Classic and Contemporary Poetry
MOSES: A STORY OF THE NILE: FLIGHT INTO MIDIAN: 3, by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The love of moses for his race soon found Last Line: For the priest of midian. Subject(s): Moses | ||||||||
The love of Moses for his race soon found A stern expression. Pharaoh was building A pyramid; ambitious, cold and proud, He scrupled not at means to gain his ends. When he feared the growing power of Israel He stained his hands in children's blood, and held A carnival of death in Goshen; but now He wished to hand his name and memory Down unto the distant ages, and instead Of lading that memory with the precious Fragrance of the kindest deeds and words, he Essayed to write it out in stone, as cold And hard, and heartless as himself. And Israel was The fated race to whom the cruel tasks Were given. Day after day a cry of wrong And anguish, some dark deed of woe and crime, Came to the ear of Moses, and he said, "These reports are ever harrowing my soul; I will go unto the fields where Pharaoh's Officers exact their labors, and see If these things be so -- if they smite the feeble At their tasks, and goad the aged on to toils Beyond their strength -- if neither age nor sex Is spared the cruel smiting of their rods." And Moses went to see his brethren. 'Twas eventide, And the laborers were wending their way Unto their lowly huts. 'Twas a sad sight, -- The young girls walked without the bounding steps Of youth, with faces prematurely old, As if the rosy hopes and sunny promises Of life had never flushed their cheeks with girlish Joy; and there were men whose faces seemed to say We bear our lot in hopeless pain, we've bent unto Our burdens until our shoulders fit them, And as slaves we crouch beneath our servitude And toil. But there were men whose souls were cast In firmer moulds, men with dark secretive eyes, Which seemed to say, to-day we bide our time, And hide our wrath in every nerve, and only Wait a fitting hour to strike the hands that press Us down. Then came the officers of Pharaoh; They trod as lords, their faces flushed with pride And insolence, watching the laborers Sadly wending their way from toil to rest. And Moses' heart swelled with a mighty pain; sadly Musing, he sought a path that led him From the busy haunts of men. But even there The cruel wrong trod in his footsteps; he heard A heavy groan, then harsh and bitter words, And, looking back, he saw an officer Of Pharaoh smiting with rough and cruel hand An aged man. Then Moses' wrath o'erflowed His lips, and every nerve did tremble With a sense of wrong, and bounding forth he Cried unto the smiter, "Stay thy hand; seest thou That aged man? His head is whiter than our Desert sands; his limbs refuse to do thy Bidding because the cruel tasks have drained Away their strength." The Egyptian raised his eyes With sudden wonder; who was this that dared dispute His power? Only a Hebrew youth. His Proud lip curved in scornful anger, and he Waved a menace with his hand, saying, "Back To the task base slave, nor dare resist the will Of Pharaoh." Then Moses' wrath o'erleaped the bounds Of prudence, and with a heavy blow he felled The smiter to the earth, and Israel had One tyrant less. Moses saw the mortal paleness Chase the flushes from the Egyptian's face, The whitening lips that breathed no more defiance, And the relaxing tension of the well knit limbs; And when he knew that he was dead, he hid Him in the sand and left him to his rest. Another day Moses walked Abroad, and saw two brethren striving For mastery; and then his heart grew full Of tender pity. They were brethren, sharers Of a common wrong: should not their wrongs more Closely bind their hearts, and union, not division, Be their strength? And feeling thus, he said, "ye Are brethren, wherefore do ye strive together?" But they threw back his words in angry tones And asked if he had come to judge them, and would Mete to them the fate of the Egyptian? Then Moses knew the sand had failed to keep His secret, that his life no more was safe In Goshen, and he fled unto the deserts Of Arabia and became a shepherd For the priest of Midian. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO A DARK MOSES by LUCILLE CLIFTON MOSES: A PLAY by ISAAC ROSENBERG BURIAL OF MOSES by CECIL FRANCES ALEXANDER PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 77. AL-MUTAHALI by EDWIN ARNOLD MOUNT SINAI by HORATIO (HORATIUS) BONAR JOCHANAN HAKKADOSH: NOTE by ROBERT BROWNING A DOUBLE STANDARD by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER AN APPEAL TO MY COUNTRYWOMEN by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER |
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