Christ My Song - 2105
Peaceful lay the doomèd city - Precious Tears
(John S. B. Monsell/Johannes Thomas Rüegg)
Precious Tears.
Tenth Sunday after Trinity.
"And when he was come near,
he beheld the city and wept over it,
saying, If thou hadst known,
even thou, at least in this day,
the things which belong unto thy peace!
But now they are hid from thine eyes."
(Luke 19,41-42)
1. Peaceful lay the doomèd city
in the evening's golden air,
little cause for grief or pity
men could see around it there:
waving palms, and shouting voices
lately thro' its streets had swept,
with Hosannas still rejoices
all the air, but – 'Jesus wept.' PDF - Midi
2. Busy thousands, coming, going,
meeting, passing, one by one,
all intent, but little knowing
what they seek, or what they shun:
some – alone of pleasure dreaming –
woke and laughed, lay down and slept,
others planning, sinning, scheming,
still toiled on, but – 'Jesus wept.'
3. Little reck'd they then of sorrow,
deep the Temple stones were laid,
little thought they of a morrow
soon to see its glory fade.
Yet, tho' light seemed round them shining,
slowly up the Temple crept
shadows of a day declining;
Jesus saw, and – 'Jesus wept.'
4. For he saw that hour of madness
when they flung their joy away,
fear, and famine, siege, and sadness,
all at no far distant day:
then a 'scattered peelèd nation' –
while the fox and vulture kept
darkling watch of desolation
o'er those stones, and – 'Jesus wept.'
5. Often thus, when Pleasure sees us
flaunting on in dreamy pride,
near us stands the gentle Jesus,
weeps and watches by our side:
tho' the heart to man dissembles,
He can fathom all its deeps,
He can see how conscience trembles,
tho' we smile, and – Jesus weeps.
6. Weeps for precious souls, pursuing
such a sad and downward way,
which must end in their undoing,
bring what present joy it may:
while the tide of human passion
on through time so darkly sweeps,
and, in old accustomed fashion,
Man will sin, while – Jesus weeps.
7. O, if there be joy in Heaven
when one soul – by grace restored –
pleads the promise Love hath given,
and – repentant – seeks the Lord:
from such wilfulness and blindness
Lord do thou thy children keep,
as, despite his loving-kindness,
makes the gentle Jesus weep.
John S. B. Monsell, 'Spiritual Songs', 1864, 133-135.