Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, DAVID, by ALTER ABELSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DAVID, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Do you wonder why such longing
Last Line: For the heart of every nation.
Subject(s): Bible; God; Jews; Judaism


DO you wonder why such longing
Transport, pain and love impassioned
In the psalms are interwoven?
Listen how God's bard was fashioned.

Murmurings of brooks and fountains,
Passion of tempestuous seas,
Solemn sounds of winds and forests,
The lorn nightingale's love-pleas.

And the pæans of men who triumphed
Over grief and tempting glee—
All these divers notes God gathered
From the fount of melody.

And He fused them in one anthem,
Bade the music live, and lo!
David rose, he who to mankind
How to speak with God did show.

Therefore lives there such a yearning,
Such a rapture, exultation,
In the songs that David chanted
For the heart of every nation.





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