Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79.
By the Rivers of Babylon We Sat down and Wept
By Lord Byron (17881824)W
Of Babel, and thought of the day
When our foe, in the hue of his slaughters,
Made Salem’s high places his prey;
And ye, O her desolate daughters,
Were scattered all weeping away.
Which rolled on in freedom below,
They demanded the song; but, O, never
That triumph the stranger shall know!
May this right hand be withered forever,
Ere it string our high harp for the foe!
O Salem! its sound should be free;
And the hour when thy glories were ended
But left me that token of thee:
And ne’er shall its soft tones be blended
With the voice of the spoiler by me!