Page:Poems Toke.djvu/25

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But who shall rouse him from his fierce repose?—
  Blessed be he who blesseth thee,
  Oh Jacob!—doubly cursed he,
Who dares to wish for thee, earth's thousand woes!"

Like lightning flashing through the darkened sky,
Bright gleams the monarch's fierce and wrathful eve:
He smites his hands in mingled grief and pain,
"Oh Prophet! dare not mock me thus again!
I brought thee here to curse my deadly foe,
And thrice thy traitor lips have blessed him now
Hence! haste away!—I thought to raise thy name,
But lo! the Lord hath kept thee back from fame!"

"Nay, monarch—blame me not," replies the seer.—
"For told I not to those who brought we here,
That if thou shouldst thy richest boons bestow,
And give me all that man can need below,
I still must humbly bow before the Lord,—
Nor dare to go beyond His holy word?
And now no longer here must I remain,
But turn to seek my mountain home again
Then hear, oh king! and I will tell to thee,
What in the later days shall surely be:
And how yon wandering pilgrims fearful then,
Shall cause thy people woe and dread again.

  "Oh! I shall see Him—but not now;
  Before Him all that live must how:—
For lo! a Star shall rise in Jacob's land.—
  A Sceptre shall from Israel come,
  To seal accursed Moab's doom,
And pour dismay on Sheth's devoted hand,