The Parted Veil[1]
Choice Seer, with spirit eye did he behold
The sanguine scene that told his tragic fate?
Surged by the flood of grief and shame that rolled
Above the murdered honor of a State[2],
Where innocence again fell prey to hate?
There be who say he visioned all to come—
Forsaken cities, weeping, desolate,
The desecrated fane, the blazing dome[3],
The weary wanderings far in quest of peace and home.
Saw, then, a tender hopeful tragedy 3000
(Pathetic omen of his tribe's increase)
Uncurtained 'neath the star-hung canopy:
Babes, new-born babes[4], there slumbering in a fleece
Of moon-lit frost, as buds that bide release,
When winter casts its mantle white and cold,
Protecting life where life hath seemed to cease;
Frail lambs, fresh penned within the Saviour's fold,
And, like Him, manger-nurst, homeless on earth's threshold.
Homeless a nursing nation, born e'en so—
Born in a day. O Day! and eyes of Night! 3010
Watch now the "little one" "a thousand"[5] grow,
As grows the torrent from the trickling height,
The blaze of noonday from the dawning light;—
The birth-throes of an empire, whose blest reign,
Bounding from lowliness, soars past the sight
Of all save prophecy, while cities twain[6]
Sceptre the universe, with foot on land and main!
Whose but a prophet's eye such end could see?
Whose but a prophet's tongue the issue tell?—
A modern march of ancient destiny, 3020
Another Exodus and Israel,
Bidding his bonds, his all, save hope, farewell;
Widening, 'mid alien wastes, true freedom's fame,
Where bondage, chained to darkness, fain would dwell[7];
And rearing temples to Jehovah's name,
Where looms the Aztec's altar[8], quenched of its ancient flame.
There bringing forth the promise of thy land,
O rare and wondrous West!—the prophecy
Of glittering cities strewn along thy strand,
O golden empire[9] of the sunset sea! 3030
God-gifted Seer, while gazing endlessly,
Sawest thou an Eden on the desert brine[10],
Begirt with desolation's mystery,
Ere gusht the riven rock with milk and wine,
Where all was treeless waste and sun-baked alkaline?
Sawest thou, O prophet! till the pioneer
Builded his eagle nest, and pure and brave
Homed on the white-helmed peak and crystal mere?
O matchless land—the home their valor gave,
Mighty in will to bless, in work to save, 3040
Redeemed, redeeming, all must own thy worth!
Slander may wound thee, tyranny enslave,
Still thou art mine, loved land of all the earth,
Land of the honey-bee[11], land of my mortal birth!
Land prest by footprint of my pilgrim sire[12];
Land visioned by my more than sire, whose soul
Swept the far future with a glance of fire,
Bade hope, as memory, her page unroll;
Beheld uplifting, as a parted scroll,
The curtain from a kingdom yet to be, 3050
Binding in one world-realms from pole to pole;
Saw monarchs bow, saw nations bend the knee,
Saw dead and risen time take on eternity.
"Hear me, my people[13]! I shall not be slain
While unfulfilled my mission? Then, like Him
Who holds my hand, linked in an endless chain,
Which cannot die, whose light can ne'er grow dim,
Must I return to Home and Elohim.
Though here I fain would linger—human choice!
If weal to friend or foe—ay, e'en to them, 3060
Might purchased be, with my poor life the price,
Welcome, thrice welcome death. I will the sacrifice.
"Nor marvel at my mood. Could you but gaze
Upon the wonders of the worlds of God,
Where burn, amid the universal blaze,
The Father's fullness and the Son's abode,
Won by their feet who walk the rightful road,
Nor weary in well-doing; 'twere alone
Reward for all that here hath been your load.
Forgive—leave all to heaven, whose highest Throne 3070
Made endless love to endless life the stepping stone.
"Hearken, O House of Joseph! Here must end
My mortal toil. Now, as from Nebo's height[14],
I see, like him of old, my day descend.
But looms afar upon my sinking sight
Another Canaan. Clothe for pilgrim flight.
A Joshua cometh! Him let Israel heed,
And loyal be unto that council's right
On whom the Kingdom rolls; for they must lead
To where privation's hand shall sow dominion's seed. 3080
"A glacier's might, your gathered strength shall stand,
Stalwart upon the mountains[15], and shall send
Swift messengers to sound o'er sea and land
Last warning to the nations. Hither wend
Awakening hosts, who eager hearing lend
While yet the voice of grace, the voice of God,
Summons the house of Abraham his friend;
Calls them the wave to cleave, the wild to plod,
On, on to that safe rest, ere falls the reckoning rod.
"For war shall wound[16] this nation—rend it wide, 3090
And trample nations all. Anon shall slaves
'Gainst masters rise, and anarchy o'erride
Till tyranny be trodden as the paves,
Till patriot might puts forth its hand and saves
The crimsoned land from chaos. Hearken, all!
When ruin's host the blood-red banner waves,
Who heeded first the Gospel's warning call
Shall be the last of realms to crumble and to fall.
"Britannia! Thou among the during ones,
A nursing mother unto Israel's might; 4000
Foremost to send thy daughters and thy sons
From shores afar, from darkness unto light.
As thou hast favored truth and 'friended right,
Their tongues shall plead for thee in time to come,
And nerve thine arm when perilous thy plight.
Borne on thy shoulder o'er the billowing foam,
Joseph and Judah find their heritage, their home.
"I saw, while justice showed the vision dire,
Till mercy's hand let fall the lifted veil,
The goal of the ungodly—blood and fire, 4010
Earthquake and whirlwind, pestilential hail
Smiting earth's face with desolating flail.
And this, the mere beginning of their woe,
Whose final fate a doom the damned bewail;
While they that follow Christ, anon shall go
To guide and save lost souls, groping in shades below.
"Good fears not evil—grapples with it strong,
Hell turns to heaven, the unclean purifies;
For evil is but good, the right bent wrong.
No weakling unto loftiest worlds can rise; 4020
No coward e'er hath scaled celestial skies;
'Tis strength that wins the goal of blessedness,
'Tis knowledge saves, 'tis wisdom glorifies;
Intelligence alone can lift and bless
The fallen, innocent till snared in sin's duress.
"What matter, if my mortal race be run,
Where earth enfolds me to her mother breast?
While ye, my people—yonder setting sun
Points out your path. For you, no peace, no rest,
Till firm your weary feet upon the West, 4030
Where, moveless as yon snowy spine of hills,
Befriended by the tempest, unopprest,
And bounteous as the sun that sends the rills
To bless the vales, God's first-born fold[17] His purpose fills.
"Affliction here, but friendship there and peace;
(More cruel Christian white than savage red),
And in a day when warning tongues shall cease,
And plain be seen what prophets all have said;
When peace shall have no pillow for her head,
Save lofty heights where loyal hosts abound; 4040
Brave sons of battling sires[18], who toiled and bled
That this might evermore be freedom's ground,
Shall give to you their strength God's Kingdom here to found.
"Bide mountain-walled, my people! stalwart, strong,
Till poureth down from hallowed founts on high,
The might that doth to righteousness belong,
The might of faith, the power of purity—
Despair and terror to iniquity.
Then, Ephra-Judah, who the hand shall bind
That clears thy path before thee? Foes shall fly 4050
As driven dust, as ashes in the wind;
The crouching Lion springs, and He the prey shall find.
"And by that power[19] shall Zion be redeemed,
Yea, with a mighty hand, an out-stretched arm,
With marvels, miracles, ne'er done nor dreamed
Since wonder oped her eyes. The world's alarm
Shall surge, an angry sea; but fear nor harm
Can hover near the conquering host of God.
'Gainst Lucifer's shall Michael's legions form,
Besoming the chosen soil with chastening rod, 4060
Till sainted towers arise on Eden's ancient sod.
"The place appointed. Naught else is designed;
Naught else can heaven accept. Put forth the hand,
Plant stakes of Zion, tight her cords to bind,
Where'er ye move, O fated pilgrim band!
But bring forth Zion's self on Zion's land[20];
The consecrated soil, whereon ye stood
With me, of late, loyal while treason fanned
The flame still thirsting for a martyr's blood.
There build, in time to be, a city unto God. 4070
"Nor there alone; for all is Zion's land,
North unto South, East unto Western wave,
Far as the hemisphere's wide wings expand,
She sits, a sovereign queen, ice-crowned, to lave
Her glowing hands in tropic tides, while brave
Her snowy feet in faith the southern sea.
Arm patient, slow to smite, yet swift to save,
A friend to right, a foe to tyranny.
And there be living now who then shall live and see.
"While here the glory of the Common Good[21], 4080
Shadowed and symboled by a patriot band,
Whose triumph wrought for human brotherhood,
Extending that high cause from strand to strand,
Shall bring deliverance unto every land.
But anarchy would foil the lofty aim,
The peace, the union, by Jehovah planned;
Wherefore 'tis doomed to failure and to shame,
With all unrighteous rule, whate'er its place or name.
"The sceptered harlot,[22] throned on human seas,
Chief link of Satan's world-encircling chain; 4090
The secret craft and crime—iniquities
Whereby the Wicked One extends his reign;
All these must perish from the Lord's domain,
Nor aught of guile be found His Kingdom through.
Truth's sun hath risen—all lesser lights must wane;
And wrong and false that masks as right and true,
Shall feel the scourge of flame that Sodom's sin o'erthrew.
"More would I tell that in my bosom burns,
But bigot fires would flame as ne'er before;
For truth, rejected, friend to traitor turns, 5000
And damns where fain 'twould save. Six mounting o'er,
My spirit to a seventh realm[23] did soar,
And saw and heard—Ah, would that I might say!
Though memory but renewed a former lore,
What all may learn when full the dawning day,
When twinkling, twilight faith to knowledge shall give way.
"Hope not till then to have my history,
What life hath scribed to scan; nor tongue nor pen
Can tell the tale, dispel the mystery,
That hides me from the dim, dull gaze of men. 5010
Sojourning here, within this shadowed scene,
A medial stage, a mortal compromise,
The spirit's might, the body's weight, between,
Deem not that e'en earth's wisest can be wise,
Till heaven the blindness touch that seals all human eyes.
"One little fold I lift of that vast veil:
How came he God, to whom all gods must bow—
The very Sire, whom all the sons now hail
As mightiest of the mighty? I avow
That even He was once as we are now; 5020
That we like Him can be—yea, by degrees,
Mount unto loftiest heights, till on each brow
Be writ the Name of Names. Not angels these,
But Gods, e'en Sons of God, through all eternities.
"Weighed in the balance here, nor wanting found;
Tried in the fire, triumphant from the test;
Though wrung their hearts, their finest feelings ground,
Betwixt life's upper, nether, millstones prest,
Till proved, of good and brave, the bravest, best.
Less faith than theirs who follow Abraham, 5030
Honoring o'er all Jehovah's high behest,
Uplifts no gate of that Jerusalem—
The Bosom of the Gods—the Glory of I AM.[24]
"Bide valiant here, as ye were valiant there.
Whence came delightsome bodies, soaring minds,
Aspiring thrones to win and crowns to wear?
Spring not all seeds according to their kinds?
Each act, each word, each thought, delivers, binds,
Dwarfs or develops. Man's all-crowning state
His own creation. What the Judgment finds, 5040
The soul reveals; and weal or woe the fate,
'Tis freedom's chainless choice, for all on will must wait.
"Stand as ye stood, my legion brave, what time
The starry host, celestial symphony,
Choraled the anthem seraphic, sublime,
To the spelled ear of all eternity!
Lifted your hands for light and liberty[25],
When fraud with force progression's path would pave.
Fought we with Michael, drove the dragon, he
Who planned to seize all worlds, all worlds enslave, 5050
And would have damned, destroyed, what Christ came down
to save.
"As now, in lesser liberty's abode,
Incarnate spirit of fell tyranny
Would trample on the type of Freedom's Code[26],
Befriending human right where'er it be.
But hear me, Heaven! Come life, come death, to me,
Jehovah's captain, in His name and fear,
I vow to Him His people shall be free—
Ay, free all men, as in that former sphere, 5060
When hurled from yon dread height the power of Lucifer.
"Fear not—Truth's cause shall triumph. Sown the seed
Whose harvest knows no failure, no delay.
Crooked shall straighten to the future need,
And crudeness unto culture shall give way;
And part shall change to perfect in that day.
Firm, strong—not smooth, the building's basic stone,
Hidden from view; while rests the heavenly ray
On polished wall, on gleaming spire and cone:
Jacob's, not Esau's hand[27] shall rear Messiah's throne. 5070
"Great the beginning—glorious the end;
Elijah comes, the Kingdom to complete[28].
Farewell! This from your father, brother, friend.
No more your prophet, patriarch, ye meet,
Till here all prophets, patriarchs, ye greet,
Mingling with Gods, while heaven on earth shall dwell,
To drink the wine of wisdom at His feet,
The Husbandman and Vine of Israel.
Thus saith the God of Jacob—Joseph's God. Farewell!"
—-
Then sank to rest, his mortal mission done. 5080
Hark to those shouts that hail a homing king!
A crimson aureole rounds the sinking sun,
Omen of golden dawn swift following;
Death's winter promise of eternal spring—
Celestial Edens, empires, throne on throne,
And worlds once waste, redeemed, there blossoming.
Future now present, and the past unflown,
While all unguised, unveiled, life, death, earth, time, are known.
