The Wild Gazelle

The wild gazelle on Judah's hills

Exulting yet may bound,

And drink from all the living rills

That gush on holy ground;

Its airy step and glorious eye

May glance in tameless transport by:--

A step as fleet, an eye more bright,

Hath Judah witnessed there;

And o'er her scenes of lost delight

Inhabitants more fair.

The cedars wave on Lebanon,

But Judah's statelier maids are gone!

Than Israel's scattered race;

For, taking root, it there remains

In 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.