The
Destruction of Sennacherib
by Lord
Byron
|
| 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.
|
| 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.
|
| For the Angel of Death spread his
wings on the blast, |
| And breathed on the face of the
foe as he passed: |
| And the eyes of the sleepers
waxed deadly and chill, |
And their hearts but once heaved,
and for ever grew still!
|
| And there lay the steed with his
nostril all wide, |
| But through it there rolled 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.
|
| 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 silent,
the banners alone, |
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.
|
| 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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| Lord Byron | Classic Poems |
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[ Destruction of the Sennacherib ] [ Growing Old ] [ She Walks in Beauty ] [ Italy versus England ] [ The Eve of Waterloo ] [ from The Prisoner of Chillon ] [ The Isles of Greece ] [ from Don Juan ] |
