Man of Uz, and Other Poems | Page 7

of burdening woe.?I would not alway live this loathed life?Whose days are vanity. Soon shall I sleep?Low in the dust, and when the morning comes?And thro' its curtaining mists ye seek my face?I shall not be."

Earnest the Shuhite spake,?"How long shall these thy words, like eddying winds?Fall empty on the ear?
Doth God pervert?Justice and judgment? If thy way was pure,?Thy supplication from an upright heart?He would awake and make thy latter end?More blest than thy beginning.
For inquire?Of ancient times, of History's honor'd scroll?And of the grey-hair'd fathers, if our words?Seem light, we who were born but yesterday.?Ask them and they shall teach thee, as the rush,?Or as the flag forsaken of the pod,?So shall the glory of the hypocrite?Fade in its greenness.
Tho' his house may seem?Awhile to flourish, it shall not endure.?Even tho' he grasp it with despairing strength?It shall deceive his trust and pass away,?As fleets the spider's filmy web. Behold?God will not cast away the perfect man?Nor help the evil doer."

In low tones,?Sepulchral, and with pain, the sufferer spake,?"I know that this is truth, but how can man?Be just with God? How shall he dare contend?With Him who stretches out the sky and treads?Upon the mountain billows of the sea,?And sealeth up the stars?
Array'd in strength,?He passeth by me, but I see Him not.?I hear His chariot-wheels, yet fear to ask?Where goest Thou?
If I, indeed, were pure,?And perfect, like the model ye see fit?To press upon me with your sharpest words,?I would not in mine arrogance arise?And reason with Him, but all humbly make?Petition to my Judge.
If there were one?To shield me from His terrors, and to stand?As mediator, I might dare to ask?Why didst Thou give this unrequested boon?Of life, to me, unhappy? My few days?Are swifter than a post. As the white sail?Fades in the mist, as the strong eagle's wing?Leaves no receding trace, they flee away,?They see no good.
Hath not Thy mighty hand?Fashion'd and made this curious form of clay,?Fenc'd round with bones and sinews, and inspired?By a mysterious soul? Oh be not stern?Against Thy creature, as the Lion marks?His destin'd prey.
Relent and let me take?Comfort a little, ere I go the way?Whence I return no more, to that far land?Of darkness and the dreary shades of death."

Scarce had he ceas'd ere Zophar's turbid thoughts?Made speed to answer.
"Shall a tide of talk?Wash out transgression? If thou choose to set?The truth at nought, must others hold their peace??Hast thou not boasted that thy deeds and thoughts?Were perfect in the almighty Maker's sight??Canst thou by searching find out God? Behold?Higher than heaven it is, what canst thou do??Deeper than deepest hell, what canst thou know??Why wilt thou ignorantly deem thyself?Unblamed before Him?
Oh that He would speak,?And put to shame thine arrogance.
His glance?Discerns all wickedness, all vain pretence?To sanctity and wisdom. Were thine heart?Rightly prepared, and evil put away?From that and from thy house, then shouldst thou lift?Thy spotless face, clear as the noon-day sun?Stedfast and fearless. Yea, thou shouldst forget?Thy misery, as waters that have past?Away forever.
Thou shouldst be secure?And dig about thee and take root, and rest,?While those who scorn thee now, with soul abased,?Should make their suit unto thee.
But the eyes?Of wicked men shall fail, and as the groan?Of him who giveth up the ghost, shall be?Their frustrate hope."
Dejectedly, as one?Who wearied in a race, despairs to reach?The destined goal, nor yet consents to leave?His compeers masters of an unwon field.?Job said,--
"No doubt ye think to have attained?Monopoly of knowledge, and with you?Wisdom shall die. This modesty of creed?Befits ye well. Yet what have ye alledg'd?Unheard before? what great discoveries made??Who knoweth not such things as ye have told??Despised am I by those who call'd me friend?In prosperous days. Like a dim, waning lamp?About to be extinguished am I held?By the dull minds of those who dwell at ease.?Weak reasoners that ye are, ye have essay'd?To speak for God. Suppose ye He doth need?Such advocacy? whose creative hand?Holdeth the soul of every living thing,?And breath of all mankind?
He breaketh down,?And who can build again? Princes and kings?Are nothing in his sight. Disrobed of power?Ceaseless they wander and He heedeth not.?Those whom the world have worship'd seem as fools.?He lifteth up the nations at His will,?Or sweeps them with his lightest breath away?Like noteless atoms.
Silence is for you?The truest wisdom. Creatures that ye count?Inferior to yourselves, who in thin air?Spread the light wing, or thro' the waters glide,?Or roam the earth, might teach if ye would hear?And be instructed by them.
Hold your peace!?Even tho' He slay me I will trust in Him?For He is my salvation, He alone;?At whose dread throne no hypocrite shall dare?To stand, or answer.
Man, of woman born?Is of few days, and full of misery.?Forth like a flower he comes, and is cut down,?He fleeth like a shadow. What is man?That God regardeth