The Signals of Levi

Signal the First

THERE is light on Hebron now :
Hark to the trumpet din !
Day dawns on Hebron's brow,
Let the sacrifice begin.

Hear ye the gathering sound !
How the lute and harp rejoice,
'Mid the roar of oxen bound,
And the lamb's beseeching voice.

This day both prince and priest
Will hold at Salem's shrine
A high and haughty feast
Of flesh and the ruddy wine.

For a perilous hour is fled,
And the fear is vain at last,
Though foretold by sages dead,
And sworn by the Prophets past.

They said that a mortal birth
E'en now would a Name unfold
That should rule the wide, wide earth,
And quench the thrones of old.

But no sound, nor voice, nor word,
The tale of travail brings ;
Not an infant cry is heard
In the palaces of kings.

Blossom and branch are bare
On Jesse's stately stem :
So they bid swart Edom wear
Fallen Israel's diadem.

How they throng the cloistered ground
'Mid Judah's shame and sin :
Hark to the trumpet-sound !
Let the sacrifice begin.

Signal the Second

There is light on Hebron's towers,
Day dawns o'er Jordan's stream,
And it floats where Bethlehem's bowers
Of the blessed morning dream.

Yet it wakes no kingly halls
It cleaves no purple room ;
The soft, calm radiance falls
On a cavern's vaulted gloom.

But there, where the oxen rest
When the weary day is done,
How that maiden-mother's breast
Thrills with her Awful Son !

A cave where the fatlings roam,
By the ruddy heifer trod,
Yea ! the mountain's rifted home
Is the birthplace of a God !

This is He ! the mystic birth
By the sign and voice foretold ;
He shall rule the wide, wide earth,
And quench the thrones of old.

The Child of Judah's line,
The son of Abraham's fame :
Arise, ye lands ! and shine
With the blessed Jesu's name.

This is the glorious dawn :
So fades the night of sin ;
Lo ! the gloom of death is gone,
Let the sacrifice begin.

Signal the Third

" Oh ! watchman ! what of the night ?
Tell, Christian soldier, tell :
Are Hebron's towers in sight ?
Hast thou watched and warded well ? "

" Yea ; we have paced the wall
Till the day-star's glimmering birth ;
And we breathed our trumpet-call
When the sunlight waked the earth."

" What sawest thou with the dawn ?
Say, Christian warder, say :
When the mists of night were gone,
And the hills grew soft with day ? "

" We beheld the morning swell
Bright o'er the eastern sea ;
Till the rushing sunbeams fell
Where the westward waters be.

" City and bulwark lay
Rich with the orient blaze,
And rocks, at the touch of day,
Gave out a sound of praise.

" No hill remained in cloud,
There lurked no darkling glen ;
And the voice of God was loud
Upon every tongue of men.

" There shall never more be night
With this eternal sun ;
There be Hebrons many in sight,
And the sacrifice is done ! "