64
POEMS.
And desolate before the doom
Was palace proud and cottage home;
And equal in the terror wild
Was the poor slave with fortune's child.
Was palace proud and cottage home;
And equal in the terror wild
Was the poor slave with fortune's child.
****
Amid the gloom that reigned as night,
When Egypt's sin had quenched its light,
Within his courts stood a proud chief,
Whose soul was dark in disbelief.
Death was around him: everywhere
Rose the hoarse wailing of Despair;
Yet did that man's vain heart defy
Mankind's Avenger from on high;
Tho' there had fall'n the deadly blow,
Laying his own heart's altars low.
Slaves to his presence rushed in dread,
To fall with untold mission dead;
Beneath the terror of God's ban
They feared not then the wrath of man.
One mighty voice was ringing there,
And in that cry of deep despair
The Ruler knew his power gone;
That in that hour he stood alone.
Pride's reign was over—and his eye
Glared forth its dark malignancy,
When Egypt's sin had quenched its light,
Within his courts stood a proud chief,
Whose soul was dark in disbelief.
Death was around him: everywhere
Rose the hoarse wailing of Despair;
Yet did that man's vain heart defy
Mankind's Avenger from on high;
Tho' there had fall'n the deadly blow,
Laying his own heart's altars low.
Slaves to his presence rushed in dread,
To fall with untold mission dead;
Beneath the terror of God's ban
They feared not then the wrath of man.
One mighty voice was ringing there,
And in that cry of deep despair
The Ruler knew his power gone;
That in that hour he stood alone.
Pride's reign was over—and his eye
Glared forth its dark malignancy,
