Jerusalem

! the agonizing cry
That broke from thy crushed heart, rose up to heaven,
And called a curse upon thy conqueror’s head.

Rome

! the destroyer, mistress of the seas,
And vanquisher of nations, where is she?
Where her fierce legions, sending o’er the earth
Havoc and terror, misery and death?

Where her proud Caesars, at whose lightest word
Nations were subjugated, and the earth
Drenched with the blood of myriads?

Alas!
They who upraised the sword against God’s own
Have perished by the sword; there lives not one
Who can redeem her from her abjectness,
Or bring her former splendour back again.
She hath fallen! and her utter nothingness
Proves that an all-avenging Hand hath sent
A righteous retribution on her head.

While thou, oh, sadly crushed and humbled one!
Poor widowed dove, scared from thy resting-place,

Israel

grief-stricken and forsaken, thou
Livest, and

Rome

dies! Go forth, ye vain
And impotent of earth, and boast your power
That lives but for a day; behold in this
God’s wisdom and man’s error. He hath made
A mighty nation as a thing of naught,
And raised an atom from the lowest depths
Of misery and bondage unto life.

MRS. R. HYNEMAN.