Page:Poems Hoffman.djvu/340

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THE EARTHQUAKE.

("He looketh on the earth and it trembleth, he
toucheth the hills and they smoke."—Psalm 104:32.)

O language of matchless grandeur,
Of eloquence truly sublime!
What words more grandly beautiful
Are engraved on the tablets of time,
Than these that come to me sweetly
Like a voice from the quaking sod,
Ascribing all power and dominion
Not to Nature, but Nature's God;
As full to-day of new meaning
As when first the psalmist spoke:
"He looketh on the earth and it trembleth,
He toucheth the hills and they smoke."

The hurricane's fearful ravage,
Leaving death and destruction behind,;
The perils of land and ocean,
With which life's pathway is lined,
Sweep by in their awful terror,
With blighting, withering breath;
But where shall we go for refuge
When the solid earth quakes beneath?
Lo! 'Tis the voice of the psalmist
To each quaking age it spoke:
"He looketh on the earth and it trembleth,
He toucheth the hills and they smoke."

'Tis a voice from the burning mountains,
From their streams of melting rock,
Bursting forth from fissured craters,

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