Lament (2)

HOw darke, & how be-clowded (in his wrath)
The LORD hath caused Syon to appeare!
How Isr'els beauty he obscured hath!
As if throwne downe from Heau'n to Earth he were.
Oh! why is his displeasure growne so hot?
And why hath he his Footstoole so forgot?

The LORD all Syons dwellings hath laid wast;
And, in so doing, he no sparing made:
For in his anger to the ground he cast,
The strongest Holds that Iudah's-Daughter had.
Them, & their Kingdome, he to ground doth send;
And all the Princes of it doth suspend.

When at the highest his displeasure was,
From Isr'el all his horne of strength he broke.
And from before his aduersaries face,
His Right-hand (that restrained him) he tooke.
Yea, he in Iacob kindled such a flame,
As, round about, hath quite consum'd the same.

His Bow he as an aduersary bent,
And by his Right-hand he did plainely shew,
He drew it with an enemies intent:
For all that were the fairest Markes he slew.
In Syons Tabernacle this was done;
Eu'n there the fire of his displeasure shone.

The LORD himselfe is he that was the foe,
By him is Isr'el thus to ruine gone.
His Palaces, he ouerturned so:
And he, his Holds of strength hath ouerthrowne:
Eu'n he it is, from whom it doth arise,
That Isr'els Daughter thus lamenting lies.

His Tabernacle Garden-like that was,
The LORD with violence hath tooke away.
He hath destroyed his Assembling-place:
And there nor Feasts nor Sabbaths now haue they:
No, not in Syon. For in his fierce wrath,
He both their King and Priests reiected hath.

The LORD his holy Altar doth forgoe;
His Sanctuary he hath quite despiz'd.
Yea, by his meere assistance hath our Foe,
The Bulwarkes of our Palaces surpriz'd.
And in the LORDS owne House, rude Noyses are
As loud, as heretofore his Praises were.

The LORD his thought did purposely encline,
The wals of Syon should be ouerthrowne.
To that intent he stretched forth his line,
And drew not backe his hand till they were downe.
And so, the Turrets with the bruised Wall,
Did both together to destruction fall.

Her Gates in heapes of earth obscured are;
The Barres of them in pieces broke hath he:
Her King, and those that once her Princes were,
Now borne away among the Gentiles be.
The Law is lost, and they no Prophet haue,
That from the LORD a vision doth receiue.

In silence, seated on the lowly ground,
The Senators of Syons-Daughter are:
With Ashes, they their careful heads haue crown'd,
And mourning Sackcloth girded on them weare.
Yea, on the earth in a distressed-wise,
Ierusalem's young Uirgins fixe their eyes.

And, for because my People suffer this,
Mine eyes with much lamenting dimmed grow:
Each part within me out of quiet is.
And on the ground my Liuer forth I throw;
When as mine Eyes with so sad Obiects meet;
As Babes halfe dead, & sprawling in the street.

For, to their Mothers called they for meat.
Oh where shall we haue meat and drinke! they cry.
And in the Citie, while they food entreat,
They swoune, like them that deadly-wounded lie.
And some of them, their soules did breath away,
As in the Mothers bosome, staru'd they lay.

Ierusalem! for thee what can I say?
Or vnto what maist thou resembled be?
Oh! whereunto that comfort thee I may,
Thou Syon's-Daughter, shall I liken thee?
For, as the Seas, so great thy Breaches are:
And to repaire them then; Ah, who is there!

Thou, by thy Prophets hast deluded bin:
And foolish Uisions they for thee haue sought.
For, they reueiled not, to thee thy Sinne,
To turne away the thraldome it hath brought.
But, lying Prophecies they sought for thee;
Which of thy sad exile, the causes be.

And those, thou Daughter of Ierusalem
That on occasions passe along this way,
With clapping hands, and hissings, thee contemne:
And, nodding at Thee, thus in scorne they say:
Is this the Citie, men did once behight
The flowre of Beauty, and the worlds Delight?

Thy Aduersaries, (euery one of them)
Their mouthes haue op'ned at thee, to thy shame.
They hisse, and gnash at Thee, Ierusalem;
We; we (say they) haue quite destroy'd the same:
This, is that day hath long expected beene;
Now commeth it, and we the same haue seene.

But, this the Lord decreed, and brought to passe,
He, to make good that word which once he spake,
(And that which long agoe determin'd was)
Hath hurled downe, and did no pitty take.
He; thus hath made thee scorned of thy Foe;
And, rais'd the Horne of them that hate thee so.

Oh wall of Syons-Daughter, cry amaine,
Eu'n to the Lord set forth a hearty Cry:
Downe like a Riuer, cause thy teares to raine,
And, let them neither day nor night be dry.
Seeke neither sleepe, thy body to suffice;
Nor slumber, for the Apples of thine eyes.

At night and when the watch is new begun;
Then rise, and to the Lord Almighty Cry.
Before him, let thy Heart like water runne;
And lift thou vp to him thy hands, on high.
Eu'n for those hunger-starued Babes of thine,
That in the Corners of the streets doe pine.

And thou oh Lord; Oh be thou pleas'd to see,
And thinke on whom, thy Iudgements thou hast thrown.
Shal women fed with their own issue be,
And Children, that a span are scarcely growne?
Shall thus, thy Priests & Prophets, Lord, be slaine,
As in thy Sanctuary they remaine?

Nor youth, nor Age, is from the slaughter free;
For, in the streets, lye Yong, and Old, and all.
My Uirgines and my yong-men, murthered be;
Eu'n both, beneath the sword, together fall.
Thou, in thy day of wrath, such hauock mad'st;
That in deuouring thou no pitty hadst.

Thou, round about hast call'd my feared Foes,
As if that summon'd to some feast they were:
Who in thy day of wrath, did round enclose,
And shut me so, that none escaped are.
Yea, those that hate me, them consumed haue,
To whom, I nourishment, and breeding gaue.