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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79.

Syria: Shechem (Nablous)

Shechem

By Nicholas Michell (1807–1880)

(From Ruins of Many Lands)

YET hallowed be the land where Joseph sleeps,

And Jacob’s Well, tradition guards and keeps.

Though gone the shrine which graced the holy hill,

Green wave the woods on high Gerizim still:

Soft pipes the lonely bird at dying day,

Where incense rolled, and priests were wont to pray,

And Ebal, towering north of Shechem’s vale,

Lifts its wild rocks, and echoes back the tale;

Each knoll in emerald mantle seems arrayed,

And countless rills make music through the shade.