Classic Poem

ALEPH .

The temple-gold, how now so dim,
That glister'd once so gay;
How has the finest gold so trim,
Now changed its bright array!

The temple stones now tumbled down,
That lay in stately square,
On top of ev'ry street o'erthrown,
Lie scatter'd here and there.

Beth .

Lo! Zion's sous, of precious mould,
Her saints, her priests, her peers,
That might compare with purest gold,
More fine than Ophir bears;

How basely are they now esteem'd
As pitchers vile and coarse,
Wrought by the potter's hand, and deem'd
But earthenware, and worse!

G IMEL .

Sea-monsters, ev'n by nature taught,
To suckle their own brood,
Draw out the breast to give a draught,
And cherish them with food;

But, ah! my people's daughter faint
Seems savage now no less
Than cruel ostriches that haunt
The howling wilderness.

D ALETH .

Lo! to the suckling's palate dry,
Fast cleaves his wither'd tongue;
Breasts empty can't his thirst supply,
So dies the tender young:

The infant wean'd no better speed
Can make, from door to door,
He fainting begs a crumb of bread,
But none have so much o'er.

H E .

Ev'n these inur'd to dainty meats,
Who sumptuously had far'd,
Now wand'ring needy through the streets,
The desolation shar'd:

The rank brought up among the best,
In scarlet beds and dress,
Were glad, in search of food and rest,
The dunghills to embrace.

V AU .

Strokes, for her sins, more heavy lay
On Zion's daughter's back,
Than did on Sodom, once a day
Involv'd in sudden wrack.

Wrath did them in a trice consume,
Nor were they daily slain,
By human hands; but Zion's doom
Is found a ling'ring bane.

Z AIN .

Her Nazarites and select ones
Were splendid once and gay,
Like high-born separated sons,
In pompous rich array:

More pure than snow they were each one,
More white than milk to sight;
In face the ruby red out-shone,
In dress the sapphire bright.

C HETH .

But now their beauteous visage so
With blackness is o'ergrown,
More than a coal; when forth they go
They're in the streets unknown.

So close their dry and parched skin,
Unto their bones doth cleave;
To wither'd sticks they claim a kin
And scarce are said to live.

T ETH .

Those better are by sword who die,
Their life they quickly yield,
Than these whom killing straits deny
The increase of the field:

For whom fierce famine stricken hath,
In torment ev'ry day,
Within the jaws of ling'ring death,
They wasted pine away.

J OD .

Fond mothers wonted to caress,
And on their young to dote,
Were forc'd, with their own hands, to dress
The infant for their pot:

The famine's hot devouring flame
So rag'd in every street,
The prattling babes, alas! became
Their gasping mother's meat.

C APH .

The Lord has threaten'd fury great,
Now thus accomplish'd hath,
And pour'd out at a fearful rate
The fierceness of his wrath.

In Zion's midst he rais'd a flame
That o'er the rafters tower'd,
Then the foundations total frame
The burning fire devour'd.

L AMED .

Kings of the earth, and all that plant
The spacious world around,
Could ne'er have thought this truth to grant,
Which now too true is found.

That ever could an adverse foe,
Who Salem's pow'r envy'd,
Her gates invade, and then o'erthrow,
As now is verified.

M EM .

But in the ruin justice shines;
Whence did it chiefly flow?
Ev'n from her priests and prophets sins,
Which rip'ned her for woe:

Through them in midst of her was shed,
The blood of prophets just,
And saints, at whom in her they bred
An hatred and disgust.

N UN .

With darkness blind, with gore defil'd,
They round the streets did roam,
Stain'd with the blood of man and child,
They odious were become:

A cruel heart, tongue, hand, or eye,
Each tender spirit lothes;
Such theirs, as sober men were shy
To touch their bloody clothes.

S AMEOH .

Their piety so feign'd had been,
In scorn the people cry,
" Depart, depart; touch not th' unclean; "
When off they walk and fly.

The very heathen them upbraid,
And packing them away,
" From Salem be they gone, " they said,
" For there they shall not stay. "

P E .

This carries on, said they, our game;
The Lord hath giv'n them o'er:
His anger hath divided them;
He'll not regard them more.

Just Heav'n thus doom'd their disregard
Of ev'ry faithful priest;
True prophets they nor elders spar'd,
Nor favour'd in the least.

A IN .

Now as for us, amidst our strait,
Fail'd have as yet our eyes,
While we for help and succour wait
From faithless weak allies:

Our vain and fruitless hopes have fled,
And justly us misgave:
We watched for a nation's aid,
Unable us to save.

T ZADE .

High batt'ries rais'd above our walls,
The sieging foe completes;
Their arrows fury on us falls,
And hunts us off our streets:

Our sacred and our civil state,
Is thus to ruin come;
Our prosperous days are out of date;
How near's our dismal doom;

Koph .

There's no escaping when we fly,
Pursuers such are they,
Far swifter than the eagles high,
When flying on their prey:

If to the mountains high we fled,
There they pursu'd us straight;
If to the desert haste we made,
There they for us laid wait.

R ESH .

The Lord's anointed, who we thought,
Our life and breath would guard,
The royal prey, our prince was caught,
And in their pits ensnar'd:

Beneath his shade we thought to creep,
And safe 'mong heathen live:
But slighting Christ, the antitype,
Vain hopes did us misgive.

S HIN .

O Edomite! rejoice, exult
O'er Zion's wreck, but know
The cup of wrath, for this insult,
Its round to thee shall go:

Thou shalt be drunk, infatuate,
Mad in thy projects all,
Expose thyself to shame and hate,
And stagg'ring headlong fall.

T AU .

The punishment heav'n did intend,
O Zion! for thy sin;
Ev'n thy captivity shall end,
When Edem's woes begin.

He'll now, O Edom! punish thee,
For all thy wicked deeds,
Laid up to shew how justly he
Gainst thee in wrath proceeds.