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Of prudence, and with a heavy blow he felled
The smiter to the earth, and Israel had
One tyrant less. Moses saw the mortal paleness
Muse the flushes from the Egyptian's face,
The whitening lips that breathed no more defiance,
And the relaxing tension of the well knit limbs;
And when he knew that. he was dead, he hid
Him in the sand and left him to his rest.
Another day Moses walked
Abroad, and saw two brethren striving
For mastery ; and then his heart grew full
Of tender pity. They were brethren, sharers
Of a common wrong : should not their wrongs more
Closely bind their hearts, and union, not division,
Be their strength? And feeling thus, he said, "ye
Are brethren, wherefore do ye strive together?"
But they threw back his words in angry tones
And asked if he had come to judge them, and would
Mete to them the fate of the Egyptian ?
Then Moses knew the sand had failed to keep
His secret, that his life no more was safe
In Goshen, and he fled unto the deserts
Of Arabia and became a shepherd
For the priest of Midian.
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