Armageddon

Hosannah! hark, the melody
Strikes sweetly on my ravished ear!
The constellations make reply
In echoes from each distant sphere,
Till all the wide expansion rings
With “ Live forever King of kings.”
With “live forever King of kings!”

He comes! he comes! the heavens rend!
Floods clap your bands! ye mountains joy!
Forests in glad obeisance bend!
Earth, raise your hallelujahs high!
Let Zion wake the lofty strain—
“Live, King of kings! forever reign!”
“Live King of kings! forever reign!”

Ripe is the vintage of the earth;
Its clustering grapes are round and full;
And vengeance, vengeance bursts to birth,
Sudden and irresistible!
Messiah comes to tread amain
The wine-press of the battle-plain:

The cry is up, the strife begun,
The struggle of the mighty ones;
And Armageddon's day comes on,
The carnival of Slaughter's sons;
War lifts his helmet to his brow:
O God! protect thy people now!

The graves are cleaved! the *saints* arise!
The resurrection of the just!
And now, unto their kindred skies,
Up leap the tenants of the dust!
They rise to meet their Lord in air,
And tune their hallelujahs there.

Wake, Zion, wake! put on thy strength!
Don thy rich garb, Jerusalem!
Rise, shine! thy light is come at length,
And thou the wicked shalt condemn.
But hark! the war-whoop nearer sounds!
From land to land Destruction bounds!

Assemble quickly, fowls of air!
Come to the supper of the Lord:
The great ones of the earth prepare
To reap the harvest of the sword;
And captains' flesh shall be your food,
And ye shall drink of heroes' blood.

The cry is up, the strife begun;
Destruction spreads from field to field;
And soon shall Slaughter's work be done,
Soon shall Abaddon's legions yield;
Unnumbered thousands shall be slain,
Ere day break on Megiddo's plain.

Down, Babylon! down, Mahomet!
Impostor and Apostate, down!
Your day is past, your sun is set;
Now reap the whirlwind ye have sown;
Drink—yea, drink deep—the wine's poured forth,
The red wine of Jehovah's wrath.

They drink! they drink! they fall! they fall!
With all their sorceries and charms;
And Desolation grasps them all
Within his vast and withering arms;
The “strong one” has them in his toil;
When, lo, a Stronger shares the spoil.

Yea, come, O king, and take the spoil;
With thy confederates share the prey:
Ha! ha! Death “grins a ghastly smile;”
The morning dawns—and where are they?
The flames, the flames, great Autocrat,
Spread o'er thee in Jehosophat.