OUR LORD PREDICTING THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE.

THE sun was gliding toward the western sea,
And bathing all its glancing waves in light,
While fleecy clouds, immersed in floods of gold,
Sailed calmly on the far horizon's verge-

And men had left their toil, again to feel
The air of evening, as from quivering groves
It swept along the valleys-when our Lord
Walked with the chosen twelve, among the courts
And buildings of the temple. 'Twas the day
When voice divine, upon the Pharisee

Had tenfold woe pronounced; when tears had fallen
More bitter than the youthful mother drops

Upon her early dead, as, gazing on
Jerusalem, the Son of God beheld

The portents of her swiftly coming fate.

His followers, pointing with exulting pride

Toward the massy dome, counted each stone,
As though to please their Lord; but Jesus turned
With melancholy brow to gaze once more

Upon the guilty city.

Like a queen

Prepared for coronation, terrible

Even in beauty, at that moment spread

Judea's capital, her pomp and pride,