I STOOD by the Holy City, Without the Damascus Gate, While the wind blew soft from the distant sea, And the day was wearing late, And swept its wide horizon With reverent, lingering gaze, From the rolling uplands of the west That slope a hundred ways, To Olivet's gray terraces By Kedron's bed that rise, Upon whose crest the Crucified Was lost to mortal eyes; And, far beyond, to the tawny line Where the sun seemed still to fall So bright the hue against the blue, Of Moab's mountain wall; And north to the hills of Benjamin, Whose springs are flowing yet, Ramah, and sacred Mizpah, Its dome above them set; And the beautiful words of the Psalmist Had meaning before unknown: @3As the mountains are round Jerusalem The Lord is round His own.@1 | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AN EVENING by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM A SONNET. ON CYNTHIA SICK by PHILIP AYRES TO MR. WILLIAM BASSE UPON THE NOW PUBLISHING OF HIS POEMS by RALPH BATHURST JUDGES: SONG OF DEBORAH; FRAGMENTS by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE NEW YORK CITY by MAXWELL BODENHEIM GARDEN LORE by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON TO MY SON by GEORGE GORDON BYRON A LETTER FROM OCTAVIA: TO THE LADY MARGARET, COUNTESS OF CUMBERLAND by SAMUEL DANIEL |