AN ALPHABETICAL POEM
for
The “little ones”.
from
B. C. 4004.
to
B. C. 400.
With an A. B. C. Chart.
A for Alphabet.
B.C. - Before Christ.
Copyright, 1892, by Laura Keene Gleaves.
A |
B. C. |
|
A |
|
1 |
4004 |
A for Adam, the first to live, |
|
3875 |
And Abel, the first to die, |
|
2348 |
A for the Ark of the patriarch, |
|
2347 |
And the Arc we see in the sky! |
|
B |
|
2 |
2247 |
B for Babel and Builders forlorn. |
|
1996 |
B for Baby, as Abram was born; |
|
|
This Abram the same, who was Abraham later, |
|
|
Than whom there was none in the Testament greater! |
|
C |
|
3 |
1921 |
C for Canaan! Covenant! Call! |
|
|
C for Command that would Courage appall; |
|
1872 |
But that the great faith of this Abram withstood, |
|
|
Who bound little Isaac who’d carried the wood! |
|
|
|
|
1836 |
C for the Children of Abraham’s child; |
|
|
The shepherd so gentle! The Hunter so wild! |
|
|
The parents were partial, the brothers estranged |
|
|
And birthright and pottage unwisely exchanged. |
A |
B. C. |
|
D |
|
4 |
1760 |
D the Defrauding Designed by their Mother, |
|
|
When Jacob the younger, Defrauded his brother. |
|
|
D for that Mother’s and brother’d Deceit! |
|
|
D for the Deer for the father to eat! |
|
|
|
|
|
D for that Mother’s and Brother’s Despair, |
|
|
When Jacob’s Departure Discomforts the pair, |
|
|
D for his Dream where the angels Descend, |
|
|
And Jacob, himself, to his God, doth commend! |
|
E |
|
5 |
1739 |
E is for Edom where Esau resides, |
|
|
Since Jacob, returning, in Canaan abides, |
|
|
Though Esau with Jacob in anger had parted, |
|
|
He,Canaan, resigned him! To Edom departed! |
A |
B. C. |
|
F |
|
6 |
1728 * |
F for Father old and sad, |
|
|
When they sell his little lad! |
|
|
When they stain his pretty coat, |
|
|
With the little slaughtered goat. |
|
|
|
|
1715 |
F for Fullsome Favor shown, |
|
|
By a King, upon the throne, |
|
|
Unto Joseph, who explains |
|
|
Pharaoh’s dreams, and honor gains! |
|
|
|
|
1708 |
F the Famine in the land, |
|
1706 |
F the Feast that Joseph planned, |
|
|
When “the ten” “the one” surround, |
|
|
As the cup with Ben is Found! |
|
|
|
* It has not been attempted to place the whole of this Alphabetical Poem in the same metre. Each of the subdivisions is intended to stand out as a distinct poem, the connection being kept up wholly through the Alphabet, and this distinction is the most adroitly managed through a change of metre as here appears. |
A |
B. C. |
|
G |
|
7 |
1706 |
G fo rGoshen, where they go, |
|
|
Ere a Pharaoh proved a foe! |
|
|
Ere their dying infants shiver, |
|
|
In the great Egyptian River! |
|
H |
|
8 |
1571 |
H for Hebrew Happily Hidden |
|
|
When those infants were forbidden; |
|
|
When an open Ark discloses, |
|
|
Pretty little Hebrew Moses! |
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