
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 appeal 
to human sympathy, than the mournful com- 
plaints 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. 



















