To Babylon's proud waters brought, In bondage where we lay, With tears on Sion's Hill we thought, And sighed our hours away; Neglected on the willows hung Our useless harps, while every tongue Bewailed the fatal day. Then did the base insulting foe Some joyous notes demand, Such as in Sion used to flow From Judah's happy band: Alas! what joyous notes have we, Our country spoiled, no longer free, And in a foreign land? O Solyma! if e'er thy praise Be silent in my song, Rude and unpleasing be the lays, And artless be my tongue! Thy name my fancy still employs; To thee, great fountain of my joys, My sweetest airs belong. Remember, Lord! that hostile sound, When Edom's children cried, "Razed be her turrets to the ground, And humbled be her pride!" Remember, Lord! and let the foe The terrors of thy vengeance know, The vengeance they defied! Thou too, great Babylon, shalt fall A victim to our God; Thy monstrous crimes already call For heaven's chastising rod. Happy who shall thy little ones Relentless dash against the stones, And spread their limbs abroad. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CONTRA MORTEM: THE MOUNTAIN FASTNESS by HAYDEN CARRUTH SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: OSCAR HUMMEL by EDGAR LEE MASTERS FACADE: 2. THE BAT by EDITH SITWELL THAT KIND OF POEM' by KAREN SWENSON HYBRIDS OF WAR: A MORALITY POEM: 1. VIETNAM by KAREN SWENSON |