Classic Poem

We flew with white wings fluttering o'er the nation,
Bearing God's promise of divine salvation,
If worthy men were found in prayer's prostration.

We sought the righteous, pure of heart and holy,
The priest-deceived, the ignorant, the lowly,
Those who for sinning do not languish solely,

Those who unto the boundless skies aspire,
Who live and hope that fate holds something higher
Than bestial altars stained with blood and fire,

But we have failed, and in our indignation
We have beheld, with cries and lamentation,
Enormous sin, idolatry, stupration,

Ignoble rites of brutishness horrific,
Pollution infamous to the Omnific,
Disgusting lust and revelries morbific!

We fail to find a spirit pure and blameless!
The town is feverish with passions shameless,
Atrocious cries and prostitution nameless,

False worship hideous, sacrifice diurnal
Unto a sceptered clod, a god infernal,
Orgies and crime, defying the Eternal!

We will away! Our prayers can no sin sunder;
Corruption sways the town above and under;
We leave it to God's lightning and His thunder!

Now Ilcah, trifling with her favorite birds,
Had heard in vague dismay the angels' words,
And to the bastion where proud Suran kept
His mighty vigil she with caution crept,
And spake to him in feverish unrest,
Panting and timid, by great fears possessed,
For doubt had dawned within her, and she feared
The unknown God that Abraham revered.
And Suran mocked her and her child-alarms,
For he was fain to hold her in his arms,
And see the perfect summer of love's June
Mantle her cheeks below the mellow moon.
With many jests he won her fears away,
Soothed her worn thoughts and tempered her dismay,
And lied with fervor, saying he had seen,
Crouched in Vul's temple, near the holy screen,
The white-faced strangers, ay, the angels fair,
Enter, and choosing from the zonahs there,
Depart unto the temple's inner shrine.
Heated with lust and radiant with wine,
Ay, even so, he cried: " But, Ilcah, sweet,
If the sad town this threatened doom must meet.
I, warned and ready by thy love for me,
Will be alert, and I will follow thee,
Ay, to another land, beneath new stars,
I swear it by the grace that is Ishtar's,
I swear it by the lengthy beard of Bel;
This will I do, for I do love thee well! "
Then, like a weary bird that finds its nest,
Calm and content, she lingered on his breast.

The pure dawn came, and Lot, with wrinkled brows
Made dull by care and most engrossing thought,
Bade Ilcah and his servant men prepare
And leave the town, adding no other word,
Save that the Lord had bidden him do the same,
For doom impendent hovered on the town,
And that, when far upon the Siddim plain,
No soul should turn to see the city's fate,
Or cast a pitying glance upon its shame;
Such was the will of God; and if in fear
An eager eye unto the bastions turned,
Then would the disobedient suffer death!

So they went forth in silence and deep pain,
While night, impenetrable, veiled the plain,
Then the Lord spake, and lo! the ominous thunder
Was heard about His brows in fury gathering!
Wan sheets of lurid lightning writhed and scattered
The battling clouds united to impede them,
With walls of rain and leagues of seething vapor.
Down through the shields of mist His bolts were driven;
Unleashed and maddened o'er the universes,
In glowing seconds did they swiftly traverse
Spaces illimitable, nameless distance,
Before, in strength tremendous concentrating,
In dizzy worlds of fire they hurried downward.