Hymnal: The Sacred Melodeon
Date: 1848
Compiler: A S Hayden
Publisher/Printer: A S Hayden
First Line: The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold
Topic: <no topic given>
Writer: <no first name given> Byron
Composer:
Tune: Destruction of Sennacherib
Hymn Number: <no hymn number given>
Page Number: 216, click to see hymnal pages
LyicsThe Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green,
That host, with their banners, at sunset was seen;
Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown,
That host, with their banners, at sunset was seen;
Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown,
That host, on the morrow, lay wither'd and strown.
For the angel of death spread his wings on the blast,
And breath'd in the face of the foe, as he pass'd;
And the eyes of the sleepers wax'd deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever were still!
And there lay the steed, with his nostrils all wide,
But through them there roll'd not the breath of his pride
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray on the rock-beaten surf.
And there lay the rider, distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail;
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.
And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail;
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted, like snow, in the glance of the Lord.