A People
A PEOPLE.
I.
The People.
(Cf. Nahum III, 18.)
The prophet Nahum speaketh thus
To Nineveh, to Assyria's king:
"The pilots of thy people slumber,
And each one of thy chieftains, Prince,
Dwelleth apart and doeth naught;
Thy scattered people roam the mountains,
For no voice ever summoneth them."
The People.
(Cf. Nahum III, 18.)
The prophet Nahum speaketh thus
To Nineveh, to Assyria's king:
"The pilots of thy people slumber,
And each one of thy chieftains, Prince,
Dwelleth apart and doeth naught;
Thy scattered people roam the mountains,
For no voice ever summoneth them."
I tremble at the word: a people!
So full of song, so full of wailing,
Of thunderbolts and trump o' doom.
I shrink together at the word
As at a heaven-towering giant,
Whose foot is crunching in my ribs
As I might crunch a mussel-shell.
A people! Toward the sky it flames.
In a dark valley waggons rattle,
And savage men in wild-beast skins,
With naked children, wasted women,
Plod ever forward, ever forward,
Forgetful of the roads they followed
And no more knowing whence they came.
The children ask, but no one answers.
So full of song, so full of wailing,
Of thunderbolts and trump o' doom.
I shrink together at the word
As at a heaven-towering giant,
Whose foot is crunching in my ribs
As I might crunch a mussel-shell.
A people! Toward the sky it flames.
In a dark valley waggons rattle,
And savage men in wild-beast skins,
With naked children, wasted women,
Plod ever forward, ever forward,
Forgetful of the roads they followed
And no more knowing whence they came.
The children ask, but no one answers.
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