By the Waters of Babylon

1. 1In the valley of waters we wept on the day
2. 2When the host of the Stranger made Salem his prey;
3. 3And our heads on our bosoms all droopingly lay,
4. 4And our hearts were so full of the land far away!

1. 5The song they demanded in vain--it lay still
2. 6In our souls as the wind that hath died on the hill--
3. 7They called for the harp--but our blood they shall spill
4. 8Ere our right hands shall teach them one tone of their skill.

1. 9All stringlessly hung in the willow's sad tree,
2. 10As dead as her dead-leaf, those mute harps must be:
3. 11Our hands may be fettered--our tears still are free
4. 12For our God--and our Glory--and Sion, Oh Thee!