By the waters of Babylon We sit down and weep, Far from the pleasant land Where our fathers sleep: Far from our Holy Place From which the Glory is gone We sit in dust and weep By the waters of Babylon. By the waters of Babylon The willow-trees grow rank: We hang our harps thereon Silent upon the bank. Before us the days are dark, And dark the days that are gone: We grope in the very dark By the waters of Babylon. By the waters of Babylon We thirst for Jordan yet, We pine for Jerusalem Whereon our hearts are set: Our priests defiled and slain, Our princes ashamed and gone, Oh how should we forget By the waters of Babylon? By the waters of Babylon Though the wicked grind the just, Our seed shall yet strike root And shall shoot up from the dust: The captive shall lead captive, The slave rise up and begone, And thou too shalt sit in dust, O daughter of Babylon. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DREAMS (2) by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE RIVER by RALPH WALDO EMERSON ON HEARING THAT THE STUDENTS OF OUR NEW UNIVERSITY JOINED AGITATION .. by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS ODES: BOOK 2: ODE 5. ON LOVE OF PRAISE by MARK AKENSIDE THE IDLER'S CALENDAR; MAY: THE LONDON SEASON by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT LAMENT FOR OLD MEN by VERNE BRIGHT ON MR. CHURCHILL'S SEVENTIETH BIRTHDAY (NOVEMBER 30, 1944) by CHARLES WILLIAM BRODRIBB HE WONDERS WHETHER TO PRAISE OR TO BLAME HER by RUPERT BROOKE |