And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, who also bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus, turning unto them, said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and your children."-Sr. LUKE xxiii. 27, 28.
JERUSALEM's daughters! for me do not weep
Your eyes' bitter waters for other days keep,
For days of sad sighing, deep wailing, and moan;
For the dead and the dying; for cities o'erthrown.
When you pray that the mountains may fall on your head
Then from those misty fountains salt tears may be shed;
But, Jerusalem's daughters, for me do not weep;
Your eyes' bitter waters for other days keep.
When mothers, soul-mourning, curse the day when was pressed
The child of long yearning most close to the breast;
When those eyes they are blessing which ne'er saw a son,
And those arms, which caressing of daughters had none;
When the maid, thickly sobbing, her own love shall mourn,
And the father's heart, throbbing, breaks o'er his first-born;
Then Jerusalem's daughters, for me do not weep;
Your eyes' bitter waters for other days keep.
When the helmeted foeman shall stride o'er the wall,
And TITUS, the Roman, "No quarter!" shall call ;
When his horse through your city proud prancing shall steep In blood, shed without pity, his hoof fetlock deep.
When the temple is crashing in horror and flame,
And the priests are down dashing in anguish and shams-
Then, Jerusalem's daughters, for me do not weep;
Your eyes' bitter waters for other days keep!
Weep for strongholds down batter'd, for vineyards uptorn,
For a nation all scattered, a byword and scorn:
Weep for chieftains still meeting, where'er be their track,
Vile words of base greeting, gyve, gibbet, and rack;
Weep for outrage on woman, for bondage and thrall,
For compassion from no man, and spurning from all :
So, Jerusalem's daughters, for me do not weep,
Your eyes' bitter waters for other days keep!
Though, soft-hearted maiden! you now see that I,
Deserted, cross-laden, stagger onward to die;
The cross I am bearing will yet be the gem
For the lofty knight's wearing, the king's diadem.
And the words I have spoken, shall, over the earth,
To the sad and heart-broken of comfort give birth:
Then, Jesusalem's daughters, for me do not weep;
Your eyes' bitter waters for other days keep!
Now is ended my mission: I answer the call,
I fulfill the condition, of one slain for all!
Though dark seems the story, the moment is near
When, throned in heaven's glory, I beaming appear!
From its light ne'er to sunder, till here am I found,
Amid lightnings and thunder, when the trumpet shall sound:
Then, Jerusalem's daughters, for me do not weep;
Your eyes' bitter waters for other days keep!
And he, bearing his cross, went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew, Golgotha.-ST. JOHN xix. 17.
By the dark stillness brooding in the sky,
Holiest of sufferers! round thy path of woe,
And by the weight of mortal agony
Laid on thy drooping form and pale meek brow,
My heart was awed; the burden of thy pain
Sank on me with a mystery and a chain.
I look'd once more, and, as the virtue shed
Forth from thy robe of old, so fell a ray
Of victory from thy mien! and round thy head,
The halo, melting spirit-like away,
Seem'd of the very soul's bright rising born,
To glorify all sorrow, shame and scorn.
And upwards, through transparent darkness gleaming,
Gazed in mute reverence, woman's earnest eye,
Lit, as a vase, whence inward light is streaming,
With quenchless faith, and deep love's fervency ;
Gathering, like incense round some dim-veil'd shrine,
About the Form, so mournfully divine!
Oh! let thine image, as e'en then it rose,
Live in my soul forever, calm and clear,
Making itself a temple of repose,
Beyond the breath of human hope or fear!
A holy place, where through all storms may lie
One living beam of dayspring from on high.
|