Miriam’s Song

A wail in the palace, a wail in the hut, The midnight is shivering with dread, And Egypt wakes up with a shriek and a sob To mourn for her first-born and dead.

In the morning glad voices greeted the light, As the Nile with its splendor was flushed; At midnight silence had melted their tones, And their music forever is hushed.

In the morning the princes of palace and court To the heir of the kingdom bowed down; ’Tis midnight, pallid and stark in his shroud He dreams not of kingdom or crown.

As a monument blasted and blighted by God, Through the ages proud Pharaoh shall stand, All seamed with the vengeance and scarred with the wrath That leaped from God’s terrible hand.