University of Virginia Library

The Destruction of BABYLON.

Where the tall Rock exalts his steepy Head,
In sign of dismal Rout the Banner spread:
With shrill resounding Cries, and wafted Hand,
Proclaim Destruction to the guilty Land;
Th' assembled Elders summon to the Gate,
In vain consult to prop the sinking State,
Lo! I have charg'd the destin'd Train to come,
Select, and arm'd by my eternal Doom:
To whom my dread Revenge directs my Choice,
The martial Chiefs, who in my Pow'r rejoice.
Hark! how the distant Hills their Shouts rebound!
The Voice of Nations ecchoes in the Sound:
Of congregated Nations from afar;
The Lord of Hosts himself has rang'd the War.
Ev'n from remotest Regions of the Skies,
The ruddy Confines of the Sun's Uprise,
Behold! with rapid March they pour amain;
The Lord himself conducts the vengeful Train:
He heav'nly Temper to their Arms supplies,
Till the devoted Land a Desert lies.
With Shrieks of Horror pierce the wounded Air!
Exalt the Voice in Accents of Despair!
The Dawn appears, the fated Morn ascends:
And sweeping Ruin from above impends.
The nervous Vigour shall desert the Arm:
Unmanly Fears the beating Heart alarm.
Incertain Terrors, ever-anxious Woe,
Keen as the Pains which teeming Mothers know,
Shall ev'ry Breast distract: With wild Amaze
And stupid Grief shall each on other gaze;
As when thro' Dead of Night projects the streaming Blaze.
The Day appears, the Day with Vengeance great,
Sacred to Wrath divine, and charg'd with Fate:
The Day when Desolation shall demand
The guilty People and the guilty Land.
The Stars shall fade, and all yon figur'd Schemes
Of fancy'd Monster-Gods recal their Beams:
Involving Night shall shrowd the Lamp of Day,
When forth he issues thro' th' ethereal Way;
The Silver Moon shall vell her borrow'd Ray.
Dreadful I rise, that pale Mankind may know
Supernal Wrath, and Guilt the Source of Woe.
Then Pride shall fail; and Retribution just
Extend the haughty Tyrant in the Dust.
The scatter'd Few, what yet remain behind
Sav'd from the general Waste of human Kind,
Shall be more rare, more precious than the Store
Of Golden Talents; or the purer Ore
Of tawny Æthiops, on the farthest Shore.
The Heav'ns shall tremble thro' their liquid Space:
The solid Earth start frighted from her Base,
Roll'd thro' the Void, when he, whose Edicts sway
The heav'nly Host, shall wake the dreadful Day.
As from the Dogs the Roe, with active Bound,
Springs thro' the Thicket, and evades the Wound;
As fares the Lamb, whom the forgetful Swain
Shuts from the Fold to wander o'er the Plain;
So flies the Fugitive, devoted Race;
Each seeks his rural Home, and peaceful native Place.
In vain! the Arrow speeds on swifter Wings:
The deathful Sword a sure Destruction brings.
Their Eyes shall see their tender Infants thrown,
Their Limbs all batter'd on the pointed Stone:
Their lofty Palaces the Victor's Prey;
Their captive Wives disgraceful Force obey.
A Race inur'd to military Toil,
The hardy Medians, negligent of Spoil:
Chiefs who behold with undesiring Eyes
The treasur'd Silver and the golden Prize.
Their forceful Bow the warlike Youth confounds,
With rapid Deaths and undistinguished Wounds:
Nor smiling Babes escape their savage Rage;
Nor knows their Eye to pity infant Age.
Thus, Babylon! thy wide-extended Pow'rs,
Thy peerless Majesty, thy princely Tow'rs,
Unrival'd Empress of the Eastern World!
Shall sink in Ruines: As when once were hurl'd,
The blasting Lightnings and sulphureous Rain,
To wrap the Cities, and o'erwhelm the Plain.
While rolling Time the mortal Race supplies,
While various Monarchies decline and rise,
Unhabited and waste, on Heaps shall lye
Thy haughty Spires which penetrate the Sky.
No Arab there shall fix the tented Shade;
Nor o'er the ruin'd Pile his Curtains spread:
No Shepherd there his lonely Watch shall keep;
Nor in the desert Palace fold his Sheep.
The savage Kind alone shall revel there;
Portents of Earth and Prodigies of Air;
The Bird of Night shall clap her grizzly Wings,
And shaggy Satyrs dance in antic Rings.
In polish'd Domes amphibious Monsters yell,
That in the Sea-encircled Islands dwell:
O'er marble Courts shall scaly Dragons roll
Their spiry Volumes; and, portentous, howl.
Thus undelay'd on thy accurs'd Abode
Impend the Terrors of a vengeful God.