Jerusalem
BY WILLIAM WALLACE
Queen of Judea's stricken land,
Thy garland, faded from thy brow,
Lies withered on the desert's sand
And trampled by the Arab now.
The laurel boughs of Lebanon
Still brush the blue unspotted sky; —
Their plumes still quiver in the sun,
Which lights thy ruins from on high; —
But on thy brow so desolate,
Seems stamped the blasting seal of fate!
Bright Kedron's brook still flows along
In odors, 'neath the palm tree's shade,
Unmindful of the pilgrim's song,
Upon its banks there weeping laid; —
And Gethsemene's spicy bowers
Trail their low vines upon the ground; —
Withered and blasted are its flowers,
Which once did lull their fragrance round; —
Nought greens the cursed and sterile clod,
Save where perchance the Saviour trod!
But nought upon thy guilt-stained brow
Will rear its verdant, blooming head!
Nought but the paly meteor's glow
Lights up the " city of the dead! "
Thou fallen Queen! thy lyre is broke,
Which thrilled to thy own God alone!
No longer to th' inspired stroke
Of monarch minstrel on the throne
Its chords of gratitude resound,
Or breathe their hallowed notes around.
Above the sculptured column's form
The mournful cypress twines in gloom,
Whilst in the glistening sunbeams warm
The scorpion basks upon the tomb!
The marble hall where music rolled,
The silent street — the holy dome,
Of thousand spires of gleaming gold,
Are now the savage Jackall's home!
And o'er the temple's sacred shrines,
A wreath of death, the ivy twines.
Far o'er thy brow, Jerusalem,
Calvary's stained height in vengeance towers:
The blood which dropped from Jesse's stem
Still reddens Gethsemene's bowers.
But shall the desert's sun no more
Shed its bright rays round nature's tomb!
Shall not the star which glittered o'er
The heathen night of blackest gloom,
Again gleam round its emerald light, —
Again dispel Judea's night?
Rise! rise, Imperial Salem, rise!
Lo! on thee dawns Millennial morn!
Look up! look up, upon the skies!
See — see, its herald star, new-born,
Hangs o'er thy brow a brilliant token,
That the dread curse's spell is broken!
Queen of Judea's stricken land,
Thy garland, faded from thy brow,
Lies withered on the desert's sand
And trampled by the Arab now.
The laurel boughs of Lebanon
Still brush the blue unspotted sky; —
Their plumes still quiver in the sun,
Which lights thy ruins from on high; —
But on thy brow so desolate,
Seems stamped the blasting seal of fate!
Bright Kedron's brook still flows along
In odors, 'neath the palm tree's shade,
Unmindful of the pilgrim's song,
Upon its banks there weeping laid; —
And Gethsemene's spicy bowers
Trail their low vines upon the ground; —
Withered and blasted are its flowers,
Which once did lull their fragrance round; —
Nought greens the cursed and sterile clod,
Save where perchance the Saviour trod!
But nought upon thy guilt-stained brow
Will rear its verdant, blooming head!
Nought but the paly meteor's glow
Lights up the " city of the dead! "
Thou fallen Queen! thy lyre is broke,
Which thrilled to thy own God alone!
No longer to th' inspired stroke
Of monarch minstrel on the throne
Its chords of gratitude resound,
Or breathe their hallowed notes around.
Above the sculptured column's form
The mournful cypress twines in gloom,
Whilst in the glistening sunbeams warm
The scorpion basks upon the tomb!
The marble hall where music rolled,
The silent street — the holy dome,
Of thousand spires of gleaming gold,
Are now the savage Jackall's home!
And o'er the temple's sacred shrines,
A wreath of death, the ivy twines.
Far o'er thy brow, Jerusalem,
Calvary's stained height in vengeance towers:
The blood which dropped from Jesse's stem
Still reddens Gethsemene's bowers.
But shall the desert's sun no more
Shed its bright rays round nature's tomb!
Shall not the star which glittered o'er
The heathen night of blackest gloom,
Again gleam round its emerald light, —
Again dispel Judea's night?
Rise! rise, Imperial Salem, rise!
Lo! on thee dawns Millennial morn!
Look up! look up, upon the skies!
See — see, its herald star, new-born,
Hangs o'er thy brow a brilliant token,
That the dread curse's spell is broken!
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