 | The poems of Dr. Yalden |  |
THE CURSE OF BABYLON.
ISAIAH, CHAP. XIII. PARAPHRASED.
A PINDARIC ODE.
Now let the fatal banner be display'd!
Upon some lofty mountain's top
Go set the dreadful standard up!
And all around the hills the bloody signals spread.
For, lo, the numerous hosts of Heaven appear!
Th' embattled legions of the sky,
With all their dread artillery,
Draw forth in bright array, and muster in the air.
Why do the mountains tremble with the noise,
And vallies echo back their voice?
The hills tumultuous grow and loud,
The hills that groan beneath the gathering multitude.
Wide as the poles of Heaven's extent,
So far's the dreadful summons sent:
Kingdoms and nations at his call appear,
For ev'n the Lord of Hosts commands in person there.
Upon some lofty mountain's top
Go set the dreadful standard up!
And all around the hills the bloody signals spread.
For, lo, the numerous hosts of Heaven appear!
Th' embattled legions of the sky,
With all their dread artillery,
Draw forth in bright array, and muster in the air.
Why do the mountains tremble with the noise,
And vallies echo back their voice?
The hills tumultuous grow and loud,
The hills that groan beneath the gathering multitude.
Wide as the poles of Heaven's extent,
So far's the dreadful summons sent:
Kingdoms and nations at his call appear,
For ev'n the Lord of Hosts commands in person there.
Start from thy lethargy, thou drowsy land,
Awake, and hear his dread command!
Thy black tempestuous day comes lowering on,
O fatal light! O inauspicious hour!
Was ever such a day before!
So stain'd with blood, by marks of vengeance known.
Nature shall from her steady course remove,
The well-fix'd Earth be from its basis rent,
Convulsions shake the firmament;
Horrour seize all below, confusion reign above.
The stars of Heaven shall sicken at the sight,
Nor shall the planets yield their light:
But from the wretched object fly,
And, like extinguish'd tapers, quit the darken'd sky.
The rising Sun, as he was conscious too,
As he the fatal business knew,
A deep, a bloody red shall stain,
And at his early dawn shall set in night again.
Awake, and hear his dread command!
Thy black tempestuous day comes lowering on,
O fatal light! O inauspicious hour!
Was ever such a day before!
So stain'd with blood, by marks of vengeance known.
Nature shall from her steady course remove,
The well-fix'd Earth be from its basis rent,
Convulsions shake the firmament;
Horrour seize all below, confusion reign above.
The stars of Heaven shall sicken at the sight,
Nor shall the planets yield their light:
But from the wretched object fly,
And, like extinguish'd tapers, quit the darken'd sky.
The rising Sun, as he was conscious too,
As he the fatal business knew,
A deep, a bloody red shall stain,
And at his early dawn shall set in night again.
To the destroying sword I've said, “Go forth,
Go, fully execute my wrath!
Command my hosts, my willing armies lead;
For this rebellious land and all therein shall bleed.”
They shall not grieve me more, no more transgress;
I will consume the stubborn race:
Yet brutes and savages I justly spare;
Useless is all my vengeance there;
Ungrateful man's the greater monster far.
On guiltless beasts I will the land bestow,
To them th' inheritance shall go;
Those elder brothers now shall lord it here below:
And, if some poor remains escape behind,
Some relics left of lost mankind;
Th' astonish'd herds shall in their cities cry,
When they behold a man, “Lo, there's a prodigy!”
Go, fully execute my wrath!
Command my hosts, my willing armies lead;
For this rebellious land and all therein shall bleed.”
They shall not grieve me more, no more transgress;
I will consume the stubborn race:
Yet brutes and savages I justly spare;
Useless is all my vengeance there;
Ungrateful man's the greater monster far.
On guiltless beasts I will the land bestow,
To them th' inheritance shall go;
Those elder brothers now shall lord it here below:
And, if some poor remains escape behind,
Some relics left of lost mankind;
Th' astonish'd herds shall in their cities cry,
When they behold a man, “Lo, there's a prodigy!”
The Medes I call to my assistance here,
A people that delight in war!
A generous race of men, a nation free
From vicious ease and Persian luxury.
Silver is despicable in their eyes,
Contemn'd the useless metal lies:
Their conquering iron they prefer before.
The finest gold, ev'n Ophir's tempting ore.
By these the land shall be subdued,
Abroad their bows shall overcome,
Their swords and flames destroy at home;
For neither sex nor age shall be exempt from blood;
The nobles and the princes of thy state
Shall on the victor's triumphs wait:
And those that from the battle fled
Shall be, with chains oppress'd, in cruel bondage led.
A people that delight in war!
A generous race of men, a nation free
From vicious ease and Persian luxury.
Silver is despicable in their eyes,
Contemn'd the useless metal lies:
Their conquering iron they prefer before.
The finest gold, ev'n Ophir's tempting ore.
By these the land shall be subdued,
Abroad their bows shall overcome,
Their swords and flames destroy at home;
For neither sex nor age shall be exempt from blood;
The nobles and the princes of thy state
Shall on the victor's triumphs wait:
And those that from the battle fled
Shall be, with chains oppress'd, in cruel bondage led.
I'll visit their distress with plagues and miseries,
The throes that womens' labours wait,
Convulsive pangs, and bloody sweat,
Their beauty shall consume, and vital spirits seize.
The ravish'd virgins shall be borne away,
And their dishonour'd wives be led
To the insulting victor's bed,
To brutal lusts expos'd, to fury left a prey.
Nor shall the teeming womb afford
Its forming births a refuge from the sword;
The sword, that shall their pangs increase,
And all the throes of travail curse with barrenness,
The infants shall expire with their first breath,
And only live in pangs of death;
Live but with early cries to curse the light,
And, at the dawn of life, set in eternal night.
The throes that womens' labours wait,
Convulsive pangs, and bloody sweat,
Their beauty shall consume, and vital spirits seize.
The ravish'd virgins shall be borne away,
And their dishonour'd wives be led
To the insulting victor's bed,
To brutal lusts expos'd, to fury left a prey.
Nor shall the teeming womb afford
Its forming births a refuge from the sword;
The sword, that shall their pangs increase,
And all the throes of travail curse with barrenness,
The infants shall expire with their first breath,
And only live in pangs of death;
Live but with early cries to curse the light,
And, at the dawn of life, set in eternal night.
67
Ev'n Babylon, adorn'd with every grace,
The beauty of the universe:
Glory of nations! the Chaldæans' pride,
And joy of all th' admiring world beside:
Thou, Babylon! before whose throne
The empires of the Earth fall down;
The prostrate nations homage pay,
And vassal princes of the world obey:
Shalt in the dust be trampled low:
Abject and low upon the Earth be laid,
And deep in ruins hide thy ignominious head.
Thy strong amazing walls, whose impious height
The clouds conceal from human sight;
That proudly now their polish'd turrets rear,
Which bright as neighbouring stars appear,
Diffusing glories round th' enlighten'd air,
In flames shall downwards to their centre fly,
And deep within the Earth, as their foundations, lie.
The beauty of the universe:
Glory of nations! the Chaldæans' pride,
And joy of all th' admiring world beside:
Thou, Babylon! before whose throne
The empires of the Earth fall down;
The prostrate nations homage pay,
And vassal princes of the world obey:
Shalt in the dust be trampled low:
Abject and low upon the Earth be laid,
And deep in ruins hide thy ignominious head.
Thy strong amazing walls, whose impious height
The clouds conceal from human sight;
That proudly now their polish'd turrets rear,
Which bright as neighbouring stars appear,
Diffusing glories round th' enlighten'd air,
In flames shall downwards to their centre fly,
And deep within the Earth, as their foundations, lie.
Thy beauteous palaces (though now thy pride)!
Shall be in heaps of ashes hid:
In vast surprizing heaps shall lie,
And ev'n their ruins bear the pomp of majesty.
No bold inhabitant shall dare
Thy ras'd foundations to repair:
No pitying hand exalt thy abject state;
No! to succeeding times thou must remain
An horrid exemplary scene,
And lie from age to age ruin'd and desolate.
Thy fall's decreed (amazing turn of fate!)
Low as Gomorrah's wretched state:
Thou, Babylon, shalt be like Sodom curst,
Destroy'd by flames from Heaven, and thy more burning lust.
The day's at hand, when in thy fruitful soil
No labourer shall reap, no mower toil:
His tent the wandering Arab shall not spread,
Nor make thy cursed ground his bed;
Though faint with travel, though opprest with thirst,
He to his drooping herds shall cry aloud,
“Taste not of that embitter'd flood,
Taste not Euphrates' streams, they're poisonous all, and curst.”
The shepherd to his wandering flocks shall say,
When o'er thy battlements they stray,
When in thy palaces they graze,
“Ah, fly, unhappy flocks! fly this infectious place.”
Whilst the sad traveller, that passes on,
Shall ask, “Lo, where is Babylon?”
And when he has thy small remainder found,
Shall say, “I'll fly from hence, 'tis sure accursed ground.”
Shall be in heaps of ashes hid:
In vast surprizing heaps shall lie,
And ev'n their ruins bear the pomp of majesty.
No bold inhabitant shall dare
Thy ras'd foundations to repair:
No pitying hand exalt thy abject state;
No! to succeeding times thou must remain
An horrid exemplary scene,
And lie from age to age ruin'd and desolate.
Thy fall's decreed (amazing turn of fate!)
Low as Gomorrah's wretched state:
Thou, Babylon, shalt be like Sodom curst,
Destroy'd by flames from Heaven, and thy more burning lust.
The day's at hand, when in thy fruitful soil
No labourer shall reap, no mower toil:
His tent the wandering Arab shall not spread,
Nor make thy cursed ground his bed;
Though faint with travel, though opprest with thirst,
He to his drooping herds shall cry aloud,
“Taste not of that embitter'd flood,
Taste not Euphrates' streams, they're poisonous all, and curst.”
The shepherd to his wandering flocks shall say,
When o'er thy battlements they stray,
When in thy palaces they graze,
“Ah, fly, unhappy flocks! fly this infectious place.”
Whilst the sad traveller, that passes on,
Shall ask, “Lo, where is Babylon?”
And when he has thy small remainder found,
Shall say, “I'll fly from hence, 'tis sure accursed ground.”
Then shall the savages and beasts of prey
From their deserted mountains haste away;
Every obscene and vulgar beast
Shall be to Babylon a guest:
Her marble roofs, and every cedar room,
Shall dens and caves of state to nobler brutes become.
Thy courts of justice, and tribunals too,
(O irony to call them so!)
There, where the tyrant and oppressor bore
The spoils of innocence and blood before;
There shall the wolf and savage tiger meet,
And griping vulture shall appear in state,
There birds of prey shall rule, and ravenous beasts be great.
Those uncorrupted shall remain,
Those shall alone their genuine use retain,
There Violence shall thrive, Rapine and Fraud shall reign.
From their deserted mountains haste away;
Every obscene and vulgar beast
Shall be to Babylon a guest:
Her marble roofs, and every cedar room,
Shall dens and caves of state to nobler brutes become.
Thy courts of justice, and tribunals too,
(O irony to call them so!)
There, where the tyrant and oppressor bore
The spoils of innocence and blood before;
There shall the wolf and savage tiger meet,
And griping vulture shall appear in state,
There birds of prey shall rule, and ravenous beasts be great.
Those uncorrupted shall remain,
Those shall alone their genuine use retain,
There Violence shall thrive, Rapine and Fraud shall reign.
Then shall the melancholy Satyrs groan,
O'er their lamented Babylon;
And ghosts that glide with horrour by,
To view where their unbury'd bodies lie,
With doleful cries shall fill the air,
And with amazement strike th' affrighted traveller.
There the obscener birds of night,
Birds that in gloomy shades delight,
Shall solitude enjoy, live undisturb'd by light.
All the ill omens of the air
Shall scream their loud presages there.
But let them all their dire predictions tell,
Secure in ills, and fortify'd with woe,
Heaven shall in vain its future vengeance show:
For thou art happily insensible,
Beneath the reach of miseries fell,
Thou need'st no desolation dread, no greater curses fear.
O'er their lamented Babylon;
And ghosts that glide with horrour by,
To view where their unbury'd bodies lie,
With doleful cries shall fill the air,
And with amazement strike th' affrighted traveller.
There the obscener birds of night,
Birds that in gloomy shades delight,
Shall solitude enjoy, live undisturb'd by light.
All the ill omens of the air
Shall scream their loud presages there.
But let them all their dire predictions tell,
Secure in ills, and fortify'd with woe,
Heaven shall in vain its future vengeance show:
For thou art happily insensible,
Beneath the reach of miseries fell,
Thou need'st no desolation dread, no greater curses fear.
| The poems of Dr. Yalden | |