Lament for Jerusalem

JERUSALEM! on thy ruin’d walls

The sun yet sheds its glittering rays,

And shines amid thy lonely halls

As once it shone in happier days:

And Judea’s clime is still as fair,

Though Judah’s sons are outcasts there.

How long shall pagan foot profane

Jehovah’s hallowed shrine;

And memories alone remain

Of all that once was thine?

How long shall we, thy children, roam

As exiles from our native home?

To weep o’er Salem’s blighted fame,

To gaze upon her strand,

Is all the heritage we claim

Within our fatherland;

To mourn o’er our free parents’ graves

That we, their children, are but slaves.

When will that glorious hour come?

When shall we once more see

Thy temple rear its stately dome,

Thy children with the free?

And thou, our fair, ill-fated land;

Amongst the nations take thy stand?