Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A SONG OF ISRAEL, by JAMES HAZARD CUTHBERT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A SONG OF ISRAEL, by                    
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 earth—Jehovah'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.





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