Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79. | | | | Mesopotamia: Babylon | | By the Rivers of Babylon We Sat down and Wept | | Lord Byron (1788–1824) |
| | | WE sat down and wept by the waters | |
| Of Babel, and thought of the day | |
| When our foe, in the hue of his slaughters, | |
| Made Salem’s high places his prey; | |
| And ye, O her desolate daughters, | 5 |
| Were scattered all weeping away. | |
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| While sadly we gazed on the river | |
| Which rolled on in freedom below, | |
| They demanded the song; but, O, never | |
| That triumph the stranger shall know! | 10 |
| May this right hand be withered forever, | |
| Ere it string our high harp for the foe! | |
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| On the willow that harp is suspended, | |
| O Salem! its sound should be free; | |
| And the hour when thy glories were ended | 15 |
| But left me that token of thee: | |
| And ne’er shall its soft tones be blended | |
| With the voice of the spoiler by me! | | | | |
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