wide away, And in the midst a mighty rock, black and uncovered, lay. "Smite thou the rock!" said God again. The rock was rent apart, And then appeared a little worm, close nestled to its heart. The worm cried, " Praise to God on high, who hears His creatures' moan, Nor did forget the little worm concealed within the stone!" "If I remember," said the Lord, "the worm beneath the sea, Shall I forget thy children, who love and honor Me?" JOHANN GOTTFRIED VON HERDER 34 MOSES He said unto the Lord: "Shall I never be done? Where wilt Thou still that I my footsteps turn? Am I to live for aye, great, powerful, and alone? Give me, ah, give me leave to sleep the sleep of earth! What did I to Thee, to be chosen Thy elect? Let now some other stand 'twixt Thee and Thine! I gladly make him heir to book and brazen rod. I am the Great; my feet tread nations' necks; Alas! my Lord! I am great-I am alone; Give me, ah, give me leave to sleep the sleep of earth! ALFRED DE VIGNY 35 THE DEATH OF MOSES Led by his God, on Pisgah's height, Behind him lay the desert ground Still guarded by their God. With joy the agèd Moses smiled "I see them all before me nowThe city and the plain, From where bright Jordan's waters flow, To yonder boundless main. "Oh! there the lovely promised land With milk and honey flows; Now, now my weary murmuring band "There groves of palm and myrtle spread O'er valleys fair and wide; The lofty cedar rears its head |