Page:Poems Proctor.djvu/41

EL MAHDI TO THE TRIBES OF THE SOUDAN.⁵ (1884.)

I have heard the voice of the Lord
 As the Prophet heard, of old;
For me have the blessed angels
 The Book of Fate unrolled;
Gabriel, holiest, highest,
 Flashed to my cave, from the sky,
And cried, as the dawn illumed the east,
 "Wake! for the end is nigh!
Speed! for 'tis thine to save the saints
 And their proud oppressors slay,
And to fill the earth with righteousness
 Before the Judgment-Day!"

Then he was gone as the lightning goes;
 And my heart leapt up as flame;
And forth I rushed to the Holy War
 For the glory of Allah's name!
And rippling river and rustling reeds
 And the wind of the desert sighing,
Echoed his cry as I passed them by,
 "Speed! for the hours are flying!"
The sunbeams shone like lances keen
 Across the Meccan plain;