| |
| IN Judah’s halls the harp is hushed, | |
| Her voice is but the voice of pain; | |
| The heathen heel her helms has crushed, | |
| Her spirit wears the heathen chain. | |
| From the dark prison-house she cried, | 5 |
| “How long, O Lord, Thy sword has slept! | |
| Oh, quell the oppressor in his pride!” | |
| Still Pharoah ruled, and Israel wept. | |
| |
| The morning breezes freshly blow, | |
| The waves in golden sunlight quiver; | 10 |
| The Hebrew’s daughter wanders slow | |
| Beside the mighty idol river. | |
| A babe within her bosom lay; | |
| And must she plunge him in the deep? | |
| She raised her eyes to heaven to pray; | 15 |
| She turned them down to earth to weep. | |
| |
| She knelt beside the rushing tide, | |
| Mid rushes dark and flow’rets wild; | |
| Beneath the plane-tree’s shadow wide, | |
| The weeping mother placed her child. | 20 |
| “Peace be around thee, though thy bed | |
| A mother’s breast no more may be; | |
| Yet He that shields the lily’s head, | |
| Deserted babe, will watch o’er thee!” | |
| |
| She’s gone! that mourning mother! gone. | 25 |
| List to the sound of dancing feet, | |
| And lightly bounding, one by one, | |
| A lovely train the timbrels beat. | |
| ’Tis she of Egypt: Pharoah’s daughter, | |
| That with her maidens come to lave | 30 |
| Her form of beauty in the water, | |
| And light with beauty’s glance the wave. | |
| |
| The monarch’s daughter saw and wept; | |
| (How lovely falls compassion’s tear!) | |
| The babe that there in quiet slept, | 35 |
| Blest in unconsciousness of fear. | |
| ’Twas hers to pity and to aid | |
| The infant chief, the infant sage; | |
| Undying fame the deed repaid, | |
| Recorded upon heaven’s own page. | 40 |
| |
| Years pass away, the land is free! | |
| Daughter of Zion! mourn no more! | |
| The oppressor’s hand is weak on thee, | |
| Captivity’s dark reign is o’er. | |
| Thy chains are burst; thy bonds are riven; | 45 |
| On! like a river strong and wide: | |
| A captain is to Judah given— | |
| The babe that slept by Nile’s broad tide. | |
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