Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79. | | | | Syria: Jerusalem | | On the Day of the Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus | | Lord Byron (1788–1824) |
| | | FROM the last hill that looks on thy once holy dome | |
| I beheld thee, O Sion, when rendered to Rome: | |
| ’T was thy last sun went down, and the flames of thy fall | |
| Flashed back on the last glance I gave to thy wall. | |
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| I looked for thy Temple, I looked for my home, | 5 |
| And forgot for a moment my bondage to come; | |
| I beheld but the deathfire that fed on thy fane, | |
| And the fast-fettered hands that made vengeance in vain. | |
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| On many an eve the high spot whence I gazed | |
| Had reflected the last beam of day as it blazed; | 10 |
| While I stood on the height, and beheld the decline | |
| Of the rays from the mountain that shone on thy shrine. | |
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| And now on that mountain I stood on that day, | |
| But I marked not the twilight beam melting away! | |
| O, would that the lightning had glared in its stead, | 15 |
| And the thunderbolt burst on the conqueror’s head! | |
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| 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, O Father, is only for thee. | 20 | | | |
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