THE DESTRUCTION OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH.
"And he looked towards Sodom and Gomorrah, and lo! the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace."
O dread was the night, when o'er Sodom's wide plain
The fire of heaven descended;
For all that then bloomed shall ne'er bloom there again,
For man hath his Maker offended.
The fire of heaven descended;
For all that then bloomed shall ne'er bloom there again,
For man hath his Maker offended.
The midnight of terror and woe hath passed by,
The death-spirit's pinions are furled;
But the sun, as it beams clear and brilliant on high,
Hides from Sodom's dark, desolate world.
The death-spirit's pinions are furled;
But the sun, as it beams clear and brilliant on high,
Hides from Sodom's dark, desolate world.
Here lies but that glassy, that death-stricken lake,
As in mockery of what had been there;
The wild bird flies far from the dark nestling brake,
Which waves its scorched arms in the air.
As in mockery of what had been there;
The wild bird flies far from the dark nestling brake,
Which waves its scorched arms in the air.
In that city the wine-cup was brilliantly flowing,
Joy held her high festival there;
Not a fond bosom dreaming (in luxury glowing)
Of the close of that night of despair.
Joy held her high festival there;
Not a fond bosom dreaming (in luxury glowing)
Of the close of that night of despair.
