ocal hills reply,
The rocks proclaim th' approaching deity.
Lo, earth receives him from the bending skies!
Sink down, ye mountains, and, ye valleys, rise;
With heads declined, ye cedars, homage pay;[24] 35
Be smooth, ye rocks;[25] ye rapid floods, give way!
The Saviour comes! by ancient bards foretold!
Hear him, ye deaf, and all ye blind, behold![26]
He from thick films shall purge the visual ray,[27]
And on the sightless eye-ball pour the day: 40
'Tis he th' obstructed paths of sound shall clear,[28]
And bid new music charm th' unfolding ear:
The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego,
And leap exulting like the bounding roe.[29]
No sigh, no murmur the wide world shall hear,[30] 45
From ev'ry face he wipes off ev'ry tear,[31]
In adamantine[32] chains shall Death be bound,
And hell's grim tyrant feel th' eternal wound.
As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care,
Seeks freshest pasture and the purest air, 50
Explores the lost, the wand'ring sheep directs,
By day o'ersees them, and by night protects,
The tender lambs he[33] raises in his arms,[34]
Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom warms;[35]
Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage, 55
The promised Father[36] of the future age.
No more shall nation[37] against nation rise,
Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes,
Nor fields with gleaming steel be covered o'er,[38]
The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more;[39] 60
But useless lances into scythes shall bend,
And the broad faulchion in a plow-share end.
Then palaces shall rise; the joyful son[40]
Shall finish what his short-lived sire begun;[41]
Their vines a shadow to their race shall yield,[42] 65
And the same hand that sowed, shall reap the field.
The swain in barren deserts[43] with surprise
Sees lilies spring, and sudden verdure rise;[44]
And starts, amidst the thirsty wilds, to hear
New fells of water murm'ring in his ear.[45] 70
On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes,
The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods.
Waste sandy valleys,[46] once perplexed with thorn,
The spiry fir and shapely box adorn;
To leafless shrubs the flow'ring palm