Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79.
On the Day of the Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus
By Lord Byron (17881824)F
I beheld thee, O Sion, when rendered to Rome:
’T was thy last sun went down, and the flames of thy fall
Flashed back on the last glance I gave to thy wall.
And forgot for a moment my bondage to come;
I beheld but the deathfire that fed on thy fane,
And the fast-fettered hands that made vengeance in vain.
Had reflected the last beam of day as it blazed;
While I stood on the height, and beheld the decline
Of the rays from the mountain that shone on thy shrine.
But I marked not the twilight beam melting away!
O, would that the lightning had glared in its stead,
And the thunderbolt burst on the conqueror’s head!
The shrine where Jehovah disdained not to reign;
And scattered and scorned as thy people may be,
Our worship, O Father, is only for thee.