Hidden In Plain Sight - The Destruction of Sennacherib by George Gordon Byron, 1788 - 1824

T H E  d e s t r u c t i o n

o f  s e n n a c h e r i b

 

 “The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

“Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown

“For the angel of death spread his wings on the blast
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and forever were still.

“And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord.”

G E O R G E   G O R D O N

B   Y   R   O   N

Byron’s poem is based on a brief biblical story about 
the defeat of the Assyrians by gods