With many children was the Patriarch blest, Yet Joseph he preferr'd before the rest: To tend his flock was all the youth's employ To serve his God and Sire his only joy: Jacob of his lov'd consort now depriv'd, Beheld her graces in the son reviv'd; And all the love he had to Rachel gone, Was by degrees transferr'd unto her son. A silken vest, that cast a various shade, He fondly to the boy a present made: Here vivid scarlet strove with lively green, The purple, blended with the white, was seen, And azure spots were interspers'd between.
This gaudy robe (the basis of his woe, The source from which his future sorrows flow) Kindled his elder brethren's wakeful pride: (When envy mounts, affection will subside) Their dawning hate in vain to hide they strove, Each look too plain confess'd expiring love.
The sun obliquely shot his humid beams, When Joseph wak'd, one morn, and told his dreams: 'My brethren, we, methought, were on a plain, 'And binding into sheaves the yellow grain; 'When mine arose; your's form'd a circle round, 'And reverently bow'd low to the ground.' And this each face the innate rage express'd: And Joseph thus, indignant, they address'd. 'Shalt thou indeed a sov'reign to us be? 'And shall we fall as suppliants on the knee? 'Vain boy! renounce those hopes---hence to the field 'A shepherd's crook, not sceptre, shalt thou wield.'
Again, when slumbers stole upon his eyes, And active Fancy bade the vision rise,, And crystal moon respectful homage pay. This on the morn the wond'ring youth disclos'd When Jacob the prediction thus oppos'd: 'Shall I, thine aged sire, whose silver hairs 'And arms unnerv'd proclaim my length of years, 'Prostrate on earth myself thy vassel own? 'And shall thy mother bow before her son?
'Ambition, Joseph, has thy heart possess'd, 'And dreams illusive rise from such a guest.' But yet he wonder'd what might be design'd, And the presaging visions treasur'd in his mind.
It chanc'd his elder sons at early dawn
Led their fair flocks to Dothen's verdant lawn: There, while the kids and lambs crop off the flow'rs, In close converse they pass th' eloping hours: Beneath a cedar's boughs, whose awful shade Extended o'er the plain, was Levi laid: What rais'd the tears that trembled in his eyes? Issacher ask'd; and Levi thus replies:
'Jacob was once impartial in his love; 'To please us all, and we to please him strove. 'Have we not toil'd beneath the burning ray 'Of yon bright orb, who rising we survey; 'And when the lamp of night illumes the skies, 'When dews descend and noxious mists arise, 'In silent vales a careful watch we keep, 'And from the rav'ning wolves protect the sheep? 'Is this the kind return for all our care?--- 'We ask but equally his love to share; 'And that denied, to aggravate the smart, 'A simpering boy engrosses all his heart:
'What can entitle him to such a claim, 'Domestic labours, or a martial fame? 'In Mamre's groves his hours slide soft away, 'In rest at night, in indolence all day: 'With lies of us he fills the cred'lous ear, 'Too horrid to repeat, or you to hear. 'For this a superb robe adorns his limbs, 'And partial heav'n for this in mystic dreams 'Presages a reward. But words are vain.' Here Levi ceas'd, and Issacher began.
'Ah! 'tis too plain, too obvious to the sight, 'That Joseph is our parent's chief delight, 'Although a base usurper of our right: 'You see ambition rising in his soul; 'And when his years mature to manhood roll, 'Elated with the hopes of sway, he'll try 'On us, my friends, his dreams to verify.'
He ended: but his cheeks with anger glows: When bloody Simeon from the ground arose. Awhile he paus'd; at length his lips impart The black design corroding at his heart.
'Brethren, this war of words and coward rage
'Suits not our youth, but meets impotent age; 'Let one decisive stroke remove our fears, 'Obstruct the fates, and calm intestine wars.'