| |
| WEEP not for Me, oh! weep not, Salem’s Daughters, | |
| Faint though ye see Me, stay the bursting tear; | |
| Turn the sad tide—the tide of bitter waters— | |
| Back on yourselves for Desolation near. | |
| |
| Lift not for Me the heart-wrung lamentation, | 5 |
| Pierced though ye see Me, nailed and crucified; | |
| Hush the wild wail, till floods of devastation | |
| Pour on your heights the waste of ruin wide. | |
| |
| Tear not for Me your locks in keenest anguish, | |
| Though ye behold me bow the Head and die; | 10 |
| Weep for your children soon to pine and languish, | |
| Rolling in death the sunk and famished eye. | |
| |
| Smite not for Me your breasts with frantic beating, | |
| When the mixed Draught is raised in cruel hate; | |
| Weep for your City, whose red cup is heating | 15 |
| To waste in flames its houses desolate. | |
| |
| Gaze not on Me with looks of silent mourning, | |
| While the fierce soldiers part My Vesture round; | |
| Soon shall their hands, thy Holy Temple scorning, | |
| Lay its proud glories level with the ground. | 20 |
| |
| Shed not for Me the burning tear of sadness, | |
| Pressed though I droop mid tumult’s noisy din; | |
| Soon will the spoiler, fired with wrath and madness, | |
| Surround thy walls, and shut thy sons within. | |
| |
| Weep not for Me, with fond remembrance pondering, | 25 |
| Dreams of Redemption for Judah’s severed race; | |
| Weep for her children, scattered, peeled, and wandering, | |
| The Gentile’s taunt—without a resting-place. | |
| |
| Weep not for Me, then weep not, Salem’s Daughters, | |
| Faint though ye see Me, stay the bursting tear; | 30 |
| Turn the sad tide—the tide of bitter waters— | |
| Back on yourselves for Desolation near. | |
| |
