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Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon
Nebuchadnezzar his royal highness
Engulfed by the abundance of his sight,
Once mused himself to the madness
Which arose from the pride of his heart:
"Is this not the great Babylon kingdom
Built by the swiftness of my might?
The kingdom that seizes the freedom
Of whatsoever nation it chooses to fight!
Whosoever it deems me fit to spare,
What shall make him not see the night?
And whosoever's life to spare I less care,
How could he escape my fury's fright?
O great Babylon the city of valour
Whose majesty of no precarious flight,
Remains at its best an epitome of honour
To the insatiable view of my delight!"
But while the utterances of his folly
Reeled from the abundance of his pride,
The Ancient of Days—Lord Most Holy—
Could not afford Himself of glory deprived;
Therefore He (God) had to prove to him
That all on which his pride such relied,
Were conquests which in his wildest dream
Couldn't have been, however all he tried.
For only He (God) to whoever He wills,
Has that power and discretion to decide
Who is he who dies, and who is he who lives
—Even the fate of all that crawl and glide!
These He does that no flesh may share
In the glory which in Him alone should abide;
Even that no lifeless god may least bear
A glory with which it was never designed.
And so to him a Voice at the instant came
That in his next seven years to be spent,
He would be devoid of same feat and fame
By which he became so proud and impudent:
That he may know that only The Most High
Has the ultimate power at every moment,
To deliver into a king's hands who should die
At any imaginable or unprecedented event.
Alas, a pathetic judgement was passed
(Which turned him a beast for a torment);
Oh, the disgraced king on the fields housed,
Far from the comfort of his majestic tent!
But the repented king (whose new birth
occured after the years of his punishment),
Praised the God of the heavens and earth
For such a great opportunity to repent.
"King Nebuchadnezzar is really worthy of emulation for his recompense
of heart...But most especially, for his repentance from pride and folly!"
Copyright ©
Folajin Ademola
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