191 
MELANCHOLY. 
WEEPING WILLOW. 
By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, 
when we remembered thee, O Sion! As for our 
harps we hanged them up upon the willows that are 
therein. psalms. 
We cannot conceive a more touching ap¬ 
peal to human sympathy, than the mournful 
complaints of the daughters of Jerusalem. 
Their Babylonish conquerors having led 
them away captive, required of them “ a 
song, and melody in their heaviness ; ‘ Sing 
us one of the songs of Sion.’ ” But the 
hearts of her children were surcharged with 
grief, and they asked, “ How shall we sing 
the Lord’s song in a strange land? ” They 
were oppressed with sorrow, — they were 
bowed down with affliction,— they “ hanged 
their harps upon the willows, and sat down 
and wept.” Is not then the weeping willow 
a sacred emblem of melancholy ? 
My gentle harp ! once more I waken 
The sweetness of thy slumbering strain ; 
In tears our last farewell was taken, 
And now in tears we meet again. 
No light of joy hath o’er thee broken, 
But—like those harps, whose heav’nly skill 
Of slavery, dark as thine, hath spoken — 
Thou hang’st upon the willows still. 
