Both Anderson's "The House of Sorrows" and Gardner's Maestro quote Lamentations:
Anderson from "Jerusalem hath grievously sinned..." to "But thou hast utterly rejected us..."
- including the verse quoted in the attached image.
Gardner:
"Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow."
Prophetic passages are often anaesthetised when they are enshrined in scripture but sometimes the original anguish shines through.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteWe see another example of the grief of the exiled Jews in Psalm 137 (136, in the Vulgate):
By the rivers of Babylon
we sat mourning and weeping
when we remembered Zion.
On the poplars of that land
we hung up our harps.
There our captors asked us
for the words of a song;
Our tormentors, for a joyful song;
"Sing for us a song of Zion!"
But how could we sing a song of the LORD
in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand wither.
May my tongue stick to my palate
if I do not remember you,
If I do not exalt Jerusalem
beyond all my delights.
The Psalm ends with revengeful verses:
Remember, LORD, against Edom
that day at Jerusalem.
They said: "Level it, level it
down to its foundations!"
Fair Babylon, you destroyer,
happy those who pay you back
the evil you have done us!
Happy those who seize your children
and smash them against a rock.
New American Bible translation.
Ad astra! Sean