BESIDE the streams of Babylon, in tears Of vain desire, we sat; remembering thee, O hallowed Sion! and the vanished years, When Israel's chosen sons were blest and free: Our harps, neglected and untuned, we hung Mute on the willows of the stranger's land; When songs, like those that in thy fanes we sung, Our foes demanded from their captive-band. How shall our voices, on a foreign shore, (We answered those whose chains the exile wore,) The songs of God, our sacred songs, renew? If I forgot, 'midst grief and wasting toil, Thee, O Jerusalem! my native soil! @3May my right hand forget its cunning too!@1 | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CELLO by RICHARD WATSON GILDER TO THE SAME PURPOSE by THOMAS TRAHERNE ON THE INDESTRUCTIBILITY OF READING MATTER by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS THE VEERY'S FLUTE by LUCY BRANCH ALLEN AMONG THE MOUNTAINS by EDMUND JOHN ARMSTRONG H. SACRAMENT by JOSEPH BEAUMONT |