Elias Part 12

CANTO NINE

Upon The Shoulders of The Philistine[1]

The Eaglet's nest is empty[2]--void the lair Of the young Lion. Where, O Ephraim, where?

Where billows break along a storied strand[3], Heroic wave, a fair and favored land.

Realm of a rising glory--this thy name!

The cradle of the Kingdom--this thy fame!

There rose the morn--though flecked with fire and blood-- The morn benign of human brotherhood, Foredestined to a pa.s.sing cloud's eclipse. 2730

Self-trammeled cause, harried by hounds and whips Of persecution, whose infuriate maw, Usurping oft the form and force of law,-- To lawless hands a far too ready rod,-- Had fain engulfed the growing work of G.o.d.

Widowed, bereft, a land left desolate, A wounded bird that mourns a driven mate, The plumage from its bleeding body torn, And scattered wide o'er realms remote, forlorn.

On, Ephraim, on! thy pilgrim flight renew. 2740 Land of the Sun--s.h.i.+nea's land[4]--adieu!

Yet stay! Ere storm could burst, was visioned there, Within the portal of the House of Prayer, A promise, a fulfillment, long foretold: Elias and Messias there behold!

With angel keepers of the ancient keys Of gathering and of sealing mysteries.

Haloed with fire, while burns the heavenly glow, Upon the Prophet they their powers bestow[5].

Speed then swift messengers his face before, 2750 To blaze his sacred name on every sh.o.r.e; Chosen and missioned from the sending skies, The slumbering nations to evangelize.

Resounds 'gainst error's s.h.i.+eld truth's ringing lance, Unlettered light 'gainst learned ignorance; Priestcraft dethroned, by Priesthood downward hurled, While ancient thunder shakes the modern world.

Already, to redeem red Laman's bands[6], Have virile footprints prest those virgin lands, Where westering empire, in creative might, 2760 Rolls a new world upon the wondering sight; Where flower-starred prairies, in the far extent, Kiss with soft lips the bending firmament, And sea-like rivers, solitary, lone, Pour their proud waters toward the burning zone.

Land of all lands the rarest[7], where shall rise,-- Mirrored magnificence of earth and skies, Each gate a pearl, each pinnacle a gem,-- The jasper walls of New Jerusalem; The golden glory of the hemispheres, 2770 Jehovah's throne through all the Thousand Years.

The land where Adam fell, where Enoch rose, Where time began and history shall close.

Thereto and thence, by brand and f.a.got driven, His fault to man, his fealty to heaven, With here and there, perchance, an idle word Vainglorious zeal or vengeful might afford, Flies Ephraim, scorched and scourged, from j.a.pheth's wrath[8], Pushed on and on o'er steep and th.o.r.n.y path, 2780 Whipt, plundered, wounded, bleeding, to the goal, Where joy in fullness crowns the conquering soul.

Then hath not war, that bringeth woe and pain, The right betimes, like gentle peace, to reign?

What strife, what tempest, wreaks its wrath in vain?

Prosperity and persecution blend, As sun and storm, faith's branch with fruit to bend.

Twain are the shoulders[9] of the Philistine, That Israel onward bear, as breeze and brine The tempest-driven bark that safe o'er sea 2790 Carried calm Caesar[10] and his destiny.

Progression fails with opposition's flight, And darkness is but handmaid unto light.

Mistrustful of "the law of liberty[11],"

Sounding from far the doom of slavery, Maddened by jealous fear, the Gentile sees Peril in purling stream, in whispering breeze, Telling of wondrous thrift, of mystic power, Of spirit gifts--the Bride's becoming dower; Sees menace[12] in that migrant fold's increase, 2800 A menace to his power, his pride, his peace; And, as of old, when Egypt's despot frowned On Jacob's increase, growth from fruitful ground, Or when fell Herod, fain to slay life's Lord, Pierced Rachel's bosom with unpitying sword; With feigned or real suspicion of intent That could but lurk in minds by malice bent, And ne'er found lodgment in the dreams of those Now fearfully beset by whelming foes, Force joins with fraud, impelled by l.u.s.t of crime, 2810 And innocence bewails the evil time.

A second Pharaoh now o'er Israel see!

A Herod[13] in the home of Liberty!

Where winged Nemesis shall find her own, Gathering the whirlwind[14] where the wind was sown.

Friendless, unsheltered, forth the exiles go, Lit by their burning homes athwart the snow, Till crimson footprints stamp the frozen path, And icy billows bar them from the wrath Of cruel fiends, whose fellows, masked as men, 2820 Where languish sons of light in darksome den, Gloat, while they guard, and flout with jest obscene The helpless victims of that heartless scene; Exulting foully, boastingly, the while, O'er deeds none else than devils would defile.

Till patience, past enduring, dures no more; Heard, above jackal's yell, the lion's roar.

Thunders and flames Jehovah's threatening rod, And shakes the dungeon[15] with the wrath of G.o.d-- A lightning tongue to scorch His cowering foes, 2830 And scourge them to the kennels whence they rose.

When known such power, such might of word and will, Since Christ bade tempest sleep and waves be still?

Free, whereso'er he wends, is hope renewed, Demons unhoused, disease and death subdued[16].

Where Sire of Waters[17] sweeps o'er silvery sands, Prest by the pilgrim feet of many lands, Aloft, alone, a sacred city stands.

City, mother of many[18], none more rare, A blossoming waste shall yield, now burnt and bare; 2840 City, mother of empire, famed as fair, Whose birth the solemn muse must yet declare.

Where groaned the land with dread malarial ill, Healed by a hand divine, o'er vale and hill See roof and dome and glittering fane arise!

Unworldly link[19], rewelding Earth and Skies!

Then comes Elijah's mightier mission[20] forth, And mortal vows take on immortal worth, Kindling anew hope's ever living fires, Turning the mutual hearts of sons and sires, 2850 While doors to spirit dungeons open swing, That love to light the living dead may bring!

But gaze from sinking unto soaring sun!

Beyond the wave the conquering word hath won Past horrent hosts of Lucifer that rose, With wrath of man, the message to oppose.

Vain strife, where fiends archangels would a.s.sail, Warring 'gainst mightiness that must prevail-- Prevail to save a periled s.h.i.+p. 'Tis done; The crisis past[21] with Albia stormed and won; 2860 East floweth West--"The Gathering" hath begun.

And now, to fruitful lands, 'neath favoring skies, Befriended by the just[22], the brave, the wise, Till truth, too mighty for the common ken, Hath put a sword betwixt the souls of men, Fares garnered Ephraim, earliest offering[23]

Of Israel's hope, Idumea's harvesting.

Nations besprent with Abrahamic blood Meet there and mingle in that widening flood.

Impelled by helping hand or hostile power, 2870 By friendly looks or frowns that darkly lower, Gathers the flock of faith from every land Where roving Ephraim mixt with j.a.pheth's band; Philistia's shoulder bearing Israel's flight, That j.a.pheth, too, may come to Zion's light, And Joseph be o'er all his brethren blest, A saviour in his Egypt of the West[24], Where corn and wine, 'mid famine, comfort life, Where peace and plenty shame a world at strife, And, bending from the ice-barred North, shall come-- 2880 As bent their stars in his, the dreamer's dome-- a.s.syria's long lost captives[25], wending home.

Westward, far westward, chase the lingering night, Impelling Spirit! Angel of the Light!

Westward, still westward, till the morn shall burn In high meridian glory; till shall turn Fate's restless tide, re-rolling o'er the East, Spoiling the spoiler, spreading freedom's feast, Foiling dark anarchy, thy fellest foe, Land, chosen land! stunned, staggering 'neath its blow; 2890 Rallying the loyal[26] in a common cause, Rending the eagle from the bear's red claws; Hurling invasion backward o'er the Isles, Building anew upon the olden piles, Beginnings of the crowning commonhood-- A modern Zion where the ancient stood.

Backward, roll backward, river of the blood!

Back to thy fountain, hurrying human flood-- To Adam's land, the far Edenic sh.o.r.e; For last is first and old is new once more, 2900 And nations rise where nations fell before!

Joseph, uprisen from the grave-like mound, His ancient and inglorious battle ground[27], Retreads with modern step the painful path Where erst he fled[28], a fugitive from wrath; Fated to flee till ebbs that westward flow, Bearing from j.a.pheth bitter curse and blow, While patient heaven holds off the woeful fate That cometh swift and layeth desolate The powers that prey on Jacob--all that hate 2910 The G.o.d of Joseph, and the just decree That builds him here a boundless destiny.

Westward, burn westward, morn divinely bright!

Morn of Jehovah, morn of Jacob's might!

But stand thou still on Zion, glorious light!

For there must dawn the day that knows no night.

Beginnings that have here in beauty stood, p.r.o.ne, as from withering fire or wasting flood, A little season wrecked and ruined lie[29], Till they that build put pride and pa.s.sion by, 2920 And, taught by pain, through suffering's fiercest fires, Part with all l.u.s.tful, covetous desires.

When faith shall wear the armor without flaw, And union such as sainted Enoch saw[30]

Honors the fullness of celestial law, Then--sword of G.o.d and blade of Gideon, Dazzling, confounding, driving on and on, Till besomed as with fire the fated land, Where Zion, guileless, glorious, shall stand, A terror only to her trembling foes[31], 2930 Ensign of peace and Eden of repose, Where life's tree blossoms and light's fountain flows.

Meanwhile her valiant ones, her tried and true Daughters and sons, shall they not dare and do?

In vain, alas! in vain of such to sing, With trembling hand a tuneless harp I string.

For who can count the cost, the painful price, Measure the sorrow and the sacrifice, Rare spirits of a more than Spartan race Compelled their souls of halting dread to face? 2940 Harp of the Hebrew seer! Be thine to break The muse's slumber, bid the world awake, And glow o'er deeds yet done for conscience' sake.

What tongue than Zion's own can loose the spell?

Whose voice than modern Leah's, Rachel's, tell The story of a burden borne so well?