Translation of the Patriarch (Genesis v. 24.)

NO tombstone saw they there,

No sepulchre’s pallid gleam;

But a quiver went through the blue bright air,

Like a thrill of a glorious dream.

And the stately palm trees bowed,

By old Euphrates’ tide;

And the deep sky glowed, like a burning cloud,

Or a spirit glorified.

When the good old Patriarch’s footsteps trod

The sapphire pavements, that lead to God.

Where was he, when the gates

Of Heaven were opened wide?

Praying alone, like one that waits,

By Tigris’ sacred tide.

Or by some lonely shore

Where the hollow echo dwells,

And sounding sea beats evermore,

’Mid rocks and strange bright shells?

Or chanting God’s praises, with happy cheer,

When the songs of the angels broke on his ear?

And the gray Chaldean plains

With a golden radiance shone,

As Earth caught full the light that reigns

Beside the Eternal Throne.

Far off, and low, she heard

The flow of Life’s bright stream

And the music of strange sweet melodies

That haunts her like a dream;

And only God’s angels, with solemn eye,

Saw the glorious pageant passing by.

And still the rocks frown high,

Amid the shadows lone—

But their echoes nevermore reply

To the sweet angelic tone;

And an awful mystery fills

That land of unknown graves,

And ever thrills the solemn hills

That guard Euphrates’ waves;

But the word of God through ages dim,

Reveals how Enoch went home to Him.