88. NATIONAL CONVULSIONS, 1849.The tempest rages through the earth around,Tossing the ocean into mountain waves:Thrones shake and totter, as the storm-wind raves,And mightiest empires tremble at the sound:Man has no structure on the solid ground,Which bides the tumult, or its fury braves:The sev'n-hill'd City, which the Tiber laves,Though call'd eternal, shakes and is astound:E'en its proud chief and priest, in sad affright,Flees for his safety to a distant shore,Lest falling temples on his head alight:What is there stable 'mid this wild uproar?—TheChurchheeds not the angry billows' shock;—Thy Church,O Lord, is founded on a rock!
88. NATIONAL CONVULSIONS, 1849.
The tempest rages through the earth around,Tossing the ocean into mountain waves:Thrones shake and totter, as the storm-wind raves,And mightiest empires tremble at the sound:Man has no structure on the solid ground,Which bides the tumult, or its fury braves:The sev'n-hill'd City, which the Tiber laves,Though call'd eternal, shakes and is astound:E'en its proud chief and priest, in sad affright,Flees for his safety to a distant shore,Lest falling temples on his head alight:What is there stable 'mid this wild uproar?—TheChurchheeds not the angry billows' shock;—Thy Church,O Lord, is founded on a rock!
The tempest rages through the earth around,
Tossing the ocean into mountain waves:
Thrones shake and totter, as the storm-wind raves,
And mightiest empires tremble at the sound:
Man has no structure on the solid ground,
Which bides the tumult, or its fury braves:
The sev'n-hill'd City, which the Tiber laves,
Though call'd eternal, shakes and is astound:
E'en its proud chief and priest, in sad affright,
Flees for his safety to a distant shore,
Lest falling temples on his head alight:
What is there stable 'mid this wild uproar?—
TheChurchheeds not the angry billows' shock;—
Thy Church,O Lord, is founded on a rock!