45. The Patient Church
{92}
BIDE
thou thy time!
Watch with meek eyes the race of pride and crime,
Sit in the gate, and be the heathen's jest,
Smiling
and self-possest.
O thou, to whom is pledged a victor's sway,
Bide
thou the victor's day!
That reap'd the unripe seed, and toil'd to win
Foul history-marks at Bethel and at Dan;
No
blessing, but a ban;
Whilst the wise Shepherd [
Note
2] hid his heaven-told fate,
Nor
reck'd a tyrant's hate.
Such loss
is gain;
Wait the bright Advent that shall loose thy chain! {93}
E'en now the shadows break, and gleams divine
Edge
the dim distant line.
When thrones are trembling, and earth's fat ones quail,
True
Seed! thou shalt prevail!
Off Algiers.
December 20, 1832.