Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By EmmaLazarus

1018 The New Ezekiel

WHAT, can these dead bones live, whose sap is dried

By twenty scorching centuries of wrong?

Is this the House of Israel, whose pride

Is as a tale that ’s told, an ancient song?

Are these ignoble relics all that live

Of psalmist, priest, and prophet? Can the breath

Of very heaven bid these bones revive,

Open the graves and clothe the ribs of death?

Yea, Prophesy, the Lord hath said. Again

Say to the wind, Come forth and breathe afresh,

Even that they may live upon these slain,

And bone to bone shall leap, and flesh to flesh.

The Spirit is not dead, proclaim the word,

Where lay dead bones, a host of armed men stand!

I ope your graves, my people, saith the Lord,

And I shall place you living in your land.