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(Hymn for the Fast of Ab)
ART thou not, Zion, fain | |
| To send forth greetings from thy sacred rock | |
| Unto thy captive train, | |
| Who greet thee as the remnants of thy flock? | |
| Take thou on every side, | 5 |
| East, west, and south and north, their greetings multiplied. | |
| Sadly he greets thee still, | |
| The prisoner of hope who, day and night, | |
| Sheds ceaseless tears, like dew on Hermon’s hill. | |
| Would that they fell upon thy mountain’s height! | 10 |
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| Harsh is my voice, when I bewail thy woes. | |
| But when in fancy’s dream | |
| I see thy freedom, forth its cadence flows, | |
| Sweet as the harps, that hung by Babel’s stream. | |
| My heart is sore distressed | 15 |
| For Bethel ever blessed, | |
| For Peniel and each ancient, sacred place. | |
| The holy presence there | |
| To me is present, where | |
| Thy Maker opes thy gates, the gates of heaven to face. | 20 |
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| The glory of the Lord will ever be | |
| Thy sole and perfect light; | |
| No need hast thou then, to illumine thee, | |
| Of sun by day, or moon and stars by night. | |
| I would that, where God’s spirit was of yore | 25 |
| Poured out upon thy holy ones, I might | |
| There, too, my soul outpour. | |
| The house of kings and throne of God wert thou, | |
| How comes it then that now | |
| Slaves fill the throne where sat thy kings before? | 30 |
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| Oh, who will lead me on | |
| To seek the spots where, in far distant years, | |
| The angels in their glory dawned upon | |
| Thy messengers and seers? | |
| Oh, who will give me wings | 35 |
| That I may fly away, | |
| And there, at rest from all my wanderings, | |
| The ruins of my heart among thy ruins lay? | |
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| I’ll bend my face unto thy soil, and hold | |
| Thy stones as precious gold. | 40 |
| And when in Hebron I have stood beside | |
| My father’s tombs, then will I pass in turn | |
| Thy plains and forest wide; | |
| Until I stand on Gilead and discern | |
| Mount Hor and Mount Abarim ’neath whose crest | 45 |
| Thy luminaries twain, thy guides and beacons rest. | |
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| Thy air is life unto my soul, thy grains | |
| Of dust are myrrh, thy streams with honey flow; | |
| Naked and barefoot, to thy ruined fanes | |
| How gladly would I go | 50 |
| To where the ark was treasured, and in dim | |
| Recesses dwelt the holy cherubim. | |
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| I rend the beauty of my locks, and cry | |
| In bitter wrath against cruel fate | |
| That bids thy holy Nazirites to lie | 55 |
| In earth contaminate. | |
| How can I make of meat or drink my care? | |
| How can mine eyes enjoy | |
| The light of day, when I see ravens tear | |
| Thy eagle’s flesh, and dogs thy lion’s whelps destroy? | 60 |
| Away, thou cup of sorrow’s poisoned gall! | |
| Scarce can my soul thy bitterness sustain, | |
| When I Aholah unto mind recall. | |
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| I taste the venom; and when once again | |
| Upon Aholibah I muse, thy dregs I drain. | 65 |
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| Perfect in beauty, Zion, how in thee | |
| Do love and grace unite! | |
| The souls of thy companions tenderly | |
| Turn unto thee; thy joy was their delight, | |
| And weeping they lament thy ruin now. | 70 |
| In distant exile, for thy sacred height | |
| They long, and towards thy gates in prayer they bow. | |
| Thy flocks are scattered o’er the barren waste, | |
| Yet do they not forget thy sheltering fold, | |
| Unto thy garments’ fringe they cling, and haste | 75 |
| The branches of the palms to seize and hold. | |
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| Shinar and Pathros! come they near to thee? | |
| Naught are they by thy light and right divine. | |
| To what can be compared the majesty | |
| Of thy anointed line? | 80 |
| To what the singers, seers, and the Levites thine? | |
| The rule of idols fails and is cast down; | |
| Thy power eternal is, from age to age Thy crown. | |
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| The Lord desires thee for His dwelling-place | |
| Eternally, and bless’d | 85 |
| Is he whom God has chosen for the grace | |
| Within thy courts to rest. | |
| Happy is he that watches, drawing near, | |
| Until he sees thy glorious lights arise, | |
| And over whom thy dawn breaks full and clear | 90 |
| Set in the orient skies. | |
| But happiest he who, with exultant eyes, | |
| The bliss of thy redeemed ones shall behold, | |
| And see thy youth renewed as in days of old. | |
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