Page:Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.djvu/41

"Produce a man, and let us try the fight,

"Decide the contest, and the victor's right."

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  Thus challeng'd he: all Israel stood amaz'd,
And ev'ry chief in consternation gaz'd:
But Jesse's son in youthful bloom appears,
And warlike courage far beyond his years:

He left the folds, he left the flow'ry meads,

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And soft recesses of the sylvan shades.
$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$ Now Israel's monarch, and his troops arise,
With peals of shouts ascending to the skies;
In Elah's vale the scene of combat lies.

  When the fair morning bluih'd with orient red,

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What David's fire enjoin'd the son obey'd,
And swift of foot towards the trench he came,
Where glow'd each bosom with the martial flame.
He leaves his carriage to another's care,

And runs to greet his brethren of the war.

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While yet they spake the giant-chief arose,
Repeats the challenge, and insults his foes: