When wandering o'er the desert wilds of Zin Faint grew your parched frames, Then Israel sinn'd against the GOD of Hosts. Have ye forgot the hour When murmuring Anger buzz'd Along the busy tents? Have ye forgot the hour When, bold in secrecy, Sedition's impious feet Stole on from tent to tent? Then Israel sinn'd against the GOD of Hosts: On me his vengeance fell. Twas there where MIRIAM died, Where o'er a sister's corse I rear'd in grief the monumental stone. 'Twas then, the prophet's ardour lost, I felt the brother's grief: For Memory's painful gratitude recall'd The succour MIRIAM gave, The succour MIRIAM gave When haven'd on the sedgy banks of Nile Repos'd my infant ark. I call'd to mind her care; I call'd to mind her love; How sweetly soft she touch'd the lute, How graceful moved amid the dance. Sedition's impious feet Stole on from tent to tent, Till, boldened by success, Aloud the Fury lifts her daring voice. "Why, MOSES, did thy treach'rous art Lead us from Egypt's fertile clime, Amid these pathless wilds To sink, wan Famine's prey? Amid these pathless wilds, Where even nature dies! For here no seeds enrich the earth, No fig-tree spreads its grateful shade, No vine depends its cluster'd boughs, Nor frigid fountain winds Its murmuring course along. Our parch'd frames sink-- We die for thirst." 'Twas thus, blaspheming Heaven, ye spake:-- Heaven burst in twain by me the rock; The spring rush'd forth. "But never, MOSES, shall thy feet Possess the promis'd land:" For Israel sinn'd against the GOD of Hosts: On me his vengeance fell. From Nebo's mountain top I view'd the promis'd land; O'er Palestine's luxuriant soil I cast the eagle ken. Far as the distant ocean's shore, O'er Gilead's fertile soil I gaz'd: The southward plains I saw, And Jericho's rich plain, Where, bower'd in palm trees, rise her lofty towers. Blest are ABRAM's favour'd race, Blest above the sons of men; For their's are Canaan's fertile lands, For their's the aid of Heav'n. From stern Oppression's tyrant sway, From ignominy, bonds, and death, Heaven led the people forth. Thro' pathless deserts wild and waste, Thro' the wide wilderness of dearth, Where desolation blasted all around, Heaven led the people forth. E'en as the eagle's parent care Hangs o'er the lofty nest; And flutters fondly o'er her young, And spreads her guardian wings, And leads them from the eyry forth, And bids them face the sun.