Then did his turn the learned Bildad take,
And thus to answer Job, the Shuite spake.
To things that from thy mouth we hear
How long shall listeners be found?
When wilt thou cease thyself to clear
In words that like a tempest sound?
A judgment just doth God pervert?
Or justice doth the Almighty scorn?
If upright and if pure thou wert,
Would He not from His anger turn?
Though for their sins against high Heaven
Thy children perish'd in a day,—
For their transgressions forth were driven,
And from His Presence cast away:
If thou wouldst supplication make,
And lift to God betimes thy prayer,
He surely would for thee awake,
And make thy righteousness His care.
Thine habitation He would bless,
And safe and prosperous thou shouldst be;
And in thy latter days' encrease
Small should the former seem to thee.
I pray thee now thyself prepare
To search the Fathers, who did dwell
In earlier times;—they shall declare
All that the primal age can tell.
Whilst we are but of yesterday,
And nothing have we seen or known,
For as the shadow melts away,
Our days on earth are swiftly gone.
But these shall teach thee, and their word
From out of hearts both true and sage,
Which generations past have heard,
Doth bear the weight and worth of age.
Its leaves can the papyrus shoot
Transplanted from its oozy bed?
Or grows the bulrush, if its root
Be not with water nourished?
Whilst yet those leaves in greenness spring,
Or ere mown down, they lowly lie,
Their moisture dries, and withering,
Before all other herbs they die.
So perisheth the Hypocrite;—
So doth his sinful hope decay,—
So vanish they who God forget,
Their paths cut off—destroy'd their way.
The sinner on his house shall lean,—
Weak as the spider's web his trust,—
To hold it fast he strives in vain;—
It falls and crumbles into dust.
As grows the tree, his branches shoot,
Before the sun all freshly green;—
The garden sees his sinewy root
Wrapp'd round the stones, and rocks between.
But soon destroy'd, that very place
Shall ev'n his memory disown,—
Shall straight deny his every trace,
And answer—"thee I have not known."
Behold! God will not cast away
The perfect man whom He doth lead,—
Nor will He prove the sinner's stay,
To aid him in his evil deed.
He will, if thou dost patient wait,
With laughter fill thy mouth, and joy,
And those who envy thee and hate
With shame will cover and destroy.