Page:The poems of George Eliot (Crowell, 1884).djvu/474

 436 But Moses, pausing, in the air serene

Heard now that mystic whisper, far yet near,

The all-penetrating Voice, that said to him,

"Moses, the hour is come and thou must die."

"Lord, I obey; but thou rememberest

How thou, Ineffable, didst take me once

Within thy orb of light untouched by death."

Then the voice answered, "Be no more afraid:

With me shall be thy death and burial."

So Moses waited, ready now to die.

And the Lord came, invisible as a thought.

Three angels gleaming on his secret track.

Prince Michaël, Zagaël, Gabriel, charged to guard

The soul-forsaken body as it fell

And bear it to the hidden sepulchre

Denied forever to the search of man.

And the Voice said to Moses: "Close thine eyes."

He closed them. "Lay thine hand upon thine heart.

And draw thy feet together." He obeyed.

And the Lord said, "O spirit! child of mine!

A hundred years and twenty thou hast dwelt

Within this tabernacle wrought of clay.

This is the end: come forth and flee to heaven."

But the grieved soul with plaintive pleading cried,

"I love this body with a clinging love:

The courage fails me. Lord, to part from it."

"O child, come forth! for thou shalt dwell with me

About the immortal throne where seraphs joy

In growing vision and in growing love."

Yet hesitating, fluttering, like the bird

With young wing weak and dubious, the soul