NEHEMIAH TO ARTAXERXES. 179

Nehemiah to Artarerres.

Nehemiah il.

'Tis sorrow, O king! of the heart, Not anguish of body or limb,

That causes the hue from my cheek to depart, And mine eye to grow rayless and dim.

'Tis the mem'ry of Salem afar,

Of Salem the city of God,

In darkness now wrapp'd like the moon and the star

When the tempests of night are abroad,

The walls of the city are razed,

The gates of the city are burn'd;

And the temple of God, where my fathers have

praised,

To the ashes of ruin are turn'd.

The palace of kings is consumed,

Where the timbrels were wont to resound; And the sepulchre domes, like the bones they entomb'd,

Are mold'ring away in the ground.

And the fugitive remnant that breathe
In the land that their fathers have trod,

Sit in sorrow and gloom; for a shadow like death

O'erhangs every wretched abode.

I have wept, I have fasted, and pray'd
To the great and the terrible God,
For this city of mine that in ruin is laid,
And my brethren who smart by his rod.

And now I beseech thee, O king!

If favor I find in thy sight,

That I may revisit my home, where the wing Of destruction is spread like the night.

And when I to Shushan return

From rebuilding my forefather's tomb, No more shall the heart of thy cup-bearer burn With those sorrows that melt and consume.

LITTLE CHILDREN.

181

Little Children.

WEEP not for them! it is no cause for sorrow That their's was no long pathway to the tomb; They had one bright to-day; no sad to-morrow Rising in hope, and darkening into gloom.

Weep not for them! their snowy plumes expanded E'en now are waving through the worlds of light;

Perchance, on messages of love remanded,

They sweep across your chambers in the night,

Weep not for them! Give tears unto the living!
O waste no vain regret on lot like theirs!
But rather make it reason for thanksgiving

That ye have nurtured angels unawares!