The Man of Uz, and Other Poems. L. H. Sigourney

      Published by Good Press, 2019

       [email protected]

      EAN 4064066147563

      Table of Contents

       THE RURAL LIFE IN NEW-ENGLAND.

       INTRODUCTION.

       THE RURAL LIFE IN NEW-ENGLAND.

       IN MEMORIAM.

      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.

      So as a tree

      Whose root is by the river's brink, he grew

      And flourish'd, while the dews like balm-drops hung

      All night upon his branches.

      Yet let none

      Of woman born, presume to build his hopes

      On the worn cliff of brief prosperity,

      Or from the present promise, predicate

      The future joy. The exulting bird that sings

      Mid the green curtains of its leafy nest

      His tuneful trust untroubled there to live,

      And there to die, may meet the archer's shaft

      When next it spreads the wing.

      The tempest folds

      O'er the smooth forehead of the summer noon

      Its undiscover'd purpose, to emerge

      Resistless from its armory, and whelm

      In floods of ruin, ere the day decline.

      Lightning and sword!

      Swift messengers, and sharp,

      Reapers that leave no gleanings. In their path

      Silence and desolation fiercely stalk.

      —O'er trampled hills, and on the blood-stain'd plains

      There