Melted Like Snow
The 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.
Like the leaves
of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with
their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves
of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the
morrow lay withered and strown.
For the Angel of
Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in
the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of
the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts
but once heaved, and for ever grew still!
And there lay the
steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it
there rolled not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of
his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the
spray of the rock-beating 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!
-- George Gordon, Lord Byron
Part IV- The D Text-Coming Eventually
Part VII- Hellenization Period
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