The Captive's Song

Rise ! rise dawn of the morn !

In glory awake, for thy hour is nigh !
Comest thou afar, by cherubim borne,
O'er lands of the East, o'er star and sky ?
Or sleep'st thou on yon mountain gray? —
Awake, thou sun ! and come away.
Yes, thou wilt wake ; but, woe is me,
For the shame and guilt thine eye must see ! —
The stranger's incense burning still
On the heights of Zion's holy hill;
And the rude Sabine's altar-stone
In the green groves of Lebanon ! —
Awake, O sun ! that I may view
Thy splendour shed (nor grieve the less)
O'er vales of Kedar bathed in dew,
And Chebar's balmy wilderness !

Soon thou wilt smile in beauty bland
Above the Chaldean's sinful land ; —
But, oh ! when shall dawn the day
Of retribution and of grace ?
When shall the shadows pass away
That brood o'er Israel's fallen race ?
Thou holy One ! has Salem's day
By thee forgotten been for aye ?

Sing ! sing ! — How shall I sing
A song of Zion or of thee !
Or hymn the name of Israel's King
In darkness and captivity ?

My tabor has no strain nor string,
The songs of Zion's land to sing !
But thee — Jerusalem ! when my heart
Ceases to yearn and bleed for thee,
May skill from my right hand depart,
And my reward let bondage be !
There lies engraved thy temple fair,
And NAME that once we worshipped there
Jehovah ! in thy strength awake !

Be vengeance on the heathen driven !
Before thee let the mountains quake,
Thy chariot be the winds of heaven !

Come on the clouds, and who shall stand
Against the sway of thy right hand ?

Think not of us, so far removed,
And as a garment cast away
Think on our fathers once beloved ;
Must David's house like grass decay ?
Return, and set thy people free,
And captives yet shall sing to thee !