Come, while I rest, and sit at my right hand,
And I will tell you of my journeying.
It has been six days now since God's command,
And I have seen Him do a wondrous thing.
I did not tell you all for fear that you
Would grieve while I gave strict obedience.
God spoke to me while fell the evening dew:
"Take now thine only son and get thee hence
And offer him as sacrifice to me
Upon a mountain I will tell thee of."
My heart rebelled in piercing agony
To think of giving up the lad I love.
But I have learned that God is always just,
So I prepared to go with wood and fire.
At every step I fortified my trust
And bent my human will to God's desire.
Upon our way the young lad questioned me,
"Where is the lamb for our burnt offering?"
I said, "God will provide and you will see
The glory of the Lord in everything."
I shall not talk of how the wood was laid
And what was done to carry out in full
What I believed when God's command was made,
But I shall dwell upon the miracle.
I looked upon my son, the innocent,
Whose stepping had the grace of woodland fawn.
An angel, then, showed me what God had meant,
And in that moment all my fears were gone,
For he revealed that God was proving me
And in this way had brought to me the truth
That he denounced my near idolatry—
This I must sacrifice and not the youth.
