The Wild Gazelle

The wild gazelle on Judah's hillsExulting yet may bound,And drink from all the living rillsThat gush on holy ground;Its airy step and glorious eyeMay glance in tameless transport by:—

A step as fleet, an eye more bright,Hath Judah witness'd there;And o'er her scenes of lost delightInhabitants more fair.The cedars wave on Lebanon,But Judah's statelier maids are gone!

More blest each palm that shades those plainsThan Israel's scattered race;For, taking root, it there remainsIn solitary grace:It cannot quit its place of birth,It will not live in other earth.

But we must wander witheringly,In other lands to die;And where our fathers' ashes be,Our own may never lie:Our temple hath not left a stone,And Mockery sits on Salem's throne.