Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ODE TO JEHOVAH, by JOHN LEYDEN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ODE TO JEHOVAH, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: In high jehovah's praise, my strain
Last Line: To ancient edom's palmy shore.


IN high JEHOVAH'S praise, my strain
Of triumph shall the chorus lead,
WHO plunged beneath the rolling main
The horseman with his vaunted steed.
Dread breaker of our servile chains,
By WHOM our arm in strength remains,
The scented algum forms THY car!
Our father's GOD! THY name we raise
Beyond the bounds of mortal praise,
The Chieftain and the Lord of war.

Far in the caverns of the deep
Their chariots sunk to rise no more;
And Pharaoh's mighty warriors sleep
Where the Red Sea's huge monsters roar.
Plunged like a rock amid the wave,
Around their heads the billows lave;
Down, down the yawning gulf they go,
Dash'd by THY high-expanded hand
To pieces on the pointed sand,
That strews the shelving rocks below.

What lambent lightnings round THEE gleam,
THY foes in blackening heaps to strew!
As o'er wide fields of stubble stream
The flames, in undulations blue.
And lo! the waters of the deep
Swell in one enormous heap,
Collected at THY nostrils' breath.
The bosom of the abyss reveal'd,
Wall'd with huge crystal waves congeal'd,
Unfolds the yawning jaws of death.

"Swift, steeds of Egypt, speed your course,
And swift, ye rapid chariots, roll!
Not ocean's bed impedes our force;
Red vengeance soon shall glut our soul:
The sabre keen shall soon embrue
Its glimmering edge in gory dew" --
Impatient cried the exulting foe; --
When, like a ponderous mass of lead.
They sink -- and sudden, o'er their head
The bursting waves impetuous flow.

But THOU, in whose sublime abode
Resistless might and mercy dwell,
Our voices, high o'er every God,
With grateful hearts THY praises swell!
Outstretch'd we saw THY red right hand,
The earth her solid jaws expand;
Adown the gulf alive they sink: --
While we, within the incumbent main,
Beheld the tumbling floods in vain
Storm on our narrow pathway's brink.

But, far as fame's shrill notes resound,
With dire dismay the nations hear;
Old Edom's sons with laurels crown'd,
And Moab's warriors melt with fear.
The petrifying tale disarms
The might of Canaan's countless swarms,
Appall'd their heroes sink supine;
No mail'd band with thrilling cries
The might of Jacob's sons defies,
That moves to conquer Palestine.

Nor burning sands our way impede,
Where nature's glowing embers lie;
But, led by THEE, we safely tread
Beneath the furnace of the sky.
To fields, where fertile olives twine
Their branches with the clustering vine
Soon shalt THOU Jacob's armies bring;
To plant them by THY mighty hand
Where the proud towers of Salem stand;
And ever reign their GOD and King.

Far in the deep's unfathom'd caves
Lie strew'd the flower of Mazur's land,
Save when the surge, that idly raves,
Heaves their cold corses on the sand.
With courage unappall'd, in vain
They rush'd within the channell'd main;
Their heads the billows folded o'er:
While THOU hast Israel's legions led
Through the green ocean's coral bed,
To ancient Edom's palmy shore.





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