Classic Poem

ALEPH .

Ah! how so populous of late
The city sits alone!
How widow-like is she, that great
Among the nations shone!

Amidst the provinces around,
She like a princess sat;
But now is under tribute bound
Unto a foreign state.

Beth .

By night she weeps, and briny tears
Bedew her comely cheeks;
'Mong all her lovers none appears,
Nor to her comfort speaks.

Her friends, by whom she was caress'd,
Have serv'd her treacherously;
Their friendship, formerly profess'd,
Is turn'd to enmity.

G IMEL .

Judah into captivity,
By adversaries rude,
Is gone, because of cruelty,
And grievous servitude.

'Mong heathens now she dwells in thrall,
No rest her grief abates:
Her bloody persecutors all
O'ertake her in the straits.

D ALETH .

The ways of Zion wail her fates,
None keep her solemn feasts:
And all her once frequented gates,
Black desolation wastes.

Her priests, in sable, sigh to see
Their solemn fest'als gone;
Her virgins are oppress'd, and she
In bitterness doth moan.

H E .

Her foes the chief above her are,
Her adversaries thrive;
For God hath measur'd grief to her
Who did his Spirit grieve:

Because her sins were num'rous grown,
And heinous in his eye;
Her num'rous seed are captive gone
Before the enemy.

V AU .

Her splendid beauty bright that shone,
To her renown before,
Is all from Zion's daughter gone,
And to be seen no more.

Her peers, like hunted harts on flight,
For want of pasture frail,
Before the hot pursuer's might
Do pow'rless faint and fail.

Z AIN .

Jerus'lem in her days now lin'd
With sorrows manifold
Call'd all her pleasant things to mind,
Which she possess'd of old.

Her people fell before her foes,
Who now upon her gaze
When helpless to deride her woes,
And mock her Sabbath-days.

C HETH .

Salem hath greatly sinn'd, and hence
She's now remov'd afar;
All who did once her reverence,
Now her despisers are:

Because her nakedness of life
Is now expos'd to them;
With deep regret she sighs for grief,
And backward turns for shame.

T ETH .

Filth in her skirts and lewdness tend
To ruin her renown;
She, thoughtless of her latter end,
Came wonderfully down.

No comforter on her behalf
Appear'd for her relief:
The foe hath magnified himself;
O Lord, behold my grief.

J OD .

Profanely hath the wicked foe,
Spread out his hands unclean,
On all her pleasant things: for, lo!
Her weeping eyes have seen,

How that the heathen vile invade
Her sanctuary fair,
Thy sacred courts, of which thou'st said,
They shall not enter there.

O APH .

Her people sigh, and bread implore;
Her pleasant things are sold,
Their fainting spirits to restore,
Their bodies to uphold.

Consider thou, O Lord, my state,
See my extremity;
For despicable, desolate,
And vile, become am I.

L AMED .

Ah! is it nought to you that pass
The way? Behold and see,
If ever any sorrow was
Like this befallen me.

But 'tis Jehovah, to display
His justice in my lot,
Who me afflicted in the day
Of his displeasure hot.

M EM .

Into my bones he hath sent down
From heav'n a burning fire,
Which o'er their strength prevailing soon
Consum'd them in his ire.

He for my feet hath spread a net,
And backward turn'd my way;
'Tis he hath made me desolate,
And faintish all the day.

N UN .

The yoke of my collected sins,
He with his hand did tie;
Them fast he wreaths, and up he twines,
And on my neck they lie.

My strength he dash'd with overthrows,
My valour prostrate lies;
He put me in the hand of those
From whom I cannot rise.

S AMEOH .

Amidst me, he my champions all
Down under foot did push;
Then 'gainst me an assembly call,
My choicest youths to crush.

I' th' wine-press of the wrath of God
Where not the fair escapes,
The Lord hath Judah's daughter trod,
As people tread the grapes.

A IN .

On these accounts I weep and bray;
Mine eye, mine eye runs down
With briny floods, because away
The Comforter is gone;

Who should my grief of soul abate
He's far from me remote:
My children too are desolate,
Since foes the pow'r have got.

P E .

Though Zion wailing spread her hands,
None's to comfort her found:
Concerning Jacob, God commands
His foes should him surround.

'Mong whom fair Salem, now in tears,
When none do succour bring,
A separated drab appears,
And like a loathsome thing.

T ZADE .

But just and righteous is the Lord;
For by my wickedness,
I have rebell'd against his word,
And wrought my own distress.

All people, hear with pity then,
And see my grief I pray;
My virgins, and my choice young men,
Are captive led away.

K OPH .

I call'd for friends, and near allies,
That courted once my love,
Who now, regardless of my cries,
To me deceitful prove.

My priests and elders who for me,
With Heav'n will intercede,
In city fainting sought supply,
But died for want of bread.

R ESH .

See, Lord, for I'm oppress'd and cross'd
Unto the last degree;
My bowels troubled are and toss'd
My heart is turn'd in me.

For grievously rebell'd I have,
Provoking thee to wrath:
Abroad the bloody sword doth 'reave,
At home a direful death.

S HIN .

My foes all heard of my distress,
My sighs and troubles sad;
They heard I am left comfortless,
And at my woes were glad.

Thy doing is their mirth; but, lo!
Thou'lt make the day to shine,
Proclaim'd by thee, in which their woe
And grief shall equal mine.

Tau .

Let all the wickedness they frame,
Before thy presence be;
And likewise do thou unto them
As thou hast done to me.

For all my sins, which do my moans
And miseries augment:
Great is the number of my groans!
My heart within me faint.