2
Jerusalem.
"The Lord-the Lord hath spoken from on high,
"Whose voice is fate, whose will is destiny.
"I see![1] I see! the dread avengers come,
"Fierce as despair, insatiate as the tomb.
"Heard ye their wheels, like whirlwinds, sweep around?
"Heard ye their thundering coursers beat the ground?
"Mark'd ye their spears move on in long array,
"And shield on shield flash back the beam of day!
"O'er Salem's[2] walls Destruction sternly low'rs,
"And eyes, impatient, her devoted towers.
"Bow'd to the dust,[3] she mourns her slaughter'd bands,
"And strives in vain to lift her fetter'd hands."
O greatly-fall'n, how humbled is thy state!
Thy fields how bare, thy courts how desolate!
Where Joy was wont the nightly dance to lead,
Shrieks the lone bat, and hungry vultures feed;
There the fierce dragon finds a place of rest,
And boding screech-owls build their secret nest.
No more, Bethesda, o'er thy desert springs
Descending Seraphs wave their healing wings;
No more sweet sounds, at morn or eve, declare
That hosts angelic hover on the air:
All—all is fled; and Desolation reigns,
Without a rival, o'er thy ravaged plains.
"Whose voice is fate, whose will is destiny.
"I see![1] I see! the dread avengers come,
"Fierce as despair, insatiate as the tomb.
"Heard ye their wheels, like whirlwinds, sweep around?
"Heard ye their thundering coursers beat the ground?
"Mark'd ye their spears move on in long array,
"And shield on shield flash back the beam of day!
"O'er Salem's[2] walls Destruction sternly low'rs,
"And eyes, impatient, her devoted towers.
"Bow'd to the dust,[3] she mourns her slaughter'd bands,
"And strives in vain to lift her fetter'd hands."
O greatly-fall'n, how humbled is thy state!
Thy fields how bare, thy courts how desolate!
Where Joy was wont the nightly dance to lead,
Shrieks the lone bat, and hungry vultures feed;
There the fierce dragon finds a place of rest,
And boding screech-owls build their secret nest.
No more, Bethesda, o'er thy desert springs
Descending Seraphs wave their healing wings;
No more sweet sounds, at morn or eve, declare
That hosts angelic hover on the air:
All—all is fled; and Desolation reigns,
Without a rival, o'er thy ravaged plains.
- ↑ Isai. v. 26, &c. and xxix. 6.
- ↑ Isai. xxix. 3.
- ↑ Idem, 4th verse
