I mention Egypt, where proud kings I mention Babel to my friends, And Tyre with Ethiop's utmost ends, But twice that praise shall in our ear, This and this man was born in her; The Lord shall write it in a scroll Both they who sing, and they who dance, In thee fresh brooks, and soft streams glance, PSALM LXXXVIII. LORD GOD, that dost me save and keep, All day to thee I cry ; And all night long before thee weep, Before thee prostrate lie. Into thy presence let my pray'r With sighs devout ascend, And to my cries, that ceaseless are, For cloy'd with woes and trouble store Reckon'd I am with them that pass Down to the dismal pit, I am a man, but weak, alas! And for that name unfit. From life discharged and parted quite Among the dead to sleep, Whom thou rememberest no more, Them from thy hand deliver'd o'er Thou in the lowest pit profound Where thickest darkness hovers round, Thy wrath, from which no shelter saves, Thou dost my friends from me estrange, Me to them odious, for they change, Through sorrow and affliction great, Mine eye grows dim and dead, Lord, all the day I thee intreat, My hands to thee I spread. Wilt thou do wonders on the dead? Shall the deceased arise, And praise thee from their loathsome bed. With pale and hollow eyes? Shall they thy loving kindness tell On whom the grave hath hold? Or they who in perdition dwell, In darkness can thy mighty hand But I to thee, O Lord, do cry, And up to thee my pray'r doth hie, Why wilt thou, Lord, my soul forsake, Bruised and afflicted, and so low Thy fierce wrath over me doth flow, Lover and friend thou hast removed, They fly me now whom I have loved, A PARAPHRASE ON PSALM CXIV. WHEN the blest seed of Terah's faithful son, This and the following Psalm are Milton's earliest performances.-WAR TON. And sought to hide his froth-becurled head Why fled the ocean? And why skipt the mountains P That glassy floods from rugged rocks can crush, PSALM CXXXVI. LET us with a gladsome mind Let us blaze his name abroad, For of Gods he is the God: O let us his praises tell, Who doth the wrathful tyrants quell: For his, &c. Who with his miracles doth make Amazed heav'n and earth to shake: Who by his wisdom did create The painted heavens so full of state: Who did the solid earth ordain To rise above the watery plain: For his. &c. 1 Defeat. Who by his all-commanding might And caused the golden-tressèd sun The horned moon to shine by night, He with his thunder-clasping hand And in despite of Pharaoh fell, The ruddy waves he cleft in twain, Of the Erythræan main : For his, &c. 1 The floods stood still like walls of glass, While the Hebrew bands did pass: For his, &c. But full soon they did devour The tawny king with all his power: For his, &c. His chosen people he did bless In bloody battle he brought down For his, &c. He foil'd bold Seon and his host, For his, &c. Red Sea. |