Behold, behold,
Children of sorrow, children of God,
The Lord hath hearkened to your cry,
He hath sent you a leader!
One crowned with suffering,
One scorned of men!
Who is more fitted than he
To reign over those that are blessed by defeat?
God hath closed Zedekiah’s eyes on earth
That he may better see the glories of heaven.
Brothers, has any son of the house of David
Been so fitted as he to be king of the sorrowful?

Zedekiah

Whither would you take me? What will become of me?

Jeremiah

Lift him up,
Him who has been abased,
Pay him all honor!
Harness the horses,
Make ready the litters,
Tenderly lift him,
Israel’s guardian,
King over Zion.

[The king is lifted with all signs of respect, and is placed in a litter. A trumpet sounds in the distance. There is a red glow upon the walls as the day dawns. The sky has cleared. A tremor runs through the crowd at the sound of the trumpet]

Voices

The signal!—The first signal!—God summons us.—The day of our trial has dawned.—Soon the sun will shine over Jerusalem.—The exodus.—The exodus.—Exodus and return.—Jerusalem.—Jerusalem.

Jeremiah

[With confident mien, strides up the steps once more. The crowd has drawn back, and he stands alone at the top, looking taller than ever in his isolation]

Up, ye rejected,
Up, all ye vanquished,
Brisk for the journey!
Wanderers,
Chosen of God and the world,
Lift up your hearts!

[A surge of activity passes through the crowd. Jeremiah gazes out over the city]

On Jerusalem’s pinnacles
Now for the last time
Look through your tears.
Carry with you the image
Of the home you so love.
Drink your fill of the towers,
Drink your fill of the walls,
Drink your fill of Jerusalem.

Voices

Yea, yea, ere we go
Let us drink our fill of Jerusalem.

Jeremiah

Bend down a last time,
Piously caressing
Your native earth.

[He apostrophizes the earth]

Earth drenched with blood and tears,
Lo, I touch you
With loving hand.
The memory of this touch
Shall go with me,
Shall be an undying hunger.

[He addresses the people once more]

Unceasingly,
Wherever we wander,
Shall we be anhungered,
Shall we be athirst,
For Zion!

Voices

Unceasingly,
Wherever we wander,
Shall we be anhungered,
Shall we be athirst,
For Zion!

Jeremiah

Wanderers, chosen of God,
Filled with your hunger, your thirst,
Having now said your farewells,
Manfully turn to the journey.
Look forward, not backward.
Stay-at-homes
Have home;
Wanderers
Have the world!
God’s are the ways
On which ye shall walk.
Made wise through suffering,
Wanderers, chosen of God,
On, through the world!

The People

Shall we ever see Jerusalem again?

Jeremiah

He who believes, looks always on Jerusalem.

The People

Who shall rebuild the city?

Jeremiah

The ardor of desire, the night of prison, and the suffering which brings counsel.

The People

Will it endure?

Jeremiah

Yea. Stones fall, but that which the soul builds in suffering, endureth for ever.

[There is a bustle among the crowd as all make ready for the start. The trumpet sounds again. It is now quite light. The crowd, eager to begin the exodus, greets the second blast of the trumpet with a shout of impatience]

[Raising his voice to dominate the tumult]

Wanderers, sufferers, march in the name
Of your forefather Jacob, who erstwhile with God,
Having wrestled the livelong night,
Strove till dawn for a blessing.
March on in the morning light
By a path like that which your forefathers trod,
When from Mizraim forth by Moses led
Toward the land of promise their way they sped.
Scatter your seeds, scatter your seeds,
In unknown lands,
Through numberless years.
Wander your wanderings, watered with tears.
On, people of God; for, wherever ye roam,
Your road leads through the world to eternity, home.

[The march begins in silence. At the head of the procession, the king is borne in a litter. In due order, tribe by tribe, the wanderers fall into line and move towards the gate. They gaze heavenward, singing as they march, so that the exodus has the solemnity of a religious procession. There is neither haste nor lagging, but a rhythmic movement forward. The files succeed one another in an endless train. An infinite on the march]

First Chorus of Wanderers

In strangers’ houses now must we dwell,
Eating bread salted with tears.
By an enemy’s hearth, with souls full of dread,
Must we sit upon stools of shame.
The weight of the years will lie heavy upon us
When, captives and bondmen, we must serve men of might.
But from exile escaping, from bondage redeemed,
To Jerusalem homing, to Zion returning,
Our spirits shall ever be free and at rest.

Second Chorus of Wanderers

Our drink must be drawn from distant waters;
Evil their taste, bitter in the mouth.
We must shelter from the sun beneath strange trees,
Their leaves breathing fear as they rustle in the wind.
But we shall win solace from the starry skies;
Dreams of home will comfort our nights;
Our souls will find continual refreshment
In the thought of Jerusalem.

Third Chorus of Wanderers

We shall journey by unfamiliar roads;
The wind will carry us afar, through many lands;
Weary shall we be, footsore and weary,
As the nations drive us from home after home.
Nowhere at all will they suffer us to take root,
Perpetual our pilgrimage through the changing world.
Yet happy shall we be, eternally vanquished;
Happy shall we be, chaff blown by the breeze;
Kindred to none, and by none made welcome;
For through the ages our path leads unerringly,
To the goal of our desire,
Jerusalem!

[A few Chaldeans, among them a captain, have come out from the palace. Some of them are half drunk. Their voices sound shrill in contrast with the chanting of the wanderers]

The Captain

The dogs are mutinous. They murmur against their fate. Beat them with rods if they refuse to go.

A Chaldean

Look, Captain, they have not waited for an order. There is no sign of mutiny.

The Captain

If they complain, strike them on the mouth.

The Chaldean

Captain, they are not complaining.

Another Chaldean

Watch them marching. They stride along like conquerors. Their eyes flash with joy.

The Chaldeans

What people are these?—Have they not been vanquished?—Can anyone have spread among them false tidings of liberation?—What are they chanting?—A strange people.—No one can understand them, whether in their dejection or in their exultation.—Their very gentleness is a danger, for it has a strength of its own.—This resembles rather the triumphal entry of a king, than the exodus of an enslaved people.—Saw the world ever such a nation?

Fourth Chorus of Wanderers

[Here Jeremiah inconspicuously joins his tribe]

Through ages we wander, we march through the nations,
The tale of our sufferings ever renewed;
Aeon after aeon eternally vanquished,
Thralls at the hearths where in passing we rest.
But the cities wither, and the nations
Shoot into darkness like wandering stars.
The oppressors who scourged us with many whips
Have become a hissing and a byword among the generations.
Whereas we march onward, march onward, march onward,
Drawing strength from within, eternity from earth,
And God from pains and tribulations.

The Chaldean Captain

Verily madness has seized them. We are the victors, they the defeated and the disgraced. Why, then, do they not complain?

A Chaldean

An invisible force must sustain them.

Another Chaldean

True, they believe in the invisible. That is the mystery of their faith.

The Captain

How is it possible to see the invisible, or to believe in what cannot be seen? They must have secret arts, like those of our astrologers and soothsayers. It would be well to learn their mysteries.

The Chaldean

These mysteries cannot be taught; the secret lies in faith. What sustains them, they say, is their faith in the invisible God.

Fifth Chorus of Wanderers

We wander adown the road of suffering,
Through our trials we are purified,
Everlastingly vanquished, and everlastingly overthrown,
For ever enslaved, for ever enfranchised,
Unceasingly broken and unceasingly renewed,
The mock and the sport of all nations on earth.
We wander through the eternities,
A remnant, a remnant,
And yet numberless.
We march onward to God,
To God who is the beginning and the end,
To God who is our home.

The Chaldean

See how they are walking to meet the sun. His light shines on their foreheads, and they themselves shine with the strength of the sun. Mighty must their God be.

The Captain

Their God? Have we not broken down his altars? Have we not conquered him?

The Chaldean

Who can conquer the invisible? Men we can slay, but the God who lives in them we cannot slay. A nation can be controlled by force; its spirit, never.

[For the third time the trumpet sounds. The sun has risen, shining on the exodus of the chosen people, beginning their march athwart the ages]

Transcriber’s Note:

The following is a list of corrections made to the original. The first passage is the original passage, the second the corrected one.