The good Jehovah, dread, magnificent, Once chose a people whom he called his own. And out of Egypt in a wondrous way He brought them in a dark and troublous night, And Moses touched the Red Sea with a rod, And the waves parted, offering them a path. His people passed, but in the abyss remained Egyptian horse and rider who pursued. Marched on the flock of Jacob, and the Lord Spread over them his all-protecting wings, As the lone eagle shields her unfledged young. He gave them lands, and victories, and spoils-- Glad nation! which the Master of the heavens Loved as the very apple of his eye. But now this people, seeing themselves blessed By him whose slightest glance they not deserved, Erected perishable images In homage unto strange and pagan gods. The Lord in indignation said: "They wished To make their Maker jealous with vain gods. Bowing in dust the sacrilegious knee Before the dumb creation of their hands. Well, I will sting their hearts with jealousy, Showing myself to all unhappy lands Without employing vail or mystery." He said it, and his solemn word fulfilled, Convoking from the farthest ends of earth Nations barbarian and civilized-- The Gaul, the Scandinavian, Roman, Greek, And the neglected race of Mexico, Whom the Almighty Sovereign loved so well The holy truth he would reveal to them-- So that the hard hearts of his people should Be softened. Yet his mercy was not full: Down from the diamond heavens he bade descend The Virgin, who with mother's sorrowing care Nursed him in Bethlehem when he was a child. Near to the tremulous Tezcoco lake Rises a bare and solitary hill. Where never cypress tall nor cedar grows, Nor whispering oak; nor cooling fountain laves The waste of herbless rocks and sterile sand-- A barren country 'tis, dry, dusty, sad, Where the vile worm scarce drags its length along.