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| THOU glory of a thousand kings, | |
| Proud daughter of the East! | |
| That dwellest as on sea-birds’ wings, | |
| Upon Euphrates’ breast; | |
| As lofty as thy pride of old, | 5 |
| So deep shall be thy doom; | |
| Thy wealth is fled, thy days are told, | |
| Awake! thine end is come! | |
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| A sound of war is in the lands! | |
| A sword is on thy host! | 10 |
| Thy princes and their mighty bands— | |
| The Lord shall mock their boast! | |
| His Hand has rein’d the rushing steed, | |
| And quell’d the rage of war; | |
| Shall stay the flying lance’s speed | 15 |
| And burn the whirling car. | |
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| Set ye the standard in the lands; | |
| The Lord of Hosts hath said, | |
| Bid trumpets rouse the distant bands | |
| Of Persia and the Mede; | 20 |
| The bucklers bring, make bright the dart, | |
| I lead thee forth to war, | |
| To burst the gates of brass apart | |
| And break the iron bar! | |
| |
| The spoiler’s hand is come upon | 25 |
| Thy valiant men of might, | |
| Their lion hearts, proud Babylon, | |
| Have failed thee in the fight; | |
| Thy cities are all desolate, | |
| Thy lofty gates shall fall, | 30 |
| The hand that wrought Gomorrah’s fate | |
| Shall crush thy mighty wall. | |
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| The shepherd shall not fold his flocks | |
| Upon the desert plain, | |
| But, lurking in thy cavern’d rocks, | 35 |
| The forest beast shall reign. | |
| Fair Babylon, Lost Babylon! | |
| Sit in the dust and mourn, | |
| Hurled headlong from thy lofty throne— | |
| Forgotten and forlorn! | 40 |
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