ON THE DAY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS.
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From the last hill that looks on thy once holy dome,[1]
I beheld thee, oh Sion! when rendered to Rome:[2]
'Twas thy last sun went down, and the flames of thy fall
Flashed back on the last glance I gave to thy wall.
I looked for thy temple—I looked for my home,
And forgot for a moment my bondage to come;[3]
I beheld but the death-fire that fed on thy fane,
And the fast-fettered hands that made vengeance in vain.
On many an eve, the high spot whence I gazed
Had reflected the last beam of day as it blazed;
While I stood on the height, and beheld the decline
Of the rays from the mountain that shone on thy shrine.
And now on that mountain I stood on that day,
But I marked not the twilight beam melting away;
Oh! would that the lightning had glared in its stead,
And the thunderbolt burst on the Conqueror's head![4]
But the Gods of the Pagan shall never profane
The shrine where Jehovah disdained not to reign;
And scattered and scorned as thy people may be,
Our worship, oh Father! is only for thee.
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- ↑ —— that looks o'er thy once holy dome.—[MS.]
- ↑
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—— o'er thy once holy wall
I beheld thee O Sion the day of thy fall.—[MS. erased.]
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- ↑ And forgot in their ruin ——.—[MS. erased.]
- ↑ And the red bolt —.—[MS. erased.]
And the thunderbolt crashed ——.—[MS.]
