Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE DEATH OF MATTAHIAS, by ROBERT SOUTHEY


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DEATH OF MATTAHIAS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sons of my age, attend
Last Line: Hope lifts my soul to thee.
Subject(s): Christianity; Clergy; Death; Fathers & Sons; Legacies; Mysticism; Priests; Rabbis; Ministers; Bishops; Dead, The


SONS of my age, attend;
Come round the bed of death,
Ere yet his cold damp dews
Extinguish life's weak flame.

For Mattathias' arm no more
Shall scatter terror o'er the host
Of Israel's foes.
Now triumphant pride disdainful
Lifts elate his royal head;
Lawless might and ruffian rapine
Stalk o'er Israel uncontroll'd.
JEHOVAH hides his face,
And stern destruction shakes the spear;
Wide-wasting vengeance pours the show'r of death—
JEHOVAH hides his face.

Now, then, my sons, be firm;
Be like the mighty rock,
Against whose foot the waves
For ever dash in vain.
Now, then, in your God confiding,
Lift the sword, and break the shield:
Look upon your great forefathers,
Call each long-past deed to view;
Let remembrance fire your souls—
Lift the sword, and break the shield.

On Moriah mount is laid
The father's only child!
Down Abraham's aged cheek
Roll'd the paternal tear;
The big sob spoke his grief,
And nature rived his heart, but rived in vain—
For faith prevail'd.
He rear'd the pile,
He bound the silent child;
The child whose silence spoke
Most moving eloquence.
Nor did not Abraham feel
The father's mighty grief,
Nor paint the wretched mother's woe-fraught cries
Nor did he not perceive
The deadly blow more deep would rive his heart:
Yet faith prevail'd—
He lifts the knife of sacrifice!
JEHOVAH saw and saved.

O'er Joseph's robe, bedied with guileful blood,
The aged patriarch wept:
He rear'd the fancied tomb,
And tore his hoary locks,
Yet bow'd resigned to Heaven's high will.
Meantime, in foreign land,
Joseph forgot not God.
Vice, her tinsel charms displaying,
Vainly sought to melt his mind;
Vainly plann'd the wile deceitful,
Seeking soft to soothe the soul,
To soothe the soul to sin.
He saw the languid eye,
The breast that heav'd with love;
White as the new-fallen snow,
Unchill'd by modesty.
Her hot grasp seiz'd his arms:
He fled—
And when seducing pleasure to his lips
Held forth the honey'd draught,
He dash'd the poison down.
Nor Heaven, all-just, withheld relief:
He mark'd the father's woe,
He lov'd the virtuous child;
And Joseph clos'd, in peace, the patriarch's eyes.

Hark! the hurtling din of battle!
Clanging shields and biting falchions
Rend the air with fearful terror.
Joshua leads the war:
His voice controls the orbs of heaven!
The sun stood still,
The moon obedient held her chariot back;
Then fell the royal power.
To Makkedah's dark cave the monarchs fled;
Upon the fatal tree,
They wave with every wind.
Round Jericho was borne the mystic ark,
Was blown the blairing blast;
Proud on the blairing blast
Triumphant ruin rode.
From their foundations hurl'd,
The mighty bulwarks load the ground.

By prodigies announc'd, ere yet
Rank'd in existence, roll,
Manoah's offspring tow'rs in giant strength:
His crisp locks wave amid the wind,
His crisped air of strength.
On rushes Philistia's host,
They environ the warrior unarm'd;
He grasps the jaw-bone in his hand,
He levels their thousands in death.
Fatigued with deeds of death,
The victor's limbs relax,
His parch'd mouth gapes with thirst;
Heaven saw and sent relief,
And from the wondrous weapon flow'd the spring.

By Cherith's hidden stream recluse,
The faithful prophet lay;
He drank the running brook,
The ravens brought the due supply.
Firm in the path of faith
Through life Elijah trod.
Nor through the narrow portals of the grave
He past to realms of bliss;
For ravish'd in the car of flames,
He fled the gate of death;
Thus mortal rapt to immortality.

High from his lofty throne
The impious tyrant cries,
"Fall down, ye men of earth,
Revere the image of your King and God."
Faith stood firm.
"Heap the fierce furnace high,"
(The angry despot cries)
"Fan the red flames till the hot furnace pales,
Sickening itself with heat."
The fire flames fierce!
Amid the pallid flames
The faithful friends are hurl'd!
But blasted fall the slaves,
The slaves of tyranny:
God stretch'd the robe of preservation forth,
And mantled o'er his sons.

Amid the lions hurl'd,
In conscious faith serene the prophet lay.
Nor Daniel knew to fear,
Nor did his pale limbs quiver with affright;
He dar'd for God to die,
And Heaven, for ever good, preserv'd the seer:
The gaunt beasts, famine-fall'n,
Creep at his feet, and suppliant lick his hand.

Sons of my age, look back;
Call up the shadowy scenes
Of ages now no more:
For never, since yon font of light
First shed the new-born stream,
For never, since the breath of life
Breath'd through the realms of space,
Has virtue trusted in her God in vain.
Amid the storm serene she goes,
Nor heeds black malice' sharpest shafts,
Nor envy's venom'd tooth;
The warring winds roar round her head,
Nor knows the constant maid to fear,
But lifts her looks to God.
Not 'til the sun, for ever quench'd,
In darkness cease to shine;
'Til nature feel no more the breath
Of life pervade her frame:
'Til time himself expir'd
Sink in eternity,
Shall faith be firm in vain.

Now then, indeed, be men,
Grasp firm the shield of faith,
Lift high the sword of hope,
Nor fear yon haughty tyrant's impious vaunts;
To-day elate he stalks,
Lifts his tiared brows,
Self-deemed a more than man:
To-morrow, fall'n in dust,
Food for the worm corrupt,
Sunk to primeval nothing, low he lies.
And, sometimes, when your lips repeat the deeds
Your forefathers achiev'd,
Of me the meanest think, not wholly mean:
Let Mattathias' name
Full-fill your souls with fire,
Recal that hour to view
When this indignant hand
Drench'd deep my dagger in apostate blood.
Even at the altar's foot,
The tyrant chief I stabb'd,
I hurl'd the altar down.

Nor then, in sacred sloth subdued,
Upon the sabbath fell we unreveng'd.
We serv'd our God in fight,
We sacrific'd his foes,
We pray'd amid the war.
Then through these limbs burnt high
Indignant valour's flame;
Then glow'd the lamp of life,
Now pale and wavering as the dews of death,
Slow quench its fading light.

God of my fathers, thou hast seen my life
Worn in defence of thee;
Thou hast beheld me firm in danger's face,
Maintain thy holy cause,
Amid embattled hosts
Defend thy mystic rites.
Now to the unknown world,
Unchill'd by fear, I sink;
And whilst my chilly limbs grow faint,
Whilst death's dull mists bedim my eye,
Hope lifts my soul to thee.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net