5 But twice that praise shall in our ear Be said of Zion last: This and this man was born in her; High God shall fix her fast. 6 The Lord shall write it in a scroll, 7 Both they who sing and they who dance In thee fresh brooks and soft streams glance, 20 PSALM LXXXVIII. I LORD GOD, that dost me save and keep, And all night long before Thee weep, 2 Into Thy presence let my prayer, And to my cries, that ceaseless are, 3 For, cloyed with woes and trouble store, My life, at death's uncheerful door, 4 Reckoned I am with them that pass I am a man but weak, alas! 5 From life discharged and parted quite And like the slain in bloody fight Whom Thou rememberest no more, Them, from Thy hand delivered o'er, 6 Thou in the lowest pit profound, Where thickest darkness hovers round, 7 Thy wrath, from which no shelter saves, Thou break'st upon me all thy waves, 8 Thou dost my friends from me estrange, And mak'st me odious, Me to them odious, for they change, 9 Through sorrow and affliction great 10 Wilt thou do wonders on the dead? Shall the deceased arise And praise Thee from their loathsome bed With pale and hollow eyes? II Shall they Thy loving-kindness tell On whom the grave hath hold? Or they who in perdition dwell 20 30 40 12 In darkness can Thy mighty hand Of dark oblivion? 13 But I to Thee, O Lord, do cry And up to Thee my prayer doth hie 14 Why wilt Thou, Lord, my soul forsake 15 That am already bruised, and shake Bruised and afflicted, and so low While I Thy terrors undergo, 16 Thy fierce wrath over me doth flow; 18 Lover and friend Thou hast removed, They fly me now whom I have loved, A PARAPHRASE ON PSALM CXIV. This and the following Psalm are Milton's earliest productions. He was only fifteen years old when he translated them. WHEN the blessed seed of Terah's faithful son After long toil their liberty had won, And passed from Pharian fields to Canaan land, Led by the strength of the Almighty's hand, 50 60 70 Jehovah's wonders were in Israel shown, The high huge-bellied mountains skip, like rams Why fled the ocean? and why skipped the mountains? Of Him that ever was and aye shall last, That glassy floods from rugged rocks can crush, |