University of Virginia Library

PSALM CXXXVII.

(IN ELEGIAC MEASURE.)

Captives of Babylon, we sought the vale,
Where broad Euphrates rolls in crystal state,
Hung our mute harps upon its poplars pale,
And sat, dear Sion, weeping o'er thy fate!
While our proud victors, in opprobrious vein,
Cry'd, Slaves, arise! your silent lyres resume,
And swell your voices with that choral strain,
Which echo'd sweet in Sion's ruin'd dome!
What! to an alien ear, an alien clime,
Shall we repeat Jehovah's hallow'd song?
Ah! sooner than profane that lay sublime,
Cleave to its roots each fibre of our tongue;
Forget, my hand, each warbling chord to sweep,
So prompt thy modulating powers to own,
Or ere my Soul neglects her vows to keep,
To sing in Salem's sacred courts alone.
O think, great God, on Salem's fatal hour,
When hemm'd around by Edom's impious race!
They cried, as they beheld each falling tower,
“Raze, instant raze it to its central base!”
Blest be that future foe, by justice led,
Who Israel's woes repeats in Edom's fall,
Wreaks all her wrongs on Babylon's proud head,
And flings her children 'gainst the shatter'd wall.