Religious and Moral Poems | Page 7

pass the vale of night
To join
for ever on the hills of light:
To thine embrace this joyful spirit moves

To thee, the partner of his earthly loves;
He welcomes thee to
pleasures more refin'd,
And better suited to th' immortal mind.
G O L I A T H O F G A T H.
1 SAMUEL, Chap. xvii.
YE martial pow'rs, and all ye tuneful nine,
Inspire my song, and aid
my high design.
The dreadful scenes and toils of war I write,
The
ardent warriors, and the fields of fight:
You best remember, and you
best can sing
The acts of heroes to the vocal string:
Resume the lays
with which your sacred lyre,
Did then the poet and the sage inspire.

Now front to front the armies were display'd,
Here Israel rang'd, and
there the foes array'd;
The hosts on two opposing mountains stood,

Thick as the foliage of the waving wood;
Between them an extensive
valley lay,
O'er which the gleaming armour pour'd the day,
When
from the camp of the Philistine foes,
Dreadful to view, a mighty
warrior rose;
In the dire deeds of bleeding battle skill'd,
The
monster stalks the terror of the field.
From Gath he sprung, Goliath
was his name,
Of fierce deportment, and gigantic frame:
A brazen
helmet on his head was plac'd,
A coat of mail his form terrific grac'd,

The greaves his legs, the targe his shoulders prest:
Dreadful in
arms high-tow'ring o'er the rest
A spear he proudly wav'd, whose iron
head,
Strange to relate, six hundred shekels weigh'd;
He strode
along, and shook the ample field,
While Phoebus blaz'd refulgent on
his shield:
Through Jacob's race a chilling horror ran,
When thus
the huge, enormous chief began:
"Say, what the cause that in this
proud array
"You set your battle in the face of day?

"One hero find
in all your vaunting train,
"Then see who loses, and who wins the
plain;
"For he who wins, in triumph may demand
"Perpetual service
from the vanquish'd land:
"Your armies I defy, your force despise,


"By far inferior in Philistia's eyes:
"Produce a man, and let us try the
fight,
"Decide the contest, and the victor's right."
Thus challeng'd
he: all Israel stood amaz'd,
And ev'ry chief in consternation gaz'd;

But Jesse's son in youthful bloom appears,
And warlike courage far
beyond his years:
He left the folds, he left the flow'ry meads,
And
soft recesses of the sylvan shades.
Now Israel's monarch, and his
troops arise,
With peals of shouts ascending to the skies;
In Elah's
vale the scene of combat lies.
When the fair morning blush'd with
orient red,
What David's fire enjoin'd the son obey'd,
And swift of
foot towards the trench he came,
Where glow'd each bosom with the
martial flame.
He leaves his carriage to another's care,
And runs to
greet his brethren of the war.
While yet they spake the giant-chief
arose,
Repeats the challenge, and insults his foes:
Struck with the
sound, and trembling at the view,
Affrighted Israel from its post
withdrew.
"Observe ye this tremendous foe, they cry'd,
"Who in
proud vaunts our armies hath defy'd:
"Whoever lays him prostrate on
the plain,
"Freedom in Israel for his house shall gain;
"And on him
wealth unknown the king will pour,
"And give his royal daughter for
his dow'r."
Then Jesse's youngest hope: "My brethren say,
"What
shall be done for him who takes away
"Reproach from Jacob, who
destroys the chief.
"And puts a period to his country's grief.
"He
vaunts the honours of his arms abroad,
"And scorns the armies of the
living God."
Thus spoke the youth, th' attentive people ey'd
The
wond'rous hero, and again reply'd:
"Such the rewards our monarch
will bestow,
"On him who conquers, and destroys his foe."
Eliab
heard, and kindled into ire

To hear his shepherd brother thus inquire,

And thus begun: "What errand brought thee? say
"Who keeps thy
flock? or does it go astray?
"I know the base ambition of thine heart,

"But back in safety from the field depart."
Eliab thus to Jesse's
youngest heir,
Express'd his wrath in accents most severe.
When to
his brother mildly he reply'd.
"What have I done? or what the cause to
chide?
The words were told before the king, who sent
For the
young hero to his royal tent:
Before the monarch dauntless he began,


"For this Philistine fail no heart of man:
"I'll take the vale, and with
the giant fight:
"I dread not all his boasts, nor all his might."
When
thus the king: "Dar'st thou a stripling go,
"And venture combat with
so great a foe?
"Who all his days has been inur'd to fight,
"And
made its deeds his study and delight:
"Battles and bloodshed brought
the monster forth,
"And clouds and whirlwinds usher'd in his birth."

When David thus: "I kept the fleecy care,
"And out there rush'd a
lion and a bear;
"A tender lamb the hungry lion took,
"And with no
other weapon than my crook
"Bold I pursu'd, and chas d him o'er the
field,
"The prey deliver'd, and the felon kill'd:
"As thus the lion and
the bear I slew,
"So shall Goliath fall, and all his crew:
"The God,
who sav'd me from these beasts of prey,
"By me this monster in the
dust shall lay."
So David spoke. The wond'ring king reply'd;
"Go
thou with heav'n and victory on thy side:
"This coat of