Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE DEATH OF MOSES, by JESSIE G. MCCARTEE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DEATH OF MOSES, by                    
First Line: Led by his god, on pisgah's height
Last Line: And mourn your prophet dead!
Subject(s): Moses


LED by his God, on Pisgah's height
The pilgrim-prophet stood;
When first fair Canaan bless'd his sight,
And Jordan's crystal flood.

Behind him lay the desert ground
His weary feet had trod,
While Israel's host encamp'd around,
Still guarded by their God.

With joy the aged Moses smiled
On all his wanderings past,
While thus he pour'd his accents mild
Upon the mountain blast: --

"I see them all before me now, --
The city and the plain,
From where bright Jordan's waters flow.
To yonder boundless main.

"Oh! there, the lovely promised land
With milk and honey flows;
Now, now, my weary murm'ring band
Shall find their sweet repose.

"There groves of palm and myrtle spread
O'er valleys fair and wide;
The lofty cedar rears its head
On every mountain side.

"For them the rose of Sharon flings
Her fragrance on the gale;
And there the golden lily springs,
The lily of the vale.

"Amid the olive's fruitful boughs
Is heard a song of love,
For there doth build and breathe her vows
The gentle turtle-dove.

"For them shall bloom the clustering vine,
The fig-tree shed her flowers,
The citron's golden treasures shine
From out her greenest bowers.

"For them, for them, but not for me,
Their fruits I may not eat;
Not Jordan's stream, nor you bright sea,
Shall lave my pilgrim feet.

"'T is well, 't is well, my task is done,
Since Israel's sons are blest;
Father, receive thy dying one
To thy eternal rest!"

Alone he bade the world farewell,
To God his spirit fled.
Now to your tents, oh! Israel,
And mourn your prophet dead!





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