In the valley of waters

In the valley of waters we wept o'er the day

When the host of the stranger made Salem his prey,

And our heads on our bosoms all droopingly lay,

And our hearts were so full of the land far away.

The song they demanded in vain -- it lay still

In our souls as the wind that hath died on the hill;

They call'd for the harp -- but our blood they shall spill

Ere our right hand shall teach them one tone of our skill.

All stringlessly hung on the willow's sad tree,

As dead as her dead leaf those mute harps must be;

Our hands may be fetter'd -- our tears still are free,

For our God and our glory -- and, Sion! -- Oh, thee.