Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A SONG OF ISRAEL, by JAMES HAZARD CUTHBERT First Line: O israel! Wanderer through the weary years Last Line: Their warfare done. Alternate Author Name(s): Cuthbert, J. H. Subject(s): Israel; Jews; Jews - Exodus From Egypt; Wandering & Wanderers; Judaism; Wanderlust; Vagabonds; Tramps; Hoboes | ||||||||
O ISRAEL! wanderer through the weary years Of wild unrest; A world-wide pilgrimage of hopes and fears, Sometimes in joy, but oft'ner far in tears, As God knows best. Since Jacob laid him down that night to sleep On Bethel's stone, And saw the angel legions downward sweep, Their watch around the fugitive to keep Never alone. Beside the majestic Nile, on Egypt's sand, He pitched his tent; There on the desert saw the uplifted hand, In cloud and fire still pointing to the land Of sweet content. Beside the Euphrates, where Babylon's wall So proudly stood He saw the giant empires rise and fall, A captive exile, yet unharmed through all, Beside that flood. And when in wrath the Roman eagles came To Zion's Hill, And drove him out in thunder and in flame, A stranger in the earthJehovah's name Upheld him still. See yonder, on the snow-clad Russian plain, His children driven, Beset and hunted by the imperial train Like sheep by wolves. But surely not in vain They cry to Heaven. Far brighter than the Northern-lights that gleam Upon the air, The signals of the great Shekinah stream And, like the memories of a blessed dream, Bid him good cheer! Good cheer, O Jacob! though a wanderer still In all the earth. Thy foes will but the promises fulfill And drive the exile home to Zion's Hill, That gave him birth. A nation scattered through the earth, yet one In every land; As the blue waters of the Gulf-stream run Through the high seas, yet mingling still with none, Behold God's hand! God speed the day when Jew and Gentiles all Shall meet as one At the glad welcome of their Father's call In the dear home where shadows never fall, Their warfare done. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BUMS, ON WAKING by JAMES DICKEY A FOLK SINGER OF THE THIRTIES by JAMES DICKEY WANDERER IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY by CLARENCE MAJOR THE WANDERER by WYSTAN HUGH AUDEN LONG GONE by STERLING ALLEN BROWN BLACK SHEEP by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON A VAGABOND SONG by BLISS CARMAN FACADE: 24. AN OLD WOMAN LAMENTS IN SPRINGTIME by EDITH SITWELL TWO SONGS: 2 by CECIL DAY LEWIS LET THE LIGHT ENTER (THE DYING WORDS OF GOETHE) by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER |
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