The Destruction of Sennacherib
by George Gordon, Lord Byron
(From Hebrew Melodies - 1815)
1
- The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
- And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
- And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
- When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
2
- Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
- That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
- Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
- That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.
3
- For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
- And breathed in the face of the foe as he passd,
- And the eyes of the sleepers waxd deadly and chill,
- And their hearts but once heavdand for ever grew still!
4
- And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
- But through it there rolld not the breath of his pride;
- And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
- And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.
5
- And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
- With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:
- And the tents were all silentthe banners alone
- The lances unliftedthe trumpets unblown.
6
- And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
- And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
- And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
- Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!
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