1 Why on the bending willows hung,
Israel! still sleeps thy tuneful string?–
Still mute remains thy sullen tongue,
And Zion’s song denies to sing?
2 Awake! thy sweetest raptures raise;
Let harp and voice unite their strains:
Thy promised King his sceptre sways:
Jesus, thine own Messiah, reigns!
3 No taunting foes the song require;
No strangers mock thy captive chain;
But friends provoke the silent lyre,
And brethren ask the holy strain.
4 Nor fear thy Salem’s hills to wrong,
If other lands thy triumphs share:
A heavenly city claims thy song;
A brighter Salem rises there.
5 By foreign streams no longer roam;
Nor, weeping, think of Jordan’s flood:
In every clime behold a home,
In every temple see thy God.
Why on the Bending Willows Hung Lyrics
Title: Ancient Israel
Author: James Joyce