The Hawk-eye and Iowa patriot. (Burlington, Iowa) 1839-1843, 1839-09-12
THE SEVENTH PLAGUE OF EGYPT.


BY REV. GEORGE cRoLY.
Twas morn-the rising splendor rolled
On marble towers and roofs of gold;
Hall, court, and gallery below,
Were crowded with living flow;
Egyptian, Arab, Nubian there,
The bearers of the bow and spear;
The hoary priest, the Chaldee sage,
The slave, the gemmed and glittering page
Helm, turban, and tiara, shone
"A dazzling ring round Pharaoh's throne.
There came a mantle human tide
.shrank backward from his stately stride;
His cheek with storm and time was tanned /;
"A shepherds staff was in his hand
A shudder of instructive fear
Told the dark king what step was near.
On through the host the stranger came,
1t parted round his form like fame.
He stopped not at the footstool stone.
He clasped not sandal, kissed not throne;
Erect he stood amid the ring,
His only words-"Be Just, O king"
On Pharaeh's cheek the blood flushed high,
A fire was in his sullen eye;
Yet on the chief of Israel
No arrow of his thousands fell; 80
ALI mute and moveless as the grave,
Stood chilled the satrap and the slave.
ssThou'rt come" at length the monarch spoke
Naughty and high the words outbroke-
s'Is Israel weary of its lair,
The forehead peeled, the shoulder bare?
Take back the answer to your band:
Go reap the wind; go, plough the sand;
20, vilest of the living vile,
To build the neyer-ending pile,
Till, darkest of the nameless dead,
The vulture on their flesh is fed.
What better asks the bowling slave
Than the base life our bounty gave?'
Shouted in pride the turbanned peers;
Upclashed to heaven the golden spears.
liking! thou and thine are doomed-Behcld!'
The prophet spoke; the thunder rolled;
Along the pathway of the sun
Sailed vapory mountains wild and dun.
"Yet there is time" the prophet said
He raised his staff-the storm was stayed.
liking! be the word of freedom given:
What art thou, man, to war with heaven?"
There came no word. The thunder broke!
Like a huge city's final smoke,
Thick, ]urid, sitting, mixed with fame,
Through court and hall the vapors came.
Loose as the stubble in the field,
Wide flew the men of spear and shields
Scattered like foam along the wave,
Flew the proud pageant, prince and slave:
Or, in the chains Of terror bound,
Lay, corpse like, on the smouldering ground
'sSpeak, king!-the wrath is but begun
Still dumb-then, heaven, thy will be done:"
Echoed from earth u hollow roar,
Like ocean on the midnight shore;
sheet of lightning DER them wheeled,
The solid ground beneath them reeled
In dust sank roof and battlement;
Like webs the giant walls were rent;
Red, broad, before his startled gaze,
The monarch saw his Egypt blaze.
Still swelled the plague-the flame grew pale
Burst from the clouds the charge of hail
With arrowy keenness, iron weight,
Down poured the ministers of fate;
Til man and cattle, crushed, CONCEALED,
Covered with death the boundless field.
Still swelled the plague-uprose the blast,
The avenger, fit to be the last
On ocean, river. forest, vale,
Ihundered at once the mighty gale.
A thousand ships were on the wave
Where are they?--Ask that foaming grave!
Down 60 the hope, the pride of years,
Down go the myriad mariners;
The riches of earth's richest zone,
Gone! like u flash Of lightning, gone!
And, 10! that first fierce triumph DER,
Swells ocean on the shrinking shore!
Still, onward, onward, dark and wide,
Engulfs the land the furious tide
Then bowed thy spirit, stubborn king,
Thou serpent, reft of fang and sting;
Humbled, before the prophets knee,
He groaned, "Be injured Israel Free
To heaven the sage appraised the wand;
Back rolled the deluge from the land;
Back to its cayerns sank the on le.
Fled from the noon the vapors pale;
Broad burned again the joyous sun;
The hour of wrath and death was done.