ABRAHAM. I WILL sing a song of heroes Crowned with manhood's diadem, Men that lift us, when we love them, Into nobler life with them. I will sing a song of heroes To their God-sent mission true, From the ruin of the old times Grandly forth to shape the new; Men that, like a strong-winged zephyr, Come with freshness and with power, Bracing fearful hearts to grapple With the problem of the hour; Men whose prophet-voice of warning Stirs the dull, and spurs the slow, Swells with hopeful overflow. I will sing the son of Terah, ABRAHAM in tented state, With his sheep and goats and asses, Journeying from beyond Euphrates, When he left the flaming idols, Sun by day and Moon by night, To believe in something deeper Than the shows that brush the sight, 1 Edessa, according to a very general Jewish tradition, was the Ur of the Chaldees; but some modern inquirers prefer Mugheir, on the right bank of the Euphrates, in the bitumen district, about 120 miles above the sea. And, as a traveller wisely trusteth To a practised guide and true, So he owned the Voice that called him From the faithless Heathen crew. And he travelled from Damascus Of the sons of Ammon mingles To the pleasant land of Shechem, To the flowered and fragrant ground "Twixt Mount Ebal and Gerizim, Where the bubbling wells abound; To the stony slopes of Bethel, And to Hebron's greening glade, Where the grapes with weighty fruitage Droop beneath the leafy shade. And he pitched his tent in Mamre, And with pious care an altar Built there to the one true God. And the voice of God came near him, 'Neath the broad and leafy oak-tree And they hailed him with rare blessing Father of the faithful, elect Friend of God, Almighty Lord. And he sojourned 'mid the people Strong to shield their homes from harm. And fat Nile's proud Pharaohs owned him, As a strong God-favoured man, Like Osiris, casting broadly Largess to the human clan. And he lived long years a witness To the pure high-thoughted creed, That in the ripeness of the ages Grew to serve our mortal need. Not a priest, and not a churchman, Human-faced and human-hearted, Purer than the gay and sensuous Common sire, whom Jew and Christian, Turk and Arab, name with praise; Common as the sun that shines On East and West with brothered rays. |