Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ISRAEL AND COLUMBIA, by JOHN MCCABE



Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ISRAEL AND COLUMBIA, by                    
First Line: O glory of an elder age!
Last Line: As herald of the new world's morn.
Subject(s): Exiles; Hebrew Language; Jews; Right To Asylum; Judaism


O GLORY of an elder age!
O wonder of time's later days!
Foremost for aye as priest and sage,
Ne'er absent from broad history's ways,
Let us not fail on thee to place
Some share of our Columbian crown,
For one of all thy favored race
Sailed with that fleet from Palos town.

Prophetic dreams of worlds behind
The secret of the sundown seas,
Slept deep in science heart-confined
From Maneth on to Genoese.
Well said Isaiah, seer sublime,
"Surely the isles shall wait for thee,
And ships of Tarshish bide the time
When Hebrews face the western sea."

The gates of unknown worlds were sealed
While progress waits the Jewish hand,
And David's earth possessing shield,
To lead her to the Promised Land.
Herculean Pillars vainly rear
Their frowning ne-plus-ultra bound
In paths where fiery pillars steer
The conquest of the planet round.

Spain drove thee forth from mart and school,
Princes of commerce, thought, and verse,
Thine angel led to broader rule
In lands which laugh at Europe's curse.
We hear Jah's voice through all thy course,
"More yet beyond, for thou art mine,"
And with thee dwells the secret force
That makes the march of man divine.

For thou art Hebrew—Abram's seed—
The child of him God called His friend,
And son of Whom the nations read,
"Thy kingdom hath not bound nor end."
Yes, Hebrew, man from realms beyond,
Upreared to lead hope's splendid quest,
Instinct with powers by ages crowned,
Restless, thou guidest man to rest.

So Israel's world-wide moving sons,
We hail you at each opening gate,
Through which your flaming promise runs,
While Jacob's star leads on our fate.
And more than admiral or crew,
Whose memory nations now adorn,
We hail that nameless sailor Jew
As herald of the New World's morn.





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