Stay, Gentile, stay thy sacrilegious hand!
Pass not thy furrows o’er my cherish’d land.
Think you I heeded not to hear you swell
The shout of triumph, when my people fell?
When I had left them, helpless and forlorn,
The Heathen’s wonder, and the Gentile’s scorn,
Was ‘t little that your words profan’d my name,
And mock’d the Father for his children’s shame?
Was ‘t little that ye crush’d my bruised reed,
And rais’d your triumphs on my people’s need!
It was my cherish’d one—my eldest birth—
The vine I planted on a desert earth—
The spot where I delighted to abide,
Disown’d, disclaim’d, on all the earth beside.
The vine I planted wither’d to the root,
Belied its promise, and produc’d no fruit.
The spot that I delighted in was stain’d
With lawless blood, with idol rites profan’d.
My child — my cherished one—my best belov’d,—
Unwon by kindness, and by wrath unmov’d,
Wearied to listen to a Father’s word,
Preferr’d the service of a baser lord.
Have I forgotten them? Feel I no more
One pitying thought of what I lov’d before?
I will repent me of the wrath I spake;
And save my people, for my glory’s sake.
I see them, where they wander from my fold;
The world has wrong’d them.—Let the world behold!
And far as day’s meridian splendours shine,
Astonish’d know this scatter’d flock is mine!
Mine, though on earth despis’d and disesteem’d—
Mine that I chose me—mine that I redeem’d.
I will return to thee, poor banish’d one;
Surely thy dole of bitterness is done!
I’ll plant thy deserts with the blushing rose,
And scatter harvests where the wormwood grows.
I’ll chase the proud oppressor from thy home,
And bid the stranger give my people room.
And then, when Israel shall behold again
A Father’s smile, expected long in vain,
The blush of shame shall deepen on his cheek;
The neck shall bow, the stubborn heart shall break
And mercy triumphing where terrors fail,
A Father’s fond caresses shall prevail.
Through distant worlds the warning voice is heard—
“These are mine own, and I will be their Lord!”
(Caroline Fry)
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Based on Topics: World Poems, Name Poems, Home Poems, Smiling Poems, Fathers Poems, People Poems, Anger Poems, Curiosity Poems, Service Poems, Promise Poems, Compassion PoemsBased on Keywords: birth-, one-, sacrilegious, unwon, belied, earth-, preferr, produc, disclaim, heard-, profan