| Joseph Friedlander, comp. The Standard Book of Jewish Verse. 1917. | | | | The Jewish Captive | | By Elizabeth Oakes (Prince) Smith |
| | (Psalm cxxxvii.)
OH Zion! if I cease for thee | |
| My earliest vows to pay— | |
| If for thy sad and ruined walls | |
| I ever cease to pray— | |
| If I no more thy sacred courts | 5 |
| With holy reverence prize, | |
| Or Zion-ward shall cease to turn | |
| My ever-longing eyes— | |
| Or if the splendor round me thrown | |
| Shall touch this Jewish heart, | 10 |
| And make me cease to prize thy joy | |
| Above all other art,— | |
| Oh, may this hand no more with skill | |
| E’er touch this sacred string, | |
| And may this tongue grow cold in death, | 15 |
| Ere I shall cease to sing | |
| And pray for Zion’s holy courts, | |
| Or dare to bow the knee | |
| To these poor, blind and helpless gods, | |
| Forgetful, Lord, of thee. | 20 | | | |
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