“Father, I am full sore afraid
To see you bare this naked sword.
I hope for all middle-yard [instead of any creature from the farmyard],
You will not slay your child?”
Then the father, who could not bear to detect the fear in his boy’s voice, tried to comfort him by saying that the Lord would surely provide some beast that might be slain for the sacrifice. But Isaac was not satisfied. He begged the old man to tell him whether any evil would happen to him, and at the entreaty Abraham could no longer hide his terrible grief, but broke into wild words.
“Ah, dear God, that me is woe!
Thou bursts my heart in sunder,”
he exclaimed, wringing his hands; and finally, when Isaac again implored him to hide nothing from him, he told the dreadful truth.
“O Isaac, Isaac, I must thee kill!”
he cried.