and slay,
That the sin of my bidding be done": and the soul in the slave
said, "Yea."
Yea, not nay, was the word: and the sacrifice offered withal
Was neither of beast nor of bird, but the soul of a man, God's
thrall.
And the word of his servant spoken was fire, and the light of a
sword,
When the bondage of Israel was broken, and Sinai shrank from the
Lord.
With splendour of slaughter and thunder of song as the sound of the
sea
Were the foes of him stricken in sunder and silenced as storms that
flee.
Terror and trust and the pride of the chosen, approved of his
choice,
Saw God in the whirlwind ride, and rejoiced as the winds rejoice.
Subdued and exalted and kindled and quenched by the sense of his
might,
Faith flamed and exulted and dwindled, and saw not, and clung to
the sight.
The wastes of the wilderness brightened and trembled with rapture
and dread
When the word of him thundered and lightened and spake through the
quick and the dead.
The chant of the prophetess, louder and loftier than tempest and
wave,
Rang triumph more ruthless and prouder than death, and profound as
the grave.
And sweet as the moon's word spoken in smiles that the blown clouds
mar
The psalmist's witness in token arose as the speech of a star.
Starlight supreme, and the tender desire of the moon, were as one
To rebuke with compassion the splendour and strength of the godlike
sun.
God softened and changed: and the word of his chosen, a fire at the
first,
Bade man, as a beast or a bird, now slake at the springs his
thirst.
The souls that were sealed unto death as the bones of the dead lie
sealed
Rose thrilled and redeemed by the breath of the dawn on the
flame-lit field.
The glories of darkness, cloven with music of thunder, shrank
As the web of the word was unwoven that spake, and the soul's tide
sank.
And the starshine of midnight that covered Arabia with light as a
robe
Waxed fiery with utterance that hovered and flamed through the
whirlwind on Job.
And prophet to prophet and vision to vision made answer sublime,
Till the valley of doom and decision