DANIEL CHAPTER 7 - 11

DANIEL 7

1 In the first year of Belshazzar
King of Babylon and its Czar,
Daniel had dreams and visions in
His head on his bed to begin
To write the dream and give account
Of the matters as they amount.
2 Daniel spoke saying “I saw in
My vision at night, and see spin
The four winds of the sky to strive
Upon the great sea as alive.
3 “And four great beasts rose from the sea
Different from each as each could be.
4 “The first was like a lion and
Had eagle’s wings, I saw it stand
Until its wings were wrenched off and
It lifted from the earth to stand
On its feet like a man to get
The heart of a man in it set.
5 “And see a second beast arose
Like a bear and raised up to pose
On one side, and it had in mouth
Three ribs between its teeth of drouth,
And they told it ‘Get up, consume
Much flesh unto the day of doom.’

The bear speaks well of Persian and the Mede,
The Indo-European in his greed:
It’s not just Finno-Ugric that in seed
Of circumpolar cult lifted the bear.
The Alpine finds speak of things to beware:
The hunting magic, bear cult or at least
Totemic kinship patterns with the beast.
If Semite is a lion on the prowl,
The Persian also has the power to growl.
Beloved, I’ve seen the bear set in the wild,
A fearsome thing to any frightened child.
I’ve also seen the caged tyrant well set
To entertain the public pirouette.
The bear’s an empire that I’ll not forget.

6 “After this I looked, and see, yet
Another like a leopard get
Upon its back four wings like those
Of a bird-being in its clothes,
The beast also had four heads and
Dominion was put in its hand.

Three empires stood upon the golden sand
Of the great visionary ocean’s strand
In form of beast of prey. Take note, my soul,
That governments are diverse in their toll,
But all alike are beast of prey. Let none
Obscure that thought with democratic pun.
The truth is human governments are here
To oversee the interests most sincere
Of those who exploit populace with fear
Or advertisement, both such win the race.
Beloved, touch human hearts with divine grace
To suspect motivations set for power
And violence to pretend to the tower
Of justice. That is only in Your face.

7 “After this I saw in the night
Visions, and see, a fourth of fright,
A beast of dread and terror and
Very strong and it could withstand
By great iron teeth and to consume
And brake in pieces and resume
To trample what’s left with its feet,
And it was different in receipt
Of all the beasts that came before,
And had for its horns half a score.
8 “I contemplated then the horns,
And see, there rose among their bourns
Another small horn before which
Three of the first horns thrown in pitch
Were pulled up by their roots, and see,
In this horn there were eyes to see
Like the eyes of a man’s degree,
And a mouth speaking horrid things.

Since upper Palaeolithic Aurignacian
Iconographic clips set gods in station
As bison, mammoths, and other great beasts
Depicted on the walls of caves for feasts.
It may be that those early artists thought
They were depicting You, the god they sought.
But then there is the possibility
That they envisioned empires in degree,
Sometime ages and ages thence to be
In the realms of a love’s eternity.
The difference between You and the tyrant
In human thought may be less than aspirant,
And love meets hate and faces off the shore
Of the encroaching apathy the more.

Methinks the vision Daniel saw before
Is something now in distant past, the roar
Of horrid beast in guise of human kings
Is something often heard above the springs
Of life upon this weathered, withered world.
Though thrones and sceptres be ever so pearled
And rubied, still the heart and claw of beast
Remains the master of the carnal feast.
The glasses clink, the speeches condescend,
But behind all there is not sighted end
Of beast of prey devouring beast of prey,
Of horns gashed out, pulled by the root of day.
Beloved, what Daniel only saw to come
I stand today to see the awful sum.

9 “I watched till thrones as fit for kings
Were set up and One before time
Sat down, whose clothing white like rime
Mirrored His head’s hair, and His throne
Was fiery flame, His wheels alone
As burning fire consuming stone.
10 “A fiery stream came out of Him,
Thousand thousands served before Him,
And ten thousand times ten thousand
Stood before Him, and on command
The judgement was set and the books
Were opened plainly to His looks.
11 “I noticed the voice of the great
Words that the horn spoke from its state,
I watched until the beast was killed,
His body destroyed and then spilled
Into the burning flame it filled.
12 “Concerning the rest of the beasts,
They had their powers struck and decreased,
Yet their lives were prolonged a time,
A season and an age of crime.

All these beasts still attend to hopeful powers
Along the Tigris and Euphrates’ towers,
Along the darkened road to Samarqand,
Beside the Aegean, along the strand
Of Alexandria where Roman camp
Set up to wait for Cleopatra’s lamp.
But above all their hopes there stands a throne
Where You, Beloved, wield earth’s sceptres alone,
And all the watchers hasten to obey
The commands from Your lips both night and day.
Though none can see Your being, yet the sound
And flight of flames express divine unbound.
Beloved, let judgement that came to be set
Continue till the great day’s crowd is met.

13 “I saw in the night visions still,
See, one like son of man to fill
The clouds of heaven, and so he came
To the One before time in name,
And they brought him near to His fame.
14 “And there was given him power and glory,
A kingdom, all the folk in story,
Nations and languages to serve
Him, and His dominion shall swerve
Never and shall not pass away,
And his kingdom in all its sway
Shall not be destroyed, always stay.

The son of man, not son of God as would
Have done by Nebuchadnezzar’s dark wood,
The son of man, Ezekiel, Jesus or
Another hidden one and yet in store,
The son of man to fill the clouds and sky
With justice to rain down and multiply
The earth. Beloved, the picture still invades
My soul’s recesses and in light parades
The coming kingdom’s revenue and aids.
Each king that fails or passes Your tests brings
Another king with more of kingly stings,
Whether in government or corporation.
I wait the endless kingdom and the nation
Where You reign sovereign on their thunderings.

15 “I Daniel sorrowed in my mind
In body where I was reclined,
The visions of my head refined
Brought troubled thoughts and unresigned.
16 “Approaching one of those nearby
I asked him the truth and whereby
Of all of this, and he told me,
Making sense of the things I see.
17 “These enormous beasts which are four
Are kings as many as in score,
Who shall arise out of the earth.
18 “But the saints and those of great worth
Of Al-Yonin shall take the realm
And possess the kingdom in helm
For ever always overwhelm.

I have not seen this day, Beloved, when all
The quartered kingdoms of the earth might fall,
And the saints take the earth to bless and keep.
I have not seen the day come in my sleep.
The towers of wealth and power, though emptiness
Still take the food from widow and address
Of orphan at last to deride, impress
The populace with death. Democracy
Saves alive only those the company
Requires to buy its goods. Who cannot do
So are ground in the mill of scornful rue.
Beloved, though kings are fallen, power is not.
The humble still are cast upon their lot
Of evil for the wickedness of plot.

19 “I wanted then to know the truth
Of the fourth beast and without ruth
And differing from all other beasts,
Extremely horrid in its feasts,
Whose teeth of iron and claws of brass
Devoured and shattered all that pass
And trampled what’s left in the grass,
20 “And of the ten horns on his head,
And the other one that was spread
Before which three fell, even that
Horn that had eyes and a mouth fat
To speak terrible things, whose look
Before which all the others shook.

The ten horns following the path of Rome
To rule the holy land not far from home
Are the ten kingdoms from Herodian power
Up to the division of Syrian hour
Of Palestine in first, second and third,
The Byzantine lords that trembled and heard
The little horn rise up to cast out those
Three Palestinian kingdoms, then arose
To speak great things, has a name that he chose
For horror, Omar, praised by one and all
Who bow down to the beast in serfdom’s thrall.
His army took the city in the year
Six hundred thirty-eight, and without fear
Went on to persecute the saintly peer.

The thought that the small horn’s the Papacy
Is something that the Protestants in fee
Thought a good excuse for rebellion’s way.
So when Josephus said that Antiochus
Epiphanes it was who came to mock us,
The papal commentary latched on that
To prove the pope innocent where he sat.
Though I think both interpretations stand
On motives impure and on the weak sand,
The papal power is evil in the land,
Fostering inquisition and the fire
Of execution on heretic’s pyre.
It too seeks to change times and laws and fails
To keep Your Sabbath in the tunes it wails.

21 “I saw that same horn go to war
Against the saints and win the score,
22 Until the One before time came
And judgement was brought in acclaim
To the saints of Al-Yonin, and
The time came that the saints in hand
Should have the kingdom and the land.

Islamic empires as so called have reigned
Upon the earth from that time till the stained
Soil filled with blood made Tigris howe’er swift
Red with the life of men by heavenly gift.
The party of Ali is trodden still
Into the dust on every beaten hill,
And all the pagan trains of Europe come
To trample down the Shi’ite with the hum
Of tank and screech of missile on the air.
And so it shall be till the king and heir
Shall break out in the lightning for his share
And judgement weigh Yazid’s children and fair.
Beloved, I wait the hateful judgement day
When all of this shall melt and pass away.

Umayyads and Abbasids are not lone
In laying claim to Your rule and Your throne.
Though Rome is far away and cannot be
A claimant of the shore of Galilee,
It is the same kind of power on the hill,
And seven of them meet the Roman bill.
My mind would turn consistently to those
Who fought against Jerusalem in throes
And filled its streets with blood and then arose
To build and rebuild temples where to pose.
Beloved, I look around a world of fate
And see that Palestine has not come late,
But the same blemish comes with every state,
And all seek to change times and laws for bait.

23 “So he said ‘The fourth beast shall be
The fourth kingdom on earth’s degree,
Different from all kingdoms before,
And shall consume the whole world’s gore,
And trample on it shattered more.
24 “And the ten horns out of this realm
Are ten kings rising to the helm,
And one shall come up after them,
And he’ll have different stratagem,
And he’ll break three kings at his hem.

Palestine Prime, Secunda, and the late
Third all fall down before the rage and hate
Of Omar’s armies, and those three horns’ fate
Ended with the accounting accurate
That opened up the gates of Quds to see
The banners of Muhammad floated free
Upon the stifling air. Muhammad lies
At ill ease with the conquerors’ last prize.
Who spoke Your words was followed by the beast
That broke the fasting with a jocund feast,
And rose unlike any before to climb
Into millennia of ruling rhyme.
Beloved, I do not love the three kings lost,
But still I see them die to raging cost.

25 And he shall speak thing against Al
Yonin, and oppress, yes, he shall
The saints of Al-Yonin, intend
To change times and laws from his end,
And they’ll be given in his hand
A year, two years and a half planned.
26 “But the judgement shall sit and they
Shall take his dominion away,
To consume and destroy its sway.

Omar changed Your great calendar that sat
In two distinct relations on the mat:
One purely lunar and the other one
Solar about the week, Jubilee fun.
So he destroyed the half of time in change,
Keeping only half of the timely range.
He changed laws also, marriage laws for some,
And dietary laws, he was a bum.
That’s why the dream of Daniel tells his fate
As being one to change both time come late
And Your commandments. The great piece of time
That includes Omar’s empires in the clime
Of history runs from six thirty-four
Twelve hundred sixty years to end the score.

If Omar is a beast and wencher, fine,
He also changed the water into wine,
The calendar of sun and weekly wait
To worship on the Sabbath at Your gate.
And yet he remained on the Sabbath day
To wear the washen robe and bowed to pray
The Duha prayer in Kubla’s mosque, while pope
Disdained Your day and relinquished Your hope.
Beloved, let me not follow either man,
The pope or caliph, both of whom in plan
Would take Your place on throne and guide the state
To rebel against Your law in their hate.

27 “And the kingdom and power and height
Of the kingdom under the right
Of heaven shall be given to the folk
Of the saints of Al-Yonin’s stroke,
Whose kingdom’s an eternal realm,
And all powers shall serve His whelm
And obey Him under His yoke’.
28 “Up to here’s the end of the thing.
As for myself, Daniel, the sting
In my thoughts kept me troubled yet,
And my face coloured on the set,
But I kept it under heart string.”

Uthman followed the steps of Omar hard
And so I sing the end of such a bard
Who gave his name to the last empire of
The little horn, the Ottomanic glove.
In 1894 the Sultan’s rule
Came to its death knell by the great and cruel
Strike against the Armenian folk and so
Within a generation fell to grow
No more, but opened way for the Mahdi
The Guided One to enter in the spree
And take back the kingdom in righteousness
After the failure of the kings to bless
The people with Islam, instead oppress.
We search out windows on eternity.

The death knell sounded in year twenty-three
To prepare for the rise of popes in see
Upon the hill of Vatican to be
With Mussolini a share of the glee.
The sultan fell indeed, but Your great town
Was left intact until with faces brown
In 1950 Arabs filled the street,
Jerusalem bowed down to that defeat.
Beloved, I bow within the mosque to pray
That sits upon the mount of Sion’s sway,
And hear the comfort of the sound that rises
To call the faithful to prayer and surprises.
And yet I know within my heart the fist
That rules Jerusalem I have not kissed.

DANIEL 8

1 In the third year in the king’s reign,
Belshazzar’s, a vision of gain
Appeared to me, even Daniel,
After the one that I’d seen well.
2 And I saw in a vision spell
What happened when I saw it go,
While I was in the palace glow
Of Shushan which is in the state
Of Elam, and I saw the great
Vision come on me then while I
Was beside the river Ulai.
3 I raised my eyes and saw, and see,
There stood before river and me
A ram that had two horns, and those
Two horns were high, but one arose
Higher than the other, and that
Higher one came up last and sat.
4 I saw the ram push towards the west,
The north and south, so none had rest
Among the beasts before his band,
Nor could any save from his hand,
But he did whatever he chose
And became great in rhyme and prose.
5 As I was contemplating, see,
A male goat came from western lea
Upon the surface of the earth
And did not touch the ground to flee,
And the goat had a massive horn
Between his eyes, a great king born.
6 And he came to the ram that had
Two horns, that I’d seen standing glad
Before the river, and he ran
Into him in his power’s wrath’s span.
7 I saw him come close to the ram
And moved with anger for the lamb,
And struck the ram and broke his two
Horns, and there was no strength in view
For the ram to stand before him,
But he threw him on the ground grim,
And trampled on him, there was none
To save the ram from his power’s run.
8 And so the male goat became great,
And when he was strong in estate
The great horn was shattered, instead
Of it came up for great horns bred
Toward the four winds of the sky.

When Alexander fell beneath the scythe
Of drink and debauchery in a tithe
Of the time he might have lived righteously,
The noble horn was shattered frightfully.
When Alexander fell the kingdom fled
Into four parts by generals then led
To fill the world with Hellenistic pale
In pagan practices both strong and hale.
Beloved, I see the civilized retreat
To hold the world in sway of bitter-sweet,
And show the path to thoughtful keen address
Of pagan altar and in love to guess.
I turn to You, Beloved, from my thought’s fame
To cling alone to Your most lovely name.

9 And out of one of them came sly
A little horn that became great
Towards the south and east in rate
And towards the pleasantry foreby.
10 And it became great to the sky,
And threw down stars upon the ground
And trampled on them all around.
11 Indeed he advertised himself
Even to the chief on the shelf,
And by him daily sacrifice
Was taken away at a slice,
The place of his temple confound.
12 A band was given to him there
Along with sacrificial share
Because of the transgression bare,
And he cast down the truth upon
The ground and acted from the dawn
Until prosperity was drawn.
13 I then heard one holy one speak,
Another answer him with cheek,
“How long shall be the vision week
About the daily sacrifice,
And the transgression of the vice
Of desolation to give both
The holy place and behemoth
Of band to be trampled and broken
Under their feet and for a token?
14 And he told me, “Unto the length
Of two thousand three hundred’s strength
Of evenings and mornings, then shall
Be put right the holy corral.”

From the time of the final decree to
Rebuild Jerusalem till comes in view
The end of two thousand three hundred years
The nations rise and fall against their fears.
The prophecy is long and it extends
To 1844 to make amends.
Then Messiah shall stand in holy place
And enter most holy before Your face
To make a living atonement for sin
To all who in repentance turn from din
Of human sacrifice, idolatry
To hope in Your eternal grace and free.
Beloved, I follow with my prayers the man
That lives before Your face as none else can.

15 It happened when I, even I,
Daniel had seen vision go by
And tried to find its meaning, then,
See there stood before me again
What seemed like one of earthly men.
16 I heard a man’s voice from the middle
Of the Ulai speaking like fiddle,
“Gabriel, make this one to know
What the vision means, don’t be slow.”
17 So he came near to where I stood,
And when he came, I feared for good,
And fell down on my face, but he
Said to me, “Understand and see,
O son of man, for it shall be
A vision for the end of time.”

Let no man cry that Antiochus came
To fulfil this vision in all its claim,
And dying without weapon in his heart
Showed that he was the one of evil part.
No, this sight is come down to end of time,
And what arose soon after Rome to climb
The hills of Quds must extend through the world
Until the final empires are unfurled.
Alexander was followed by the four
Kingdoms that united in two before
The Romans came, and they were past the gate
With ten kingdoms in Palestine to grate
Until the three were snatched up by the hair
When Omar granted Othman as his heir.

18 Now as he was speaking in rhyme
With me, I was in a deep sleep
Upon my face toward the deep,
But he touched me and set me right.
19 And he said “See, I’ll make your sight
Clear of what shall be in the last
End of the indignation past,
For at appointed hour the end
Shall come upon both foe and friend.
20 “The ram you saw with two horns set
Are Median and Persian kings met.
21 “And the rough goat is Grecian king,
And the great horn between eyes’ sting
Is the first and most noble king.
22 “But when he was broken down then
Four more stood in its place again,
And these four kingdoms shall arise
Up from the nation, but devise
None of such power as his to skies.
23 “And in the late time of their state
When wickedness shall fill their plate,
A king with wrathful face shall stand
Knowing dark oracles’ demand.
24 “His strength shall be great, but not by
His own hand, he shall not be shy
To destroy greatly and shall grow
And do great acts and not be slow
To destroy great heroes and go
Against the holy people’s row.
25 “And by his policy shall he
Cause craft to prosper wonderfully,
And he shall lift himself in heart
And by peace destroy for his part
Many, and he shall also stand
Against the chief prince in the land,
Be he’ll be broken without hand.”

There was no hand to break the empire bold
Of Ottomans, they themselves came and sold
Their souls in persecution of the just
And throwing down the righteous in the dust.
And yet let me not blame them for the crust.
Evil they are, and yet good enough to
Be found in the good book for what is true.
England and France and Italy are not
Mentioned because they’re filled with pagan rot,
And their minion the USA has got
Drunk with the heathen rituals in plot.
Islamic empires depart from Your word
Only so far as needed to be stirred
As empires set against Your sovereign view.

26 The vision of the evening and
The morning that was told is true,
So shut the vision up, please do,
Since it shall many days accrue.
27 I Daniel fainted at the view
And remained ill for many days,
And then I got up in the maze
Of the king’s business, but I stayed
Astonished at what the view made,
And no one understood the raid.

The vision is shut up because the foil
Is of a nation yet to rise from toil,
And not to be known till the run of men
Has made the foul decision in the glen
To great apostasy as soon as one
Sent from Your hand is dead under the sun.
While Ali washed his body others sat
To form the little horn and so begat
The horrors sealed here. But the evil lies
In that they are so close to true and wise,
And use the right for the expediency
Of killing through decade and century.

DANIEL 9

1 In the first year of Darius
The son of Ahasuerus,
Among the offspring of the Medes,
Who was made king over proceeds
Of the Chaldeans, 2 in the first
Year of his reign I Daniel durst
Understand by the writings how
Many years should go under plough
By the word of YHWH that had come
To Jeremiah, prophet’s hum,
That He’d fulfil seventy years
Ruined in Jerusalem’s fears.
9 I set my face to the Lord Al,
Seeking by prayer both prodigal
And with fasting, sackcloth and ash,
4 And prayed to YHWH my Ælohim,
Making confession of my scheme,
And said “O Lord Al great and stern,
Faithful in covenant to earn
Mercy to those that love Him and
To those who’re keeping His command,
5 “We have sinned doing wickedness,
Acted unjustly and rebelled,
Departing from Your law’s address
And from Your judgements unexcelled,
6 “Neither have we obeyed the voice
Of Your servants, prophets by choice,
Who spoke in Your name to our kings,
Our princes and fathers of things
And to all the folk of the land.

Good Daniel speaks a prayer like that one spoken
By Tobit in false Nineveh for token,
And like that prayer of abnegation for
The broken temple not yet on the floor,
So Daniel’s prayer after the fact is clear
With same regard to sin upon the gear.
I too no doubt have acted and rebelled
In the same way those ancients downed and felled.
And so I join in Daniel’s prayer that I
May enter in the angel’s dream and sky.
I fix my eyes upon the heavenly ground
Not of Jerusalem but the place sound
Of the great temple eternal and true
And find there what I seek in none but You.

7 “To You, Lord, righteousness, but to
Us confusion of faces due
As at this day, to Judah’s men,
Jerusalem’s dwellers again,
To all of Israel near and afar,
Through all lands where refugees are
Because of the sins they have done
Against You only under sun.
8 “YHWH to us confusion of face,
To our kings, our princes and race
Of our fathers because we’ve sinned
Against Yourself undisciplined.
9 “To the Lord our Ælohim be
Mercies and forgiveness, though we
Have rebelled against His decree,
10 “Neither have we obeyed the voice
Of YHWH our Ælohim by choice
To act according to His laws
Which He has set before our paws
By His servants the prophets’ clause.
11 “Indeed all of Israel have sinned
Against Your law as in the wind
They have departed that they might
Not obey Your voice, so the night
Of curse is poured out upon us,
And the oath written as a curse
In law of Moses, servant of
Ælohim, because hand in glove
We’ve sinned against the God of love.

The law of Moses, yes, that blessed word
That encircles with light the statutes stirred
And sung from Sinai by Your voice and heard
By millions on the plain where it occurred,
That law is the right and true for all time
And in every land and in every clime
Till judgement be set and the heat and rime
Of frost bring all before the unique stone
Where is writ by Your finger what alone
Can bring to humankind success and peace
And righteousness, from wickedness release.
Beloved, I pray with Daniel for the sore
Forgotten tables of You law in store,
And know the wonders of Your golden floor.

12 “And He’s confirmed the words that He
Spoke against us, against decree
Of our judges who judged freely
By bringing on us this degree
Of evil, for under the sky
Has not been done has that brought nigh
Upon Jerusalem to see.
13 “As it’s written in Moses’ law
All this evil came in a draw
Upon us, yet we did not raise
Our prayer before YHWH our God’s maze,
To turn from our iniquities
And understand Your truth’s decrees.
14 “That’s why YHWH considered the wrath
And brought it across our own path,
For YHWH our Ælohim is just
In all His works and does as must,
For we did not obey His voice.
15 “And now, O Lord our Ælohim,
Who has brought Your folk from the beam
Of Egypt’s land with mighty hand,
And gained the fame as at this day,
We’ve sinned, gone wickedly astray.
16 “O Lord, by all Your righteousness,
I pray You, let Your wrath’s address
And anger be turned from Your town
Jerusalem, Your holy crown,
Because for our sins and because
Of our ancestors’ wicked claws
Jerusalem and Your folk are
A reproach to all near and far.
17 “Now therefore hear, our Ælohim,
The prayer of Your servant redeem
His supplications, cause Your face
To shine upon Your holy place
That’s desolate, for the Lord’s race.
18 “Incline, my Ælohim, Your ear
And hear, open Your eyes, appear
To see our desolations and
The city called by Your command,
For we do not present our plea
Before You as those righteously,
But only for Your great mercy.

I too lift up my prayer to that great place
In holiness that lightened Moses’ face
With the pattern and model in Your grace
To make a tent upon the desert trace.
I too lift up my prayer as Daniel did
So many centuries ago that hid
The sweet scents of the heavenly temple where
Messiah now stands with his flaming hair
And whitened dress and burnished feet to show
The way to righteousness for those who’d go
Into the glory morn and eve to know
The joy of holiness that You bestow.
Beloved, the city and temple I see
Is one beyond the stars not just the sea.

19 “Lord, hear, O Lord, forgive, O Lord
Listen and do, do not slack sword
For Your own sake, my Ælohim,
For Your town and folk by Your scheme
Are called by Your name and accord.”
20 While I spoke and prayed to confess
My sin and Israel’s folk’s not less,
Giving supplication to YHWH
My Ælohim on behalf due
Of the holy mountain and true
Of my Ælohim’s residue,
21 Indeed while I spoke in my prayer
Even the man Gabriel was there,
The one I’d seen in vision from
The start, sent flying swiftly, come
To touch me round about the time
Of evening sacrifice and chime.
22 And he informed and talked with me,
Saying “O Daniel, I freely
Come here to give you skill to know.
23 “As soon as you began to pray
The command came to show your way,
For you are greatly loved, and so
Perceive the thing, and grasp the know.
24 “Seventy weeks are decreed on
Your people and your holy town
To finish transgression and make
An end of sin and for the sake
Of forgiving iniquity,
And introduce such righteousness
As shall rise everlastingly,
And seal up the vision’s address
And also seal the prophecy,
And to anoint the most Holy.
25 “Know then and understand that from
The promulgation of the sum
Of the command to restore and
To build Jerusalem to stand
Until Messiah who is Prince
Shall be seven weeks and convince
Threescore and two weeks, then the street
Shall be built again and replete
With the wall in times of retreat.

Decree was finalized in the great year
Of Artaxerxes, without thought of fear,
In four hundred and fifty-seven, he
Completed the restoration’s decree.
Seventy weeks, four hundred ninety years
Count from that time, and in all of the fears
And persecutions that were wrought before,
The times relent to bring earth to the door
Of the Messiah’s coming to the walls
That were rebuilt beneath the bloody calls.
Beloved, the count is accurate and good
To take us to the very time it should
When the Messiah came and preached and stood
In old Jerusalem long as he could.

26 “And after threescore and two weeks
Shall Messiah be cut in cheeks,
But not for himself, and the folk
Of the prince that shall come in stroke
Shall destroy the town and the place
Of holiness, its end to trace
In flood and to the battle’s end
Desolations come to contend.
27 “And he’ll confirm the covenant
With many for one week to grant,
And in the middle of the week
He’ll cause the sacrifice and bleak
Oblation to cease, and to spread
Abominations he’ll be led
To make it desolate until
The consummation to fulfil
Appointed to be poured out on
The desolate as planned and drawn.

Messiah’s time was cut off short because
The unbelief of rulers clipped the claws
Of faithful populace, observant Jew,
And showed the wrath of Rome and not virtue.
But after him the waiting was not long
Until another prince rose up as strong,
Destroyed Jerusalem and fought for wrong
Against Masada’s fortress till he caused
Oblations to cease, at once they were paused.
The temple mount’s divided to this day,
Trampled by many nations in their sway,
Bleak, desolate and waiting for the end
When judgement shall arise for foe and friend.
Beloved, I too in desolation pray.

DANIEL 10

1 In the third year of Cyrus king
Of Persia was revealed a thing
To Daniel, whose name had been called
Belteshazzar, a thing installed,
But the time appointed was long,
And he perceived the thing in song,
And understood the vision strong.

What was too long for Daniel in his ear?
The seven weeks it took to make appear
The decree to rebuild Quds with its gear?
The seven weeks of years as forty-nine?
Or was it the long centuries in sign
Until Messiah should enter the line
Of holy and most holy place divine?
Or was it the twelve hundred sixty years
That Omar’s empires should cause many tears?
The time is long, Beloved, to human heart,
But You do not know that lacking a part
Who dwell among eternal cycles and
Look out upon the universe and strand
That sails serene beneath Your great command.

2 In those days I Daniel was mourning
Three full weeks as long as unscorning.
3 I ate no fine food neither meat
Nor wine came to my mouth as treat,
Neither did I anoint myself
At all, till three whole weeks on shelf
Were ended in complete retreat.
4 And in the twenty-fourth day of
The first month, as I was on shove
By the side of the great stream’s flow,
Which is the Hiddekel in row,
5 I lifted up my eyes to see,
There then a certain man to be
Clothed in linen and with a belt
Of fine gold of Uphaz to melt.

No doubt, Beloved, fair Daniel to rebel
Used calendar of Jubilees as well,
And so the twenty-fourth of the first falls
Upon the day of preparation’s walls,
The Friday of the pagans, and was sent
The double blessing nourishingly meant
Not only of the bread and grape juice spent
But of the revelation that You gave.
A man in linen with a belt to save
Stands in angelic glory, fine and brave.
Beloved, the angels I see on my block
Are of the feathered and the wrenly stock,
But they are just as welcome here to me
And Daniel’s were in graceful symmetry.

6 His body like the beryl, his face
Appeared like the lightning to trace,
His eyes like lamps of fire, his arms
And feet like colour in alarms
Of polished brass, and his words sound
Like a multitude on the ground.
7 And just I Daniel saw the thing,
For the men with me on the wing
Did not see the vision at all,
But a great trembling came to fall
On them and they all ran to hide
8 So I alone was to abide.
I saw this great sight and there stayed
No strength in me, I was afraid.
9 But I heard the sound of his words,
And when I heard his sound of words,
Then I was in a deep sleep round
My face had fallen to the ground.
10 And see a hand touched me and set
Me on my knees and still to get
On the palms of my hands I met.

The angel Gabriel, no doubt, is fine
For Daniel beside the Median pine,
But the description of the coming bears
A likeness to the book that Enoch wears
And rests upon the great similitude
Of Your Messiah in the pulchritude
That Saint John seems to quote from Daniel brewed.
I’d think the vision would be one to make
Originality for figures’ sake.
And yet the prophets all rely upon
Celestial gates of Enoch in the dawn.
Beloved, words fail the prophets, it is true,
Despite the lovely things they bring to view,
But without words the glories rise to You.

11 And he said to me, “Daniel, man
Greatly beloved, now know the plan
Of the words that I speak to you,
And stand up straight, for unto you
Have I been sent.” And when he spoke
This thing to me, then I awoke
To stand trembling before his stroke.
12 Then he said to me, “Do not fear,
Daniel, for when it did appear
The first day you set your heart on
Understanding, and fast from dawn
Before your Ælohim, your plea
Was heard and I came by decree.
13 “But the prince of the Persian state
Withstood me twenty-one days late,
But see, Michael of the chief princes
Came to help me as he convinces,
And I stayed there with Persian kings.
14 “But now I’ve come flying on wings
To make you understand the fate
Of your people in the times late,
For still the vision’s for days’ wait.”

The prince of Persia! Such men can relate
And bring the power of angels out to wait.
The prince of Persia still knows how to climb
The ladders of diplomacy and rhyme.
The prince of Persia had the cards in hand
To force the listening ear of contraband.
I pray the prince of Persia may once more
Get with an angel or two or a score
And in a fortnight close the evil door
That dries the Euphrates up to implore.
Beloved, send angels to all men of state
Who thirst for power, and show them to be great
By humbling hardened heart to take away
Rebellion against Your sovereign, bright sway.

15 And when he’d spoken such to me,
I set my face toward the ground
And could not utter a word free,
Nor even make a single sound.
16 And see one in the likeness of
Human offspring touched me above
My lips, then I opened my mouth
And spoke to one standing to south
Of me, “O sir, by this grave sight
My sorrows turn upon my plight,
And I have kept none of my might.
17 For how can one servant of this
My lord talk with this my lord’s bliss?”
For as for me, right off I had
No strength in me for good or bad,
And no breath left in me to miss.
18 Then there came again and touched me
One who appeared in man’s degree,
And he strengthened me. 19 And he said
“O man greatly loved, do not fear,
Peace be to you, be strong with cheer,”
And when he’d spoken to me led,
I was strengthened and so I said
“Let my lord speak, for you have made
Me strong enough to make the grade.”
20 Then he said “Do you know why I
Come to you? And now I shall fly
Back to struggle against the guy,
The prince of Persia, and when I
Have gone out, see the Grecian prince
Shall come again and make men wince.
21 “But I’ll show you what is writ down
In the Scripture of truth’s renown,
And none know these things with me but
Michael your prince, whose mouth is shut.”

Michael the prince I love since Enoch sought
To teach the watcher what to do or ought.
The glories of eternal passing sky
Beneath a universe that’s measured by
The flight of Michael on the rosy bright
That tinges heaven with magic day and night
Fall through the consciousness of dark and hem
To rend the veils of gold and silver gem.
Beloved, I hear the mind of Michael sing
With knowledge of the wondered, secret thing
Until the stars glow in the bright of day.
Beloved, I see the darts of Michael fly
Above the fields of barley and of rye
To point the slender troop in the right way.

DANIEL 11

MEDO-PERSIA

1 “And I in first year of the reign
Of Darius the Mede, for gain
I stood his strength, support amain.
2 “And now truth indeed I’ll declare.
See further three kings standing there
In Persia, and the fourth shall be
Richer than all the other three.
And when his wealth has come to power
He’ll stir all others in an hour
Against the kingdoms of the Greek.

ALEXANDER

3 “Then shall stand a king great to seek
To rule from ruling greatly and
As he desires, so does his hand.
4 “And as he stands his kingdoms shall
Be shattered and scatter like sal
Upon the four winds of the sky,
But not to his posterity,
Nor by the strength that he ruled by,
For his kingdoms plucked up shall be
Even for others by decree.

The angel tells the prophet Daniel how
The Persians despite strengthening allow
The reign to fall before the onslaught of
Alexander in Blitzkrieg and the glove
Of power and lust to rule the world in state.
Who wept for fear his father sealed his fate
To have no worlds to conquer, come too late,
Fell on the silver kingdom, made it bow.
Beloved, I hear the chosen words and know
That kings rise in the heat and awful glow
Of war against every other in foe,
But You stand still invisible at hand
To override evil by Your command
And scatter windblown fear across the land.

SELEUCIDS AND PTOLEMIES

5 “And the king of the south shall be
Strong. But then one prince of his, see,
Shall prevail over his degree,
With his reign great for majesty.

When Alexander the Great’s power was broken
Into four kingdoms for another token,
Then Ptolemy Soter arose to be
The king of the south in Egypt’s country,
While another prince of the Grecian host
Strengthened himself against everyone’s boast,
Seleucus Nicator, and for all time
The north and south oppose themselves in rhyme
And rhetoric, if not in force of arms,
Working their depredations and alarms.
Beloved, cast down both kings that rise in me,
That of the north and south and set me free
From every wish to find my own estate,
But rest in You alone, the only Great.

6 “As time goes on they shall make pact
Together, the king’s girl in fact
Of the south shall come to the king
Of the north to make agreeing
In marriage, but shall not succeed
In her position, nor shall the weed
Stand in his strength, but she shall be
Destroyed with all her company,
As well as to whom she gave birth,
And he who defended her worth.

As long as kings have reigned they’ve tried to make
Peace by the marriage contract for the sake
Of family and country and their power.
So from Egypt Bernice went up an hour
To Syria, but the former queen allowed
She still had words to say as yet uncowed.
She killed her former husband who was king,
She killed fair Bernice and the infant thing,
And placed her own sons on the throne, and so
The treaty with Egypt was a no show.
Beloved, I see the machinations take
Form north and south and in the women’s wake
I see the peace fall and the bloodbath shake
The poor as well as moneyed in the flower.
Who trust in bomb and fortresses and tower,
In treaty and agreement, fall in the shower.

7 “Then shall stand up out of her roots’
Branch one in his estate in suits
To come with an army into
The fortress of the north king’s crew,
And fighting against them prevail.
8 “And he shall also win the tale
Of their gods captive to Egypt,
Along with their princes, and shipped
Their costly silver vessels and
Golden ones, and he shall command
More years than the king of the north.
9 “But he shall come in the kingdom
Of the king of the south, the bum,
And return to his own land’s crumb.

Bernice’s brother rose as king to take
Vengeance on Syria for his sister’s sake,
And took the stolen gods back to their place
In Egypt where polytheistic race
Gave him the title of Euergetes,
The Benefactor of the gods that please.
If unrest in the south had not appeared,
He might have taken all the land he feared.
Beloved, the tidings of both north and south
Ring in my ears and call up to my mouth
Expressions of praise and faith to Your name.
The vengeance of men who perceive the wrong
Has fallen on mother, sister in throng
Succeeds a moment, then turns to the drouth.

10 “But his sons shall be stirred up and
Assemble an army’s command,
Till one come up and overflow
And pass through, return and go
Stirred to his fortress and trousseau.

Laodike’s sons by the northern king
Seleucus Callinicus stir up to sting.
When the first failed, the second took to wing
To recover his father’s blossoming.
He triumphed over the Egyptian foe
And sat on throne and kept the northern show
When all seemed lost beneath the crushing blow
Of Egypt sitting round the campfire’s glow.
Beloved, I see the round of kings now set
To reign a term in failure and to get
A grip on market and the price of woe.
Beloved, I see the power’s ebb and flow
Of rulers in contest where they have met.

11 “The king of the south in his wrath
Shall come to fight him on the path
Of the king of the north, and he
Shall set out with a great army,
And the crowd shall be given to
His hand, both master and the crew.
12 When he’s captured the multitude,
His heart shall rise with pride imbued,
And he’ll cast down ten thousands, yet
Shall not be strengthened by the net.

The Ptolemy who loved his father went
Against the enemy on the north bent
With thousands at his side and there he met
The foe in battle and the victory.
Yet he was weak to press advantage spree,
And let the gain return and for his loss.
He rather sought instead of gold the dross,
Instead of rule the reign of lust until
His kingdom was reduced to but a hill.
Beloved, I strike a blow for right and press
To my advantage every armoured guess
To let the good strengthen in what I do,
And let my wickedness then acquiesce.
Beloved, I look for strength to none but You.

13 “The king of the north shall return,
And set a crowd upon the burn
Greater that the one in its turn
Before it, and shall certainly
After a time come great army
And with riches abundantly.
14 And in those times shall many stand
Against the king of the south manned,
Also the robbers of your folk
Exalt themselves to give a stroke
To the vision, but they’ll go broke.

Fourteen years, one for each of innocence,
To represent the powers that with presence
Come against little children in their lair
To destroy everyone without a prayer.
For the first time in history, grand Rome
Intervenes in pretence of hearth and home
To serve the tiny Ptolemy and grant
A respite for the young and tender plant.
Beloved, each ogre that finds its path in
This work of darkness and of human sin,
Is given its chance to assure and win
The love of humankind beyond the din
Of greed and cruelty. The robbers taught
To serve the weak and innocent for plot.

15 “So the king of the north shall come
And raise a mound and take the sum
Of fortressed cities, and the arms
Of the south shall not in alarms
Withstand, nor yet his chosen folk,
Neither shall have the strength in yoke.

Scopas took refuge in Sidon’s stronghold
Waited for the attack as he was bold,
But could not stand the hunger and the cold
And so surrendered all but life itself.
The great are fallen down from their high shelf.
Stripped of their jewels and finery and set out
To find their own way home, they without doubt
Had time upon the desert road to think
About the woes of humans on the brink
Of misery for their disastrous work.
Behind failure to obey always lurk
The recompenses of the lust to rule.
They fall upon both wise man and the fool.
Beloved, keep me within obedience’ link.

ROMAN INTERVENTION

16 “But he who comes against him shall
Do by his own will so none shall
Stand before him, and he shall stand
Upon the great and glorious land
Which shall be consumed by his hand.

The Romans who came to rescue the one
Who was the infant Ptolemy and son
Stayed to conquer the Syrian on the run
Since greater to withstand them there were none.
Hyrcanus and Aristobulus rose
To attract attention of Roman foes
And draw the fire upon the glorious land
And lead the robber in to bloody sand
Of fair Jerusalem in Pompey’s stand.
Beloved, I see the walls come tumbling down
And hear the fatal cries upon the town.
I see the priests go round in sacrifice
Until the Roman soldiers come to slice
The hope from off the hills about and brown.

17 “He’ll also set his face to go
In with the strength of his whole show,
And upright ones with him, and so
Shall he do, and he shall give him
The daughter of women to trim
Her with corruption, but shell not
Stand on his side nor in his plot.

The poor children, brother and sis, that stood
To gain the southern kingdom if they could
Were divided between the greed that shared
Their protectors, both Romans and the barred
Egyptian princes. Caesar and Pompey
Both came to Egypt hope to bear sway.
Their machinations led to Cleopatra
And brother Ptolemy the twelfth’s last shattery.
Beloved, look on the evil ways of men
And see how infants are drawn in again
By older and experienced to fall
Despite their innocence, despite the call
Of wisdom caught upon a woman’s brain.
Not fate buy wickedness becomes her stain.

18 “After this shall he turn his face
Toward the islands and erase
Many, but a prince for his own
Behalf shall cause the reproach thrown
By him to cease, without his own
Reproach he shall cause it full blown
To turn upon his head alone,
19 “As he turns is face back toward
The fort of his own land and sward,
There he shall stumble suddenly
And not be found among the free.

The wars in Syria and Bosporus
Drew Julius Caesar out with pomp and fuss
To victory. And yet angelic view
Of celebration of the Roman crew
Is short-lived. How ambition and the spite
Of jealousy turn heroes overnight
To enemies of state! The rhetoric
Can turn on anyone in just a trick
And move the crowd to accept murder black
As justice despite the knife in the back.
Beloved, I see the fickle turn of fate,
Unstable hearts, loyalty’s humble state,
And find my refuge in my prayer to You
And in the slight voice of the Psalms I do.

20 “Then there shall stand up in his place
A raiser of taxes to brace
The glory of the kingdom’s pace.
But in a little time shall he
Be destroyed, not in angry spree
Nor in the battle wantonly.

Augustus rose after the plagued man’s fall
To peacefully refill the coffers’ pall,
And so he lived to make the urgent call
That men should return to their cities all
To be counted and registered and taxed.
No wars ruffled his armour when relaxed.
The blood and greed and lust before his time
Resulted in a moment he could climb
The throne in peace and rule with only mime.
Beloved, the benign rule the taxes still
With the disarming excuse that the till
Serves socialized medicine’s awkward bill
Is but the biding of the ogre’s wrath.
Beloved, all rulers know a single path.

21 And in his place shall rise up one
Vile, to whom they’ll not give when done
The honour of the kingdoms, but
He shall come peacefully and shut
The kingdom for is own as he
Obtains it all by flattery.

I’ve stood upon the very spot to see
The palace Tiberius in Capri
Made to his flattered honour when on spree
Of lust, grossly wicked debauchery.
I’ve seen the dusty courts of Calvary,
And heard excuses made by one and free
That one man sacrificed for the country
Is an expedience that just must be.
Beloved, in lower courts and houses where
Men rise and fall and ladies come to wear
Wealth on their painted bodies, I find there
The flattery that still serves many tongues.
The ladder to honour has no new rungs,
But reeks still with its poisons and its dungs.

22 And with the arms of a flood they
Shall be overflowed from his way,
And broken, even the one meant
To be Prince of the covenant.

Despite the fact that every Christian church
Reminds with Eucharist one in the lurch
That Christ was Prince a day on donkey’s back
Only to hear the praises turn to slack
And be borne to the cross, if it is true,
Lacking primary history in view,
I understand that cruelty of death
In claw of Julius or Augustus’ breath
Takes none down so effectively as sword
Of flatterers come claiming to the bored
That they represent right and might and crown
Eternal and divine around the town.
Beloved, I take Your warning and ignore
The word of priest and bishop at the door.

CHRISTOLOGICAL BATTLES

23 And from the union of his gods
One shall work deceit on the sods,
For he’ll come up and shall be strong
With just a few people along.

The north king waits in Syria and sets
The church at Antioch to making bets,
While south stays in Egypt all the while
And know Alexandria without guile.
Between the two Jerusalem takes sides
As Constantine draws up the Christian tides
From Nicaea and with the union made
Of three pagan gods one god for those who strayed.
The holy city sits upon the hill
Aghast at what has come to fit the bill.
Deceit for bishops come to declare who
Is heretic and who worthy of pew
Clouds nothing of the truth between the stakes
Still standing where the churchly ruler rakes.

24 In ease and in delicacies
Of the province then he shall please
To do what his fathers have not,
Nor his fathers' fathers in plot,
The booty, plunder and the wealth
He’ll scatter to them in his stealth,
Against the fortresses he’ll think
His strategies to a time’s brink.
25 He’ll stir up power and boldness too
Against the king of the south’s view
With a great army, and the king
Of the south shall be stirred to wing
In battle with a multitude
In battle, but he’ll not be viewed
To stand, for they shall catapult
Their strategies to his insult.

The ebb and flow of power between king
Of north and south has taken for its string
Theology instead of politics
Of warfare and its military tricks.
The king of the north has become the one
To sit in Syria’s patriarchal dun,
While Alexandria’s still the seat of blessed
Patriarch, king of the south and the best.
The Arian controversy started all,
The Nestorian flag continued thrall,
Until the Monophysitic relief
Brought all of Christendom down in its grief.
Beloved, the armies of the faith still shout
Theology through economic drought.

26 Indeed who feed on his meat’s row
Shall destroy him and army’s flow
Shall overrun and many fall
Down slain in heresy’s mad brawl.
27 And both these kings’ hearts are inclined
To mischief and speak lies in mind
And one table, but it shall not
Prosper, because the end is fraught
For a time appointed and sought.

The fight was on for what nature of Christ
Is bourn within the body sacrificed,
And whether natures are of one or two
Within the single person now in view.
Both sides were already in heresy,
Claiming the human clothes divinity,
And both deceits took on the bloody plough
Of war and killing for the golden bough.
Beloved, I stray outside the royal gloom
Of theological sword and the doom
Of faith and doubt, and rest my soul upon
Your heart alone beneath the rosy dawn.
You time appointed flashes on the view
Of sleeping worlds before the sparkling dew.

28 The he shall go back to his land
With great wealth, and his heart shall stand
Against the holy covenant,
And he shall act and then relent
And go back to his land and tent.

Though Egypt sided with Nicetas and
With Heraclius too as rebels stand
Against the emperor Phocas, the weight
Of Persians came against the holy gate.
Belief and wealth and war must intertwine,
And every god and goddess drink the wine
Of sacrifice their due, while men resign
Themselves to violence among the dew.
Beloved, my bleeding heart turns back to You.
The turbulence of times comes to a head
Before the last surprise of the unled
To find the blooming desert that was lost
Before the broken dam and water tossed
Into the evil drought as land Godsped.

29 At the time appointed by divine will
The mercenary foes met on the hill,
But not as before or as following.
30 For ships from western sea came up on wing
Against him for his grief and then go back
With rage against the holy covenant.
So shall he do as though in fervour slack
Return to the land from which he was sent
To confer with breakers of covenant.

The bishops and their kings continue to
Debate the trinity and Christ in view
With treachery and artifice and fail
To realize the coming of the gale.
The church has long rejected covenant,
That holy covenant one time you sent
To thunder on Mount Sinai and to write
Itself in promises on fleshly site
Of human hearts. And so they read the sky
Without warning Muhammad’s coming by.
Beloved, let my attention in this place
Distracted by security and race
Of wealth not forget to seek for Your face
In prayer and fast and virtue by Your grace.

UMAYYAD CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM

31 The strength shall stand for him and they
Shall pollute holy temple’s sway,
And take away the daily and
They shall place there upon the land
Abomination that in hand
Makes desolate the holy strand.

When the Umayyads took Jerusalem
They did not try in any way to stem
The time of Jewish or Christian delight
In pilgrimage into the holy site.
They merely added one more awful rite
To finish abomination begun
By Rabbis and by bishops on the run.
The trinity of faiths in covenant
Against Your Word, Beloved, at last gave vent
To setting up agreement that has lent
Beastly validity for centuries
To the depletion of the holy trees.
Beloved, I bow within the holy mosque
In prostration to You by-passing kiosk.

In the year six nine one Abdul Malik
Raised Quds to be a city said unique
By building in the seat of caliphate
The dome of the rock as a counterfeit
And as abomination desolate
In answer to the prophecy and fate.
Unwittingly perhaps he started then
The time and times and half a time in den
That would lay waste to faith and hold a claw
Of Sunnite Islam at the faithful draw.
So near to the true faith, so near indeed,
And yet inheritor of awful seed
That sought to change Your times and law and creed,
Beloved, before the world’s most constant need.

32 And those who do wickedly by
The covenant by flattery
Shall he corrupt, but the folk who
Know their God shall be strong and do.

UMAYYAD ISLAM BY ITS FLATTERY

Converted Christian churches by the sea
And brought them all into the Sunnite fold
To shelter in corruption by the bold.
Because they had corrupted covenant
And turned away from Your own holy tent
Of divine unity and Sabbath-keeping
They could not bear the brunt and turned out weeping.
Beloved, I see that if the Christians’ goal
Had been to keep Your ten commandments’ toll,
The weariness of their theology
Would not have broken them off from the tree.
Umayyads breaking faith with their own prophet
Counselled the Christians to be butt to scoff at.

RISE OF THE ABBASSIDS

33 And they that understand among
The folk shall instruct for stroke
Many, and yet they shall fall by
The sword and flame, captivity
And spoiled many days’ misery.

Beloved, You raised up divine guidance to
Teach all the faithful what to know and do,
And each divine guide to his son transmitted
The holy ordinance of all things fitted.
And yet the Umayyad sword left
To the Abbassids for the true bereft
Was ever sharp and claimed a bloody due
If only by the poison of its dew.
Beloved, I flee to You and weep again
For those lost and killed of Your faithful men,
And weep to hear their twelve names sung in rhyme,
And weep to hear about the evil time
Their children were slaughtered by king and priest
As unfaithfulness on the earth increased.

34 And when they fall they shall get help
A little, although every whelp
Shall stay with them by flattery.
35 Even the wise by them shall fall
Refining those left in their stall
And purifying by the loss
To make white even to the toss
Of the end time, for it is yet
For time appointed he’ll be met.

The flattery of people and their kings
Runs to the underground of righteous things
Until Your divine proof cannot be found
Among the labelled merchants on the ground,
But must be taken up in secret kept
While the white robed behind remained and wept.
But at the time appointed he shall rise
And proclaim Your name up into the skies,
And with a word deal blows to all around
Who in the triumvirate shall be bound
For punishment that they did not believe
The secret word sent to save and reprieve.
The flattery caused occultation’s coming
While institutions have remained here humming.

TAMERLANE

36 The king shall do by his own will
And raise himself higher than hill
Of every god, and speak great things
Against the God of gods and kings,
And prosper till the wrath is done
For what’s determined under sun.
37 Neither shall he regard the god
Of his fathers upon the sod,
Nor the desire of women nor
Any god for he’ll show in store
Himself above them all and great.
38 But he’ll honour in his estate
The god of violence, a god
His ancestors refused the nod
He’ll gratify with gold and siller,
With precious stones, pleasant to fill her.
39 So he’ll deal with the fortresses
Of strength with help of god that is
Foreign, whom he shall know and give
Increase of glory, he shall live
To make them rule over a crowd
Dividing land for wealth allowed.

Then Tamerlane came from the rushing wind
To rule the world about him where he sinned
By taking the Umayyad’s god of force
And following the Abbassid divorce
In praise to Allah, righteous name again
Turned to shame by the actions of bad men.
The convert of Islam’s apostasy
Did nothing good to support symmetry
Of divine proof and guidance, but retained
The name of Islam already blood-stained.
Beloved, the despots of a former year
Arise before my eyes and fill with fear
The heart foreboding the increase of tear,
And so I seek refuge in You while here.

Saladdin and the Rise and Fall of the Ottomans
40 And at the time of the end shall
The king of the south with cabal
Pressure him and the northern king
Come against him on the wind’s wing
With chariots and with horsemen bold
And many ships in count untold
And enter into the lands there
And overflow and pass the share.
41 He’ll enter in the glorious land
And see overthrown quite a band,
But these shall escape from his hand,
Edom, Moab and Ammon’s grand.
42 He’ll stretch his hand on the countries,
And Egypt’s land shall not escape.
43 But he’ll have power on treasuries
Of gold and silver and the shape
Of all precious things of Egypt,
And Libians and Cushites all shipped
At his steps shall not be outstripped.
44 But rumours from the east and from
The north shall trouble him to come
With raging to destroy and make
Completely away with their stake.
45 And he shall set his palace tents
Between the seas in the presence
Of the glorious and sacred mount,
Yet come to end of his account
And none shall help him from offence.

The end of empires in the Middle East
Is with the Ottomans, last but not least.
Long centuries maintain the end of time
After the Sultan came through Palestine
And took Egypt, the king of southern clime,
And rebuilt the walls of the city fine,
Jerusalem. The end of time and states
Of empires on the woeful land of hates.
Beloved, the ebb and flow of kings and queens
Rises in brilliance to pass from the scenes
Of earth to find Your guided one at last
Stands up to rule when earthly kings have passed.

The Russians and the Persians to their shame
Troubled the sick man of the east to blame,
And from the east and north came to trip up
Until he rose in fury like a tup.
Though in the end the sultans rule no more,
And fields are dry now that once ran with gore,
The day may come when Turkey shall rise and
Set palaces beyond the mountain’s strand
And set the holy place beyond command.
Beloved, I look for such a thing to be
That will reveal the time of Michael’s fee,
And that the earth shall enter trouble’s way
That proceeds with darkness the brighter day,
When the anointed brings eternity.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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