| |
| THRONES that stood and realms that nourished, | |
| Races that have ruled the world,— | |
| They have fallen, they have perished, | |
| And new standards are unfurled. | |
| Gods are banished at whose altars | 5 |
| Nations have been wont to pray, | |
| And where Wisdom erst held sway | |
| Ignorance supinely falters. | |
| |
| Deeds that once with blare and clangor | |
| Filled the earth, have ceased to be; | 10 |
| Even their renown no longer | |
| Lives in lays of minstrelsy. | |
| Lo! the hero’s might is broken | |
| And his sword is gone to rust; | |
| Lips are steeped in death and dust | 15 |
| That have sweetly sung and spoken. | |
| |
| But athwart the gulf of ages | |
| From whose all-devouring deep | |
| Songs of bards and words of sages | |
| Mist like in tradition sweep,— | 20 |
| Radiant and serene reposes, | |
| Unattained by mist and gloom, | |
| Undiminished by the tomb, | |
| A colossal image—Moses. | |
| |
| Though we wot not of his feature, | 25 |
| Of such ken there is no need, | |
| For his aspect is the creature | |
| Of his word and of his deed,— | |
| Of the word that is engraven | |
| Even on the soul that’s lost | 30 |
| Of the deed that led his host | |
| Toward freedom, truth and Heaven. | |
| |
| Thus we see him; Superhuman | |
| In his purpose and in might, | |
| Tender is his love as woman, | 35 |
| Fierce in the defense of right; | |
| Meek and faltering, yet compliant, | |
| In the presence of the Lord,— | |
| In obedience of his word | |
| Bold, unyielding and defiant. | 40 |
| |
| Even as the luminary | |
| Of our days from fumous height— | |
| Lifeless, barren, solitary— | |
| Beams with life diffusing light; | |
| So he rises on our vision | 45 |
| From the past which phantoms shroud, | |
| Life-impregnate, halo-browed, | |
| In the garb of his tradition. | |
| |
| What he wrought and what he uttered, | |
| Where he trod and where he stood; | 50 |
| Where the flaming briar fluttered | |
| In the desert’s solitude; | |
| At the throne of him who trifled | |
| With the wrath revealed of God, | |
| And where with uplifted rod | 55 |
| The pursuing hosts he stifled; | |
| |
| On that pilgrimage unequaled | |
| When he smote the barren rock, | |
| Or by marvel or decree quelled | |
| Ingrate murmurs of his flock; | 60 |
| When from Sinai, rent with thunder, | |
| He descended with the Law:— | |
| Thrills with reverential awe | |
| And compels transcendent wonder. | |
| |
| As he lived so was his passing | 65 |
| Self-obscuring, tranquil, grand, | |
| As with eyes that death was glassing | |
| He beheld the promised land— | |
| Did he ween as on that mountain | |
| He expired meek and brave, | 70 |
| That while man still man would be, | |
| Far into eternity, | |
| He would look on Moses’ grave | |
| As his birthright’s sacred fountain? | |
| |
