Classic Poem

Part I.

L ORD , why hast Thou abandoned?
O why for ever shall Thine ire
Consume, like a devouring fire,
The sheep which in Thy pastures fed?

O think of those who were Thy own,
By Thee of old from bondage brought;
Th' inheritance which Thou hast bought,
And Sion, Thy affected throne.

Come, O come quickly, and survey
What spoil the barbarous foe hath made.
Lo! all in heaps of ruins laid,
Thy temple their accursed prey.

Like lions, with sharp famine whet,
They in Thy sanctuary roar;
All purple in Thy people's gore,
And there their conqu'ring ensigns set.

It was esteem'd a great renown
With axe to square the mountain oaks;
Now they demolish with their strokes
And hew the carved fabric down.

Who lo! with all-enfolding flame
The beauty of the earth devour;
Profanely prostrate on the floor
That temple sacred to Thy Name.

Now (said they) with a sudden hand
Give we a gen'ral end to all.
By fire the holy structures fall
Through this depopulated land.

Part II.

No miracles amaze our foes,
There are no prophets to divine,
That might our miseries decline,
None know the period of our woes.

Ah! how long shall our enemies
Exult and glory in our shame!
How long shall they blaspheme Thy Name,
Great God, and Thy slow wrath despise!

Thy Hand out of Thy bosom draw,
Nor longer Thy revenge withhold;
My God, Thou wast our king; the old
Amazed world Thy wonders saw.

Thou struck'st the Erythraean waves
When seas from seas in tumult fled;
Brak'st the Egyptian dragon's head,
And mad'st the joining floods their graves.

That great Leviathan of Nile,
To beasts and serpents which possess
The dry and foodless wilderness,
By Thee deliver'd for a spoil.

Thou clav'st the rock, from whose green wound
The thirst-expelling fountain brake;
Thou mad'st the heady streams forsake
Their channels, and become dry ground.

Part III.

The cheerful day, night cloth'd in shade,
The moon and radiant sun are Thine;
Thy bounds the swelling seas confine,
Summer and winter by Thee made.

Great God of gods, forget not those
Who Thee reproachfully despise.
Remember, Lord, the blasphemies
Cast on Thee by our frantic foes.

O! to the wicked multitude
Surrender not Thy turtle-dove;
Nor from Thy tender care remove
The poor, by pow'rful wrong pursu'd.

Thy cov'nant, bound by oath, maintain;
For darkness overspreads the face
Of all the land; in ev'ry place
Destruction, rape, and slaughter reign.

Let not th' opprest return with shame,
But crown Thee with deserv'd applause;
O patronise Thy proper cause;
Remember, fools revile Thy name.

O let their sorrows never cease
Who blast Thee with their calumnies.
The tumults of their pride who rise
Against Thee, ev'ry day increase.