The God of Israel

THE GOD of Israel sate on high,

And methought He mocked the dead;

The twisted limbs of agony,

The staring eyes of dread,

The lips that froze on a dying prayer

And blessed Him as they bled.

The God of Israel sate on high,

And He mocked His people’s trust;

He heard the tyrant’s blasphemy,

He saw the Injustice just;

He saw the valley strewn with death

And the wind that blew its dust.

I raised my voice and cried aloud

(He smiled as if He heard):

“Behold, dishonour is their shroud

For that they keep Thy Word:

They strangle them with thongs of shame

Or hew them with the sword.

“With stripes and steel and bitter scorn

They trample down their pride;

The silent souls of the yet unborn

Lie maimed in the soul of the bride;

In bitterness their hearts awake,

In bitterness abide.

“In bitterness, in bitterness

They gaze upon the past,

Nor worship they Thy Word the less,

Nor scorn Thy Word at last,

Who, free within Thy bounteous air,

In bonds of hate are cast.

“For bonds that cleave the flesh are ill,

But other bonds are base

That cleave the heart’s benignant will,

Or darken for a space

The eyes of reason and of right.”

Yea, thus I cried apace.

The God of Israel smiled on high

As on a babbling child;

But I saw the bays of victory,

And Justice undefiled,

And Mind and Honour hand in hand,

And Envy reconciled.

The Past had doffed its robe of pain,

Flung off its mourning-hood,

When Joy upraised her veil again

And found the Future good;

She raised the folds of her lustrous cloak

There—clear-eyed Duty stood.

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