Clarel/Part 3/Canto 17
17. A Chant[edit]
That day, though to the convent brood
A holiday, was kept in mood
Of serious sort, yet took the tone
And livery of legend grown
Poetical if grave. The fane 5
Was garnished, and it heard a strain
Reserved for festa. And befell
That now and then at interval
Some, gathered on the cliffs around,
Would sing Saint Cosmas' canticle; 10
Some read aloud from book embrowned
While others listened; some prefer
A chant in Scripture character,
Or monkish sort of melodrame.
Upon one group the pilgrims came 15
In gallery of slender space,
Locked in the echoing embrace
Of crags: a choir of seemly men
Reposed in cirque, nor wanting grace,
Whose tones went eddying down the glen: 20
First Voice
No more the princes flout the word--
Jeremiah's in dungeon cast:
The siege is up, the walls give way:
This desolation is the last. 25
The Chaldee army, pouring in,
Fiercer grown for disarray,
Hunt Zedekiah that fleeth out:
Baal and Assyria win:
Israel's last king is shamed in rout, 30
Taken and blinded, chains put on,
And captive dragged to Babylon.
Second Voice
O daughter of Jerusalem,
Cast up the ashes on the brow! 35
Nergal and Samgar, Sarsechim
Break down thy towers, abase thee now.
Third Voice
Oh, now each lover leaveth!
Fourth Voice 40
None comfort me, she saith:
First Voice
Abroad the sword bereaveth:
Second Voice
At home there is as death. 45
The Four
Behold, behold! the days foretold begin:
A sword without--the pestilence within.
First and Second Voices
But thou that pull'st the city down, 50
Ah, vauntest thou thy glory so?
Second and Third Voices
God is against thee, haughty one;
His archers roundabout thee go: 55
The Four
Earth shall be moved, the nations groan
At the jar of Bel and Babylon
In din of overthrow.
First Voice 60
But Zion shall be built again!
Third and Fourth Voices
Nor shepherd from the flock shall sever;
For lo, his mercy doth remain,
His tender mercy-- 65
Second Voice
And forever!
The Four
Forever and forever!
Choral 70
Forever and forever
His mercy shall remain:
In rivers flow forever,
Forever fall in rain!