SONG TO ZION
O Zion, thy woes and thy gloriesLike winds wake my lyre again,From the clouds of thy chronicled stories,The depth of my woe and pain;My spirits, rejoicing, awakenTo honor with song a past,Which, dead to the world and forsaken,Within me shall last.
O Zion, thou art like a loverWho loves and is loved and dies,O'er whom when the autumn winds hover,An angel, a sweet maiden sighs,Appears he in sunshine, a spirit,To dry and dissolve her tears;O Zion, how long shall we sigh yet.How many more years?
Thy memory deep as the ocean,As mighty and mystic too,Holds many a sacred emotionWhich waits but for Time to renew;And many a gem thine, now hidden,Like a sunlet of light will shineOn all like a wonder when bidden,A light most divine!
For Time can but hide, cannot darken, What God hath ordained as His; All worlds to his bidding hearken, As thou to my spirit in bliss; Thy heart which of old sang is in you; Thy soul is as pure and endures; The song which you sing is the sinew Of all that is yours.
O Zion, thy hope is a blessing Which comes like a sunbeam through tears; So warm to our souls, so caressing To our multitudinous fears; We prayed to the God of thy Beauty: “The life of sweet Zion redeem!” And now we berceive Fulfillment In marvellous dream!
The Dawn in the East is fast breaking, And filling all caverns with light; The Heavens with thunder are shaking, The shadows are fleeing with Night; The world is athrob with the glory, This dream so longingly dreamed; Across the white sky skims the message Of Zion redeemed!