YE nymphs of Solyma! begin the song: | |
| To heavenly themes sublimer strains belong. | |
| The mossy fountains and the sylvan shades, | |
| The dreams of Pindus and th’ Aonian maids, | |
| Delight no more—O thou my voice inspire | 5 |
| Who touched Isaiah’s hallowed lips with fire! | |
| Rapt into future times, the bard begun: | |
| A Virgin shall conceive, a Virgin bear a Son! | |
| From Jesse’s root behold a branch arise, | |
| Whose sacred flower with fragrance fills the skies: | 10 |
| Th’ ethereal spirit o’er its leaves shall move, | |
| And on its top descends the mystic Dove. | |
| Ye Heavens! from high the dewy nectar pour, | |
| And in soft silence shed the kindly shower! | |
| The sick and weak the healing plant shall aid, | 15 |
| From storm a shelter, and from heat a shade. | |
| All crimes shall cease, and ancient frauds shall fail; | |
| Returning Justice lift aloft her scale; | |
| Peace o’er the world her olive wand extend, | |
| And white-robed Innocence from Heaven descend. | 20 |
| Swift fly the years, and rise th’ expected morn! | |
| Oh spring to light, auspicious Babe, be born! | |
| See, Nature hastes her earliest wreaths to bring, | |
| With all the incense of the breathing spring: | |
| See lofty Lebanon his head advance, | 25 |
| See nodding forests on the mountains dance: | |
| See spicy clouds from lowly Saron rise, | |
| And Carmel’s flowery top perfumes the skies! | |
| Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers: | |
| Prepare the way! a God, a God appears! | 30 |
| A God, a God! the vocal hills reply, | |
| The rocks proclaim th’ approaching Deity. | |
| Lo, Earth receives him from the bending skies! | |
| Sink down, ye mountains! and ye valleys, rise! | |
| With heads declined, ye cedars, homage pay! | 35 |
| Be smooth, ye rocks! ye rapid floods, give way! | |
| The Saviour comes! by ancient bards foretold: | |
| Hear him, ye deaf! and all ye blind, behold! | |
| He from thick films shall purge the visual ray, | |
| And on the sightless eyeball pour the day: | 40 |
| ’T is he th’ obstructed paths of sound shall clear | |
| And bid new music charm th’ unfolding ear: | |
| The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego, | |
| And leap exulting like the bounding roe. | |
| No sigh, no murmur, the wide world shall hear. | 45 |
| From every face he wipes off every tear. | |
| In adamantine chains shall Death be bound, | |
| And Hell’s grim tyrant feel th’ eternal wound. | |
| As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care, | |
| Seeks freshest pasture, and the purest air, | 50 |
| Explores the lost, the wandering sheep directs, | |
| By day o’ersees them, and by night protects; | |
| The tender lambs he raises in his arms, | |
| Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom warms: | |
| Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage, | 55 |
| The promised Father of the future age. | |
| No more shall nation against nation rise, | |
| Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes, | |
| Nor fields with gleaming steel be covered o’er, | |
| The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more; | 60 |
| But useless lances into scythes shall bend, | |
| And the broad falchion in a ploughshare end. | |
| Then palaces shall rise; the joyful son | |
| Shall finish what his short-lived sire begun; | |
| Their vines a shadow to their race shall yield, | 65 |
| And the same hand that sowed, shall reap the field. | |
| The swain in barren deserts with surprise | |
| Sees lilies spring, and sudden verdure rise; | |
| And starts, amidst the thirsty wilds, to hear | |
| New falls of water murmuring in his ear. | 70 |
| On rifted rocks, the dragon’s late abodes, | |
| The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods. | |
| Waste sandy valleys, once perplexed with thorn, | |
| The spiry fir and shapely box adorn: | |
| To leafless shrubs the flowery palms succeed, | 75 |
| And odorous myrtle to the noisome weed. | |
| The lambs with wolves shall graze the verdant mead | |
| And boys in flowery bands the tiger lead: | |
| The steer and lion at one crib shall meet, | |
| And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim’s feet. | 80 |
| The smiling infant in his hand shall take | |
| The crested basilisk and speckled snake, | |
| Pleased, the green lustre of the scales survey, | |
| And with their forky tongue shall innocently play. | |
| Rise, crowned with light, imperial Salem, rise! | 85 |
| Exalt thy towery head, and lift thy eyes! | |
| See a long race thy spacious courts adorn: | |
| See future sons and daughters yet unborn, | |
| In crowding ranks on every side arise, | |
| Demanding life, impatient for the skies! | 90 |
| See barbarous nations at thy gates attend, | |
| Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend! | |
| See thy bright altars thronged with prostrate kings, | |
| And heaped with products of Sabean springs! | |
| For thee Idumè’s spicy forests blow, | 95 |
| And seeds of gold in Ophir’s mountains glow. | |
| See Heaven his sparkling portals wide display, | |
| And break upon thee in a flood of day! | |
| No more the rising Sun shall gild the morn, | |
| Nor evening Cynthia fill her silver horn; | 100 |
| But lost, dissolved in thy superior rays, | |
| One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze | |
| O’erflow thy courts: the Light himself shall shine | |
| Revealed, and God’s eternal day be thine! | |
| The seas shall waste, the skies in smoke decay, | 105 |
| Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away! | |
| But fixed his word, his saving power remains; | |
| Thy realm for ever lasts, thy own Messiah reigns! | |
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