There glittered all the pastures,
With thousand charms outspread, The land he sees with longing,
The land he ne'er must tread!
The plains, far out extending,
All rich with corn and vines, And many a white stream, wending
Through rich green meadows, shines. With milk and honey flowing
As far as eye can span, All in the sunshine glowing
From Beersheba to Dan.
“ Canaan! Mine
eyes have
seen thee! Let death undreaded come! In gentle whispers breathing,
Lord ! call thy servant home!” On light soft clouds descending
Upon the mountain's brow He came; -- the pilgrim people
Have lost their leader now!
Upon the mountain brightening
'T is glorious there to die ! When all the clouds are whitening
In the radiant morning sky; Far down below beholding
Wood, field, and winding stream, - And lo! above unfolding Heaven's golden portals gleam.
Ferdinand Freiligrath. Tr. J. Gostick.
WEEP, CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.
EEP, weep for him, the man of God,
In yonder vale he sunk to rest, But none of earth can point the sod That flowers above his sacred head.
Weep, children of Israel, weep!
His doctrines fell like heaven's rain,
His words refreshed like heaven's dew, - O, ne'er shall Israel see again A chief to God and her so true.
Weep, children of Israel, weep!
Remember ye his parting gaze,
His farewell song by Jordan's tide, When, full of glory and of days, He saw the promised land, — and died !
Weep, children of Israel, weep!
Yet died he not as men who sink,
Before our eyes, to soulless clay; But, changed to spirit, like a wink Of summer lightning, passed away! Weep, children of Israel, weep!
Thomas Moore.
MOUNT NEBO.
YO Moses, servant of the Lord, died there,
Out in the land of Moab, as the Lord Had spoken. He buried him, also, Over against Beth-peor, in a vale Of Moab; but, unto this day, no man Knoweth his sepulchre, nor yet can tell Where Moses, servant of the Lord, is laid.
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Now ere he died, we read that Moses clomb (The Holy Spirit moving him thereto) Up from the plain of Moab to the mount Called Nebo, from a lofty peak whereof The towering peak of Pisgah - God the Lord Showed him (yea! even from Pisgah that o'erlooks The walled and towered pride of Jericho). The land of Gilead stretching out to Dan, And all of Naphtali and Ephraim, Manasseh and all Judali's wide expanse Unto the utmost sea : The balmy-breathing south, — the fertile plain Of Jericho, the palm-tree city light, In one glad dream of beauty unto Zoar! And when the servant of the Lord had looked One eagle-look on that fair map below (As he was bid), thus spake to him the Lord : “This is the land I sware to Abraham, To Isaac, and to Jacob when I said, ‘Lo! I will give it for an heritage
For thee and thine, and for thy seed for aye.' Now have I caused thee to look on it, And see it with thine eyes; yet know, O man! That never from this awful peak shalt thou, Descending, cross unto those pleasant plains Thus fully to possess them. Thou shalt die Here, where thou standest, and be gathered in Unto thy people,
as upon Mount Hor Thy brother Aaron, who with thee once sinned So grievously at Meribah.”
George Gordon McCrae.
“And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor; but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.” — Deut. xxxiv. 6.
Y
On this side Jordan's wave, In a vale in the land of Moab, There lies a lonely grave; But no man built that sepulchre, And no man saw it c'er; For the angels of God upturned the sod, And laid the dead man there.
That was the grandest funeral That ever passed on earth ; Yet no man heard the trampling, Or saw the train go forth :
Noiselessly as the daylight Comes when the night is done, And the crimson streak on Ocean's cheek Grows into the great sun;
Noiselessly as the spring-time Her crown of verdure weaves, And all the trees on all the hills Unfold their thousand leaves : So without sound of music, Or voice of them that wept, Silently down from the mountain's crown The great procession swept.
Perchance the bald old eagle On gray Beth-peor's height Out of his rocky eyry Looked on the wondrous sight; Perchance the lion stalking Still shuns that hallowed spot; For beast and bird have seen and heard That which man knoweth not.
But, when the warrior dieth, His comrades of the war, With arms reversed and muffled drums, Follow the funeral car: They show the banners taken; They tell his battles won, And after him lead his masterless steed, While peals the minute-gun.
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