<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=114990" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Joseph</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">With many children was the Patriarch blest,<br>Yet Joseph he preferr'd before the rest:<br>To tend his flock was all the youth's employ<br>To serve his God and Sire his only joy:<br>Jacob of his lov'd consort now depriv'd,<br>Beheld her graces in the son reviv'd;<br>And all the love he had to Rachel gone,<br>Was by degrees transferr'd unto her son.<br>A silken vest, that cast a various shade,<br>He fondly to the boy a present made:<br>Here vivid scarlet strove with lively green,<br>The purple, blended with the white, was seen,<br>And azure spots were interspers'd between.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">This gaudy robe (the basis of his woe,<br>The source from which his future sorrows flow)<br>Kindled his elder brethren's wakeful pride:<br>(When envy mounts, affection will subside)<br>Their dawning hate in vain to hide they strove,<br>Each look too plain confess'd expiring love.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The sun obliquely shot his humid beams,<br>When Joseph wak'd, one morn, and told his dreams:<br>'My brethren, we, methought, were on a plain,<br>'And binding into sheaves the yellow grain;<br>'When mine arose; your's form'd a circle round,<br>'And reverently bow'd low to the ground.'<br>And this each face the innate rage express'd:<br>And Joseph thus, indignant, they address'd.<br>'Shalt thou indeed a sov'reign to us be?<br>'And shall we fall as suppliants on the knee?<br>'Vain boy! renounce those hopes---hence to the field<br>'A shepherd's crook, not sceptre, shalt thou wield.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Again, when slumbers stole upon his eyes,<br>And active Fancy bade the vision rise,,<br>And crystal moon respectful homage pay.<br>This on the morn the wond'ring youth disclos'd<br>When Jacob the prediction thus oppos'd:<br>'Shall I, thine aged sire, whose silver hairs<br>'And arms unnerv'd proclaim my length of years,<br>'Prostrate on earth myself thy vassel own?<br>'And shall thy mother bow before her son?</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Ambition, Joseph, has thy heart possess'd,<br>'And dreams illusive rise from such a guest.'<br>But yet he wonder'd what might be design'd,<br>And the presaging visions treasur'd in his mind.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">It chanc'd his elder sons at early dawn<br>Led their fair flocks to Dothen's verdant lawn:<br>There, while the kids and lambs crop off the flow'rs,<br>In close converse they pass th' eloping hours:<br>Beneath a cedar's boughs, whose awful shade<br>Extended o'er the plain, was Levi laid:<br>What rais'd the tears that trembled in his eyes?<br>Issacher ask'd; and Levi thus replies:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Jacob was once impartial in his love;<br>'To please us all, and we to please him strove.<br>'Have we not toil'd beneath the burning ray<br>'Of yon bright orb, who rising we survey;<br>'And when the lamp of night illumes the skies,<br>'When dews descend and noxious mists arise,<br>'In silent vales a careful watch we keep,<br>'And from the rav'ning wolves protect the sheep?<br>'Is this the kind return for all our care?---<br>'We ask but equally his love to share;<br>'And that denied, to aggravate the smart,<br>'A simpering boy engrosses all his heart:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'What can entitle him to such a claim,<br>'Domestic labours, or a martial fame?<br>'In Mamre's groves his hours slide soft away,<br>'In rest at night, in indolence all day:<br>'With lies of us he fills the cred'lous ear,<br>'Too horrid to repeat, or you to hear.<br>'For this a superb robe adorns his limbs,<br>'And partial heav'n for this in mystic dreams<br>'Presages a reward. But words are vain.'<br>Here Levi ceas'd, and Issacher began.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Ah! 'tis too plain, too obvious to the sight,<br>'That Joseph is our parent's chief delight,<br>'Although a base usurper of our right:<br>'You see ambition rising in his soul;<br>'And when his years mature to manhood roll,<br>'Elated with the hopes of sway, he'll try<br>'On us, my friends, his dreams to verify.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He ended: but his cheeks with anger glows:<br>When bloody Simeon from the ground arose.<br>Awhile he paus'd; at length his lips impart<br>The black design corroding at his heart.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Brethren, this war of words and coward rage<br>'Suits not our youth, but meets impotent age;<br>'Let one decisive stroke remove our fears,<br>'Obstruct the fates, and calm intestine wars.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Reuben at Simeon glanc'd a frown, and spoke:<br>'The sentence yet in embrio I revoke:<br>'The Sechemites, (who, murder'd on the plain,<br>'Sad monuments of cruelty remain)<br>'Have they to death inur'd your gloomy eyes,<br>'That for a childish dream your brother dies?<br>'Would you in guiltless blood your jav'lins stain,<br>'And Nature's law by such a deed profane?<br>'My soul shrinks at the thought: loud sounding fame<br>'Would through the world the fratricide proclaim.<br>'Brethren, regard his youth---our father's age;<br>'One fatal stroke destroys both child and sage:<br>'Congenial souls: the union of the heart<br>'Death can't divide, nor living can we part.<br>'Ah! tell me, Simeon, is the action brave<br>'To sink a sage and infant in the grave?<br>'Mistaken valor, and inhuman deed,<br>'For one man's fault to make a nation bleed!<br>'Much more inhuman this: the son conspires<br>'A harmless brother's death, and aged sire's.<br>'Think not with their last breath your fears are fled;<br>'God's vengeance still pursues the guilty head!<br>'And why abridge his days? Ah! brethren, know,<br>By short'ning his, you fill your own with woe.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He ended unapplauded, and beheld<br>The object of their contest on the field,<br>Far as the eye could reach: his glossy hair<br>Curl'd on his neck; his robe wav'd light in air,<br>Clasp'd by a plate of gold, that as he run<br>In brightness seem'd to emulate the sun.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Hate, stifled by reproof, flam'd in each eye,<br>When at a distance they perceiv'd the boy;<br>In ev'ry look black discontent was spread,<br>And Judah, pale with envy, rose and said:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Vain sophistry! how do our joys subside,<br>'While that prophetic dreamer swells with pride?<br>'No; let him die: his vest we'll stain with blood,<br>'And tell his sire we found it in the wood:<br>'Some beast, I'll cry, and deep affliction feign,<br>'Oh Jacob, has thy son, thy Joseph slain!<br>'If Reuben new objections here create,<br>'Then let him bear our just, immortal hate.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When Reuben found his death was now decreed,<br>Resolv'd to save the youth, or with him bleed,<br>He loud exclaim'd---'At least with this comply,<br>'(Since by our hand the innocent must die)<br>'I am his brother, give me not the pain<br>'To see his blood gush from the purple vein,<br>'To see his soul part from his quiv'ring lip,<br>'And hear the groan which ushers in his sleep.<br>'Where yonder cedars raise their lofty heads,<br>'And round the rocky place a horror spreads,<br>'There is a pit, to water long unknown,<br>'Dark its access, with brambles overgrown:<br>'Here be the child immur'd: the sides are steep,<br>'Of stone cemented, and profoundly deep;<br>'A certain and concealed death his fate;<br>'Guiltless of blood we gratify our hate.'<br>He hesitated---by real sorrow mov'd,<br>While his proposal all the swains approv'd.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But Reuben hop'd, when sleep had clos'd their eyes,<br>With the lov'd youth his father to surprise;<br>Then lead him where he might securely wait<br>The period when he should survive their hate.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Joseph, soon as his brethren he descries,<br>A placid sweetness triumph'd in his eyes,<br>Joy ting'd his blooming cheeks with deeper red,<br>He innocently smil'd, advanc'd, and said:<br>'To Sechem's vale our fire bade me repair,<br>'If you were well, solicitous to hear:<br>'I rov'd o'er meads enamel'd with gay flow'rs,<br>'I rang'd the forests and explor'd the bow'rs;<br>'At length my erring steps a stranger led<br>'To Dothen, where he said your flocks were fed<br>'But why this gen'ral gloom on ev'ry face,<br>'This stupid grief which saddens all the place?<br>'O tell me! quick dispel each rising fear,<br>'Or let me drop the sympathetic tear.'---<br>He pleads, impatient for the truth to gain;<br>But dazzling virtue aw'd the silent train.<br>The conscious blood revolting from each cheek,<br>Rush to the guilty heart and refuge seek:<br>Now vice prepares the formidable blow,<br>Yet shrinks, encountering a defenceless foe:<br>She summons all her forces to her aid,<br>And big with death, now hovers o'er his head.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Rapid as lightnings thro' the æther glance,<br>So swift they to th' astonish'd youth advance;<br>Trembling with rage they flew; they seiz'd his hair,<br>And bade him instantly for death prepare.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Aghast he gaz'd; he stiffen'd with surprise,<br>His blood congeals, he scarce believes his eyes;<br>A sudden horror thrills thro' ev'ry vein,<br>He casts an anxious look back o'er the plain;<br>He sees no hope; then sinking on his knees,<br>He thus essay'd their anger to appease:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'What have I done, my brethren, that your rage<br>'United should against a child engage?<br>'Alas! what heavy crime demands my death?'<br>Here rising tears suppress'd his lab'ring breath;<br>These when discharg'd, again the shepherd pleads:---<br>'Is there no friend, not one who intercedes?<br>'With guiltless blood pollute not Nature's laws.<br>'Tell me my fault, and let me plead my cause:<br>'If innocent, acquit; if guilty found,<br>'In public then let justice give the wound.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He ceas'd to speak, and their decision wait;<br>When Nepthali exclaim'd, 'Our will is fate.'<br>Then with a cord his trembling hands they bound,<br>And rais'd him pale and fainting from the ground:<br>His terror power of utterance denies,<br>But yet he weeps and lifts his speaking eyes.<br>They lead him to the grove, whose solemn shade<br>The wind and solar ray could scarce pervade;<br>The dark abyss they found, and op'd a way<br>By which descending Joseph lest the day:<br>The hollow sides re-echo back his moan,<br>And distant rocks reflect the doubled groan;<br>In deeper notes his plaintive cries return'd,<br>While low excluded from the light he mourn'd.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Th' inhuman rustics soon depart the place<br>Where conscious Vice now flush'd each guilty face:<br>The sun shone hot; impervious to his ray<br>A grove of palms the fainting swains survey:<br>Beneath their shade a silver current stole,<br>Whose lucid waves o'er mossy carpets roll.<br>Here they repair, and seated on the ground,<br>With roseate wine the shining goblet crown'd;<br>The viands on the velvet grass they spread,<br>The grape luxuriant and the milk-white bread;<br>When thoughtful Reuben, sighing, rose and said:<br>'While you the festive banquet here prepare,<br>'To seek the straying lambs shall be my care.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Scarce was he gone, when from a neighbouring vale<br>The fragrant smells of spicery exhale;<br>The aromatic loads by camels borne,<br>From Geliad sent, to Egypt now return:<br>These were proceeded by a num'rous train<br>Of trafficers, who from fair Midian came.<br>Th' inviting shade, where cool the shepherds lay,<br>Allur'd the merchants from their tiresome way;<br>They join the swains, and press the verdant ground,<br>While the replenish'd goblet passes round.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But pale remorse, from cool reflection sprung,<br>On half-repenting Judah's brow was hung;<br>His brother's groans reverb'rate on his ear,<br>But yet his envy Joseph's merits fear.<br>While these contending passions rend his breast<br>Apart the list'ning shepherds he address'd:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'My friends, the eldest curse of righteous heaven<br>'Was to the murderer of a brother given;<br>'Tho' Joseph's crimes would justify his death,<br>'We can be just, and yet prolong his breath.<br>'Let us redeem the victim from the grave,<br>'And send him to Egyptia as a slave;<br>'From those far plains he never can return,<br>'But must repent his faults, submit and mourn:<br>'No black reflection then will give us pain,<br>'And useful gold, my brethren, too we gain.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The mercenary shepherds all agree,<br>And set him from his gloomy prison free:<br>He smites his breast, wet with incessant tears;<br>His languid eyes to heav'n he pleading rears,<br>Whose silent eloquence reveal'd his fears.<br>But when he saw the strangers in the shade,<br>Diffusive hope thro' all his features spread;<br>He wip'd away the pendant tears, and smil'd,<br>When by the hand proud Ashur took the child;<br>His sordid soul from all soft ties estrang'd,<br>Joseph, without remorse, for gold exchang'd:<br>The youth's simplicity and early bloom,<br>Each stranger with attractive force o'ercome:<br>They paid the shining ore, and journey'd on,<br>For in the west sunk the declining sun.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Meanwhile, o'er distant hills, and moss-grown rocks,<br>The pensive swain pursues the timid flocks.<br>Now late returning, and o'ercome with heat,<br>Secures his charge and seeks a cool retreat;<br>Beneath a cedar's length'ned shadow laid,<br>The vast expanse, admiring, he survey'd,<br>In vivid tints, by setting sol array'd<br>Magnificently gay. Here streak'd with gold,<br>The purple clouds their borrow'd paints unfold;<br>The blushing west with deep carnation glows,<br>And o'er the skies a bright reflection throws.<br>---Now imperceptibly on closing flow'rs<br>The silent dews descend in silver show'rs,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Th' appearing stars exert a feeble light,<br>And Reuben welcomes the approach of night:<br>He rises and explores the dismal shade,<br>And stooping o'er the cavern's verge he said:<br>'Joseph! my brother Joseph! I am come,<br>'Impatient to reverse thy cruel doom;<br>'Forgive thy Reuben's part in this black deed,<br>Tis stratagem alone thy life has freed:<br>'Oh Joseph speak! surely thou dost survive:<br>'Oh speak my brother, if thou art alive!<br>'Alas! no voice but echo's hollow sound,<br>'No voice but mine remurmers o'er the ground!<br>'Where shall I flee, to what dark distant shore,<br>'To shun reproach? for Joseph is no more.<br>'Why did my lips (consenting to his death)<br>'When they pronounc'd his doom, not lose their breath?'---<br>Again he calls, and raging in despair,<br>From his swoln breast the folding garment tears.<br>Now wild with grief, and wand ring thro' the gloom,<br>He met the Hebrews all returning home:<br>A kid they'd kill'd, and in the sanguine gore<br>Had dipt the robe which blameless Joseph wore.<br>Soon they appear'd on Mamre's peaceful plain,<br>And enter'd Israel's tent, a guilty train;<br>Each feign'd to be with anxious care opprest,<br>And Simeon, weeping, thus his fire addrest:<br>'Oh canst thou recollect this bloody vest!'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Old Jacob view'd it with a pausing eye;<br>He trembled, groan'd, and scarce could make reply;<br>An universal horror seiz'd his frame,<br>At length burst forth th'ungovernable flame:<br>'It is my son's! (he cry'd) my son is slain!<br>'Curst be the hour that rent him from my side!<br>'What baneful planet did my actions guide?<br>'Come, death, convey me to the peaceful urn;<br>'Joseph is dead! why should I live to mourn?'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">In vain they try to calm his swelling grief;<br>He cherish'd sorrow, and refus'd relief.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Ann+Eliza+Bleecker">Ann Eliza Bleecker</a> from <i>The Posthumous Works of Ann Eliza Bleecker</i><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=114990" data-title="Joseph de Ann Eliza Bleecker" data-description="With many children was the Patriarch blest,/Yet Joseph he preferr'd before the rest:/To tend his flock was all the youth's employ/To serve his God and Sire his only joy:/Jacob of his lov'd consort now depriv'd,/Beheld her graces in the son reviv'd..."></div> </div> </div>

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