Man of Uz, and Other Poems

Excerpt

THE MAN OF UZ.

A joyous festival.—

The gathering back

Of scattered flowrets to the household wreath.

Brothers and sisters from their sever'd homes

Meeting with ardent smile, to renovate

The love that sprang from cradle memories

And childhood's sports, and whose perennial stream

Still threw fresh crystals o'er the sands of life.

—Each bore some treasured picture of the past,

Some graphic incident, by mellowing time

Made beautiful, while ever and anon,

Timbrel and harp broke forth, each pause between.

Banquet and wine-cup, and the dance, gave speed

To youthful spirits, and prolong'd the joy.

The patriarch father, with a chasten'd heart

Partook his children's mirth, having God's fear

Ever before him. Earnestly he brought

His offerings and his prayers for every one

Of that beloved group, lest in the swell

And surging superflux of happiness

They might forget the Hand from whence it came,

Perchance, displease the Almighty.

Many a care

Had he that wealth creates. Not such as lurks

In heaps metallic, which the rust corrodes,

But wealth that fructifies within the earth

Whence cometh bread, or o'er its surface roves

In peaceful forms of quadrupedal life

That thronging round the world's first father came

To take their names, 'mid Eden's tranquil shades,

Ere sin was born.

Obedient to the yoke,

Five hundred oxen turn'd the furrow'd glebe

Where agriculture hides his buried seed

Waiting the harvest hope, while patient wrought

An equal number of that race who share

The labor of the steed, without his praise.

—Three thousand camels, with their arching necks,

Ships of the desert, knelt to do his will,

And bear his surplus wealth to distant climes,

While more than twice three thousand snowy sheep

Whitened the hills. Troops of retainers fed

These flocks and herds, and their subsistence drew

From the same lord,—so that this man of Uz

Greater than all the magnates of the east,

Dwelt in old time before us.

True he gave,

And faithfully, the hireling his reward,

Counting such justice 'mid the happier forms

Of Charity, which with a liberal hand

He to the sad and suffering poor dispensed.

Eyes was he to the blind, and to the lame

Feet, while the stranger and the traveller found

Beneath, the welcome shelter of his roof

The blessed boon of hospitality.

To him the fatherless and widow sought

For aid and counsel. Fearlessly he rose

For those who had no helper. His just mind

Brought stifled truth to light, disarm'd the wiles

Of power, and gave deliverance to the weak.

He pluck'd the victim from the oppressor's grasp,

And made the tyrant tremble.

To his words

Men listened, as to lore oracular,

And when beside the gate he took his seat

The young kept silence, and the old rose up

To do him honor. After his decree

None spake again, for as a prince he dwelt

Wearing the diadem of righteousness,

And robed in that respect which greatness wins

When leagued with goodness, and by wisdom crown'd.

The grateful prayers and blessings of the souls

Ready to perish, silently distill'd

Upon him, as he slept....