Classic Poem

City of loveliness and light and splendour,
City of Sorrows, hearken to our cry;
O Mother tender,
O Mother marvellously fair,
And fairest now in thy despair,
Look up! O be of comfort! Do not die!
Let the black hour blow by.

Cold is the night, and colder thou art lying.
Gnawing a stone sits Famine at thy feet
Shivering and sighing;
Blacker than Famine, on thy breast,
Like a sick child that will not rest,
Moans Pestilence; and hard by, with fingers fleet,
Frost weaves his winding-sheet.

Snow, snow! the wold is white as one cold lily.
Snow: it is frozen round thee as hard as lead;
The wind blows chilly;
Thou liest white in the dim night,
And in thine eyes there is no light,
And the Snow falleth, freezing on thy head,
And covering up thy dead.

Ah, woe! thy hands, no longer flower-bearing,
Press stony on thy heart; and that heart bleeds;
Thine eyes despairing
Watch while the fierce Fire clings and crawls
Through falling roofs and crumbling walls.
Ah, woe! to see thee thus, the wild soul pleads,
The wild tongue intercedes.

O, we will cry to God, and pray and plead for thee;
We, with a voice that troubles heaven and air,
Will intercede for thee:
We will cry for thee in thy pain,
Louder than storm and wind and rain;
What shape among the nations may compare
With thee, most lost, most fair?

Yea, thou hast sinned and fallen, O City splendid,
Yea, thou hast passed through days of shamefullest woe—
And lo! they are ended—
Famine for famine, flame for flame,
Sorrow for sorrow, shame for shame,
Verily thou hast found them all;—and lo!
Night and the falling snow.

Let Famine eat thy heart, let Fire and Sorrow
Hold thee, but turn thy patient eyes and see
The dim sweet morrow.
Better be thus than what thou wast,
Better be stricken and overcast,
Martyr'd once more, as when to all things free
Thy lips cried ‘Liberty!’

Let the Snow fall! thou shalt be sweeter and whiter;
Let the Fire burn! under the morning sky
Thou shalt look brighter.
Comfort thy sad soul through the night;
Turn to the east and pray for light;
Look up! O be of comfort! Do not die!
Let the black hour blow by!