1.
Look - that is no country for
old men
That is no Kingdom for cold
souls
No wearied Sanballat halting
again
Men beaten by life’s toil and
tolls.
Men meandering meaninglessly
then
Slide gently night-wards with
the proles.
That kingdom is for those who
will endure
Suffering, bleeding, their
souls still pure
Not resting until those walls
rest secure.
2.
The aged would claw back times
hand
Whilst the fresh scions drive
it onward
Both at work mending the
Promised Land.
But that kingdom shall not
regress downward
It will not if we obey our
King’s command
To restore Jerusalem- we shall
be empowered.
Arise, Arise, men in your
unholy liaison
Rise now assured amidst the
murky dawn,
God’s chosen are now arrived
from Babylon!
3.
Arise, you people of that New
Jerusalem.
This kingdom is a great
venture, newly begun
And we are not building a new
Byzantium
This task should, can, must
and will be done.
I speak not of what was or is
but is to come
Of kingdom, wall, of battle
which must be won.
Amidst these ragged ruins
winds begin to howl,
We persevere in our building
without a scowl.
And we sort ‘tween the fair
stones and the foul.
4.
We are not a dying generation
that moan
Amid gathering darkness.
Others lie caught
The desert dulling the soul to
a sordid groan.
But we know the quiet voice
which verily begot
This solid sphere. Jerusalem’s
walls of stone
Needs must our strain, our
only thought
We are besieged but resolute
in the fight.
From burning darkness turning
to tender light
For we will to build Jerusalem
with all our might.
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