Classic Poem

The eagle hath stooped from his eyrie on high,
Weep, daughter of Salem, the spoiler is nigh;
Weep, weep and lament, for he comes in his wrath,
And the vengeance of God is the guide of his path;
I see his fierce horsemen prepare for the war,
And I hear their loud shouts as they rush from afar.

Mourn, mourn and lament, for thy strength shall he riven,
And the star of thy glory he blotted from heaven;
Thy towers and thy temples, now gleaming in air,
Shall be low as thy shame in that day of despair;
Thy pitiless foe shall exult o'er thy fall,
And the God thou hast scorned shall be deaf to thy call.

How often, O! Salem, I've wept by thy side,
And mourned for thy sons in their blindness and pride;
How often I've prayed and implored thee in vain
To repent, and return to thy Father again:
Why, daughter of Salem, O why wouldst thou spurn
The grace and the hope that can never return?

The heathen shall come, and shall raze to the earth
The lordly abodes of thy pride and thy mirth;
With the blood of thy sons shall thy altars be stained,
And the shrine of thy God shall be rent and profaned;
On the walls of the temple the spoiler shall tread-
Weep, weep, for the beam of thy glory hath fled.

Then, daughter of Salem, in grief and despair,
When the fires of thy dwellings shall redden the air,
When thy victor shall taunt thee, and scoff at thy cries,
As the smoke of the temple ascends to the skies;
When trampled-insulted-rejected-abhorred,
Then, Zion, O then thou'lt remember the Lord.