Wake, Egypt, in thy wrath awake!
The warrior band of Pharaoh cried;
Arise, pursue, and overtake
The slaves, that have thy throne defied.

About them is the mountain glen,
The rolling deep before, they find;
And Egypt, with her mighty men,
Her chariot and her horse, behind.

Stand—Israel, stand! the Hebrew said,
Nor fear the vaunting tyrant’s cry;
Thy father’s God is o’er thy head,
The pillar of His cloud is nigh.

Fear neither flood, nor mountain glen,
The Lord is on His holy hill;
Let Egypt boast her mighty men—
Let Jacob’s silent host be still.

On, Israel! then Jehovah said;
Before thy leader’s outstretched hand
The billow shall forsake its bed,
And ye within the deep shall stand.

’Tis done—the sea has rolled aside,
The tribes have passed its utmost bound,
And back returns the headlong tide,
And Egypt in her host is drowned.

The mountain pass—the yawning flood—
Still meet the startled pilgrim’s eye,
And still the voice of Jacob’s God
Shall say to every deep, Be dry.*

Maria Grace Saffery
Poems on Sacred Subjects, 1834

* Isaiah 44:27