Page:Tales and Historic Scenes.pdf/181



of woe in Salem!—mournful cries Rose from her dwellings—youthful cheeks were pale, Tears flowing fast from dim and aged eyes, And voices mingling in tumultuous wail; Hands raised to heaven in agony of prayer, And powerless wrath, and terror, and despair.

Thy daughters, Judah weeping, laid aside The regal splendor of their fair array, With the rude sackcloth girt their beauty's pride, And throng'd the streets in hurrying, wild dismay; While knelt thy priests before his awful shrine, Who made, of old, renown and empire thine.