Jerusalem

Four lamps were burning o'er two mighty graves —
Godfrey's and Baldwin's — Salem's Christian kings;
And holy light glanced from Helena's naves,
Fed with the incense which the pilgrim brings, —
"While through the panell'd roof the cedar flings
Its sainted arms o'er choir, and roof, and dome,
And every porphyry-pillar'd cloister rings
To every kneeler there its "welcome home,"
As every lip breathes out, "O Lord, thy kingdom come."
A mosque was gamish'd with its crescent moons,
And a clear voice call'd Mussulmans to prayer,
There were the splendours of Judea's thrones —
There were the trophies which its conquerors wear —
All but the truth, the holy truth, was there: —
For there, with lip profane, the crier stood,
And him from the tall minaret you might hear,
Singing to all whose steps had thither trod,
That verse misunderstood, "There is no God but
God."
Hark! did the pilgrim tremble as he kneel'd?
And did the turban'd Turk his sins confess?
Those mighty hands the elements that wield,
That mighty Power that knows to curse or bless,
Is over all; and id whatever dress
His suppliants crowd around him, He can see
Their heart, in city or in wilderness,
And probe its core, and make its blindness flee,
Owning Him very God, the only Deity.
There was an earthquake once that rent thy fane,
Proud Juliah-; when (against the prophecy
Of Him who lived, and died, and rose again,
"That one stone on another should not lie")
Thou wouldst rebuild that Jewish masonry
To mock the eternal Word. — The earth below
Gush'd out in fire; and from the brazen sky,
And from the boiling seas such wrath did flow,
As saw not Shinar's plain, nor Babel's overthrow.
Another earthquake comes. Dome, roof, and wall
Tremble; and headlong to the grassy bank,
And in the muddied stream the fragments fall,
While the rent chasm spread its jaws, and drank
At one huge draught, the sediment, which sank
In Salem's drained goblet. Mighty Power!
Thou whom we all should worship, praise, and thank,
Where was thy mercy in that awful hour,
When hell moved from beneath, and thine own heaven did lower?
Say, Pilate's palaces — proud Herod's towers —
Say, gate of Bethlehem, did your arches quake?
Thy pool, Bethesda, was it fill'd with showers?
Calm Gihon, did the jar thy waters wake?
Tomb of thee, Mary — Virgin — did it shake '?
Glow'd thy bought field, Aceldama, with blood?
Where were the shudderings Calvary might make
Did sainted Mount Moriah send a flood,
To wash away the spot where once a God had stood?
Lost Salem of the Jews — great sepulchre
Of all profane and of all holy things —
Where Jew, and Turk, and Gentile yet concur
To make thee what thou art! thy history brings
Thoughts mix'd of joy and wo. The whole earth rings
With the sad truth which He has prophesied,
Who would have shelter'd with his holy wings
Thee and thy children. You his power defied:
You scourged him while he lived, and mock'd him as he died!
There is a star in the untroubled sky,
That caught the first light which its Maker made —
It led the hymn of other orbs on high; —
'T will shine when all the fires of heaven shall fade.
Pilgrims at Salem's porch, be that your aid!
For it has kept its watch on Palestine!
Look to its holy light, nor be dismay'd,
Though broken is each consecrated shrine,
Though crush'd and ruin'd all — which men have call'd divine.